This was by far the best bargain from a range of a dozen easy-to-find 1997 bordeaux tasted recently. See tasting notes for full details of the others, which included some better wines, but none that offered better value.
The Cathiard family took over this classified growth just south of Léognan in 1990 when it was pretty run down but three themselves into it in a way one would expect of a couple who had made a name for themselves in the world of sport. Today the estate is much revived and has a very fancy hotel-restaurant attached named after a range of beauty products based on grapes, Caudalies, run by the Cathiards’ daughter and son-in-law. In fact they seem to be having such success with these youth-giving unguents, to judge from distribution anyway, that wine seems almost in danger of becoming a sideline.
They have sought all sorts of outside help with their white and their red and I usually find that they show pretty well in my annual primeur blind tastings – if never absolutely the most thrilling.
The most thrilling thing about the 1997 red is the price. As longstanding visitors to this site have doubtless worked out, I am usually blissfully ignorant of what others think about the wines I describe (how else could I tell you what I truly think?), so I can only imagine that the current Farr Vintners price of £150 a dozen in bond for this delightful eight year-old classed growth claret is partly the result of some damning earlier reviews elsewhere. This is what I wrote about it:
Ch Smith Haut Lafitte 1997 Pessac Léognan 16.5 Drink 2004-09
Very firm crimson and, like the Canon, some real bottle development on the nose. This would have been made quite early on in the Cathiards’ tenure – pre Rolland by the taste of it (although see your turn). I really like that lift and minerally life. It’s a steal at the price. You’d have to be careful what you served with it – nothing too forceful – but this is a real (old-fashioned?) claret lover’s drink. Some neatness and length. Lovely transparency. This does taste like Graves. Hallelujah!
£150 a case in bond from Farr Vintners, London SW8 (£250 en primeur)
This wine is strictly for the converted – those converted to the subtle joys of mature red bordeaux that is no fruit bomb, but is beautifully balanced and makes great drinking with relatively simple, and certainly not sweet or spicy, food. Roast lamb? A beef salad? A cheese soufflé? Salmon fishcakes?
I also tasted the 1997 white which is the same price. There is nothing wrong with it, but it is starting to take on that slightly heavy, oily character of mature white Graves without quite enough zest to keep it interesting enough for me.
The red is not difficult to track down via winesearcher.com but the US prices look much less attractive, alas.