APPELLATION : PESSAC-LEOGNAN
Founded in 1365, when the estate was still known simply as “Haut Lafitte”, the property took its full name in the 18th century when Scottish merchant George Smith acquired it to export wine to England. Its 87-hectare single-block vineyard sits on a knoll covered in rare Günzian gravel, where vine roots reach more than six metres deep, earning the estate its reputation as “the most Graves of all Graves.” Since 1990, Florence and Daniel Cathiard have transformed it into a model of bio-precision viticulture, combining organic farming, drone-assisted parcel mapping and a pioneering zero-pollution “stealth cellar” recognised at COP21.
GOOD TO KNOW
Smith Haut Lafitte has its own on-site cooperage, an extremely rare distinction shared only with First Growths such as Lafite and Haut-Brion. The Les Sources de Caudalie spa, founded by the Cathiard family on the estate, has popularised “Vinotherapy”, treatments based on grape extracts, around the world.