Château Smith Haut Lafitte

The château

Verrier du Bosq signed the first deed of the property in the 14th century, and George Smith, a Scottish merchant, bought it in the 18th and gave it his name. Martillac was not a commune the trade admired: William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, gave it 1 line, hard and common wines, though with body and a fair enough color. Smith rose above its commune. In 1842 Lodi Martin Duffour-Dubergier, mayor of Bordeaux and a signatory of the 1855 classification, ranked it a grand cru exceptionnel. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, printed it from 1868, created by M. Dufour-Debarthe on a plateau of the stoniest soil in the commune and first there, at 80 to 90 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels); in 1874 they gave it a class of its own, cru supérieur, and an estate of 263 hectares across Martillac, Cadaujac and Léognan, 52 of them vines. By 1886 it was a cru exceptionnel with 58 hectares of vines, and its owner had taken the ministerial gold medal of 1876 for the best kept vineyard in the department.

The house of Louis Eschenauer bought the estate in 1958, and Florence and Daniel Cathiard in 1990. Smith Haut Lafitte is a Cru Classé de Graves for its red wine; the white is not classified. Of the 14 estates of the Graves classification, 5 are classified for red, 2 for white and 7 for both. King Charles III came here in September 2023, on his state visit to France. Daniel Cathiard died in January 2026, aged 81; earlier that month, on January 15, their daughters Mathilde Thomas and Alice Tourbier had joined the executive board and Florence Cathiard the supervisory board. Fabien Teitgen, agronomist and enologist, is managing director, Yann Laudeho Leroy cellar master and Nicolas Poumeyrau vineyard manager.

The 80 hectares of vines lie in one piece on Günz gravel, soil that drains so fast the roots go down more than 6 meters for water, planted with 7 red and white varieties. The estate keeps its own rootstock nursery on the Île de Lalande and has run its own cooperage since 1993, where it makes nearly all its barrels; it was certified organic in 2019 after 3 years of conversion, with close to 10 years of biodynamic practice, and the wines age 12 to 18 months in oak. Le Petit Haut Lafitte and Les Hauts de Smith, each in red and white, are made beside the 2 grands vins. Of the whites, the grand vin (the estate’s first wine) of 2023, as I wrote in March 2026, is built on energy, citrus precision and a smoky, mineral character; Le Petit Haut Lafitte of 2019, in May 2024, had lime and green apple, flint and smoke, balanced acidity and a long finish.

At a glance

Appellation

Pessac-Léognan

Commune

Martillac

Classification

Cru Classé de Graves for red; Michelin Guide, 1 grape (2026)

Owners

The Cathiard family, since 1990; Mathilde Thomas and Alice Tourbier on the executive board, Florence Cathiard on the supervisory board

Direction

Fabien Teitgen, managing director

Vineyard

80 hectares in one piece; 7 red and white varieties

Soil

Günz gravel; roots to more than 6 meters Terroir of Pessac-Léognan →

Farming

Organic, certified in 2019; biodynamic practice; own rootstock nursery

Cellar

Own cooperage since 1993; 12 to 18 months in oak

Wines

Château Smith Haut Lafitte (red and white); Le Petit Haut Lafitte; Les Hauts de Smith

In history

A grand cru exceptionnel in 1842; a cru exceptionnel with 58 hectares of vines in 1886