Château Smith Haut Lafitte cooperage

The house

The house of Louis Eschenauer bought Château Smith Haut Lafitte in 1958, and Florence and Daniel Cathiard bought it in 1990. In 1993 Daniel Cathiard hired a master cooper, so that the estate would be one of the few with the craft in its own hands. Today almost all of its barrels are made at home.

Since 2021 the cooper has been Yann Dez, who had spent 15 years under the master cooper Didier Fesil. He makes around 300 barrels a year and toasts each one over a small fire, judging the time by smell, feel and sight. The oak comes from French forests chosen for their origin and the fineness of the grain, with medium tannins suited to the estate’s wines, which spend 12 to 18 months in barrel. Around the cooperage, which is open to visitors, the estate has kept changing: a gravity-flow vat room came into use in 2013, and the vineyard was certified organic in 2019 after 3 years of conversion.

For the craft Daniel Cathiard brought to the estate, Smith Haut Lafitte holds the Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant label, which the French state gives to firms keeping a rare craft alive.

At a glance

Kind

Château cooperage

Based in

Martillac, at Château Smith Haut Lafitte

Founded

1993, with the hiring of a master cooper

Owner

The Cathiard family, since 1990

Direction

Fabien Teitgen, managing director

In the record

Almost all of the estate’s barrels