2019 Château Smith Haut Lafitte
Community Tasting Note
Agunner23 Likes this wine:
98 Points
Sunday, July 23, 2023 - What a wine. Plenty of body and heft to go around. This is built for the cellar or a decent. I decanted it for a couple of hours, and it opened up, not all the way but enough to be enjoyed. There is plenty of fatty laced dark fruit with super silky tannins. I actually fell asleep around 10 pm, woke up around 7, and had a whole glass left and gave it a quick sniff, and it opened up even further. So I waited till about 3 Pm and drank it, and it was still outstanding. This wine has an awesome QPR coming in at $99 on sale at my local chain store and I bought them out, and another of the same store has 7 left in stock and I will be buying them up.
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3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue (9,162 views)
3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue (9,162 views)
Comment posted by IlliniWine:
7/23/2023 7:10:00 PM - A gunner: Thanks for the note. I would not normally have opened one of these for quite a few more years. But based on your note, I may have to give one of mine a try. I grew up in Homewood and still have family living there. Wish I had driven over to buy my bottles from wherever you got yours because you got a much better price point than I paid!
Comment posted by Agunner23:
7/24/2023 4:08:00 AM - What a small world. I picked them up from Binny's. Glad the review helped. I have started trying some wines early, like the 09 Lynch-Bages which is fantastic at such a young age. I am glad I got a bunch of it. I was drinking it so fast that I did not even bother adding it in cellar tracker. I still have about 16 bottles left. I just bought out Orland Park and Oak Brook Binny's out of the Smith Haut Liffite.
Comment posted by IlliniWine:
7/24/2023 6:41:00 AM - Agunner: Good for you. I stopped buying at Binny's becasue I found I was paying way too much. Then, just a couple of weeks ago, I found that they had pretty good pricing on a 2019 LaGaffeliere. Now you're telling me that they have great pricing on the Haut Lafitte. Guess I've got to get back to checking them out again. I like the Orland store. My store in Mokena doesn't usually have much depth.
Comment posted by Agunner23:
7/24/2023 8:48:00 AM - Once every other month, they have a great deal or two. I picked up a '15 Colgin IX for $100 off on their current sale. I am friends with the wine manager at Orland (Nate), and I always get hooked up there. Mokena sometimes has stuff that Orland does not. Just a couple of weeks ago, some customer finished their wine cellar in the house and bought $40K in wine, mostly bordeaux so Orland is out of stock on a lot of the stuff I want. So I go to Mokena, plus the tax is less in Mokena. They just had a 15% off a single bottle of wine sale last Saturday, and I bought a bottle of '18 Sloan and got $108 off. I also have a 15% off another bottle with Nate because I was supposed to get my bottle of '16 Harlan estate and got charged full price for it, so they have a bottle of '19 Harlan Estate on hold for me and I will use the 15% off for that. I have about $890 in binny's points saved up. I think I will just keep saving them and get that bottle of Harlan for free.
Comment posted by IlliniWine:
7/24/2023 8:59:00 AM - Agunner23: Dang, you're a good shopper! My wife is constantly telling me that I don't do enough homework. I guess I have to start listening. Do these sales happen with regularity? Or do you just need to pop in and browse every couple of weeks to find them?
Comment posted by Agunner23:
7/24/2023 9:20:00 AM - They rotate about every 30 days. Like I said, they put some good stuff on sale every other month. Last month they had Shafer Hillside select on sale for $235 a bottle and bought binny's out of stock except for the one bottle in Joliet, and their price for that wine is $350 now. Nate is going to Joliet for a couple days this week and I will get that last bottle amongst a couple other bottles that Joliet has that no other store has. They also had Quintess '19 on sale for $200 and I picked up a couple of them. I added you as a friend and hopefully, you get to check out what I have in my cellar. What town do you live in?
Comment posted by IlliniWine:
7/24/2023 9:41:00 AM - We live in Frankfort. Moved here from Homewood in '89. I friended you back. I'll check out your cellar later in the week, but I can tell from your comments that you're building a really impressive portfolio. Next two days are super busy but I'll check back in after I've taken a peek. Take a look at my cellar when you have a chance. I have a lot of work to do on it.
Comment posted by RichEB1:
7/24/2023 6:25:00 PM - Great note, thank you very much! Could not be happier that I was able to snag some of these at Costco for the insane price of $85. The deals they had on 2019 Bordeaux is the type of pricing that we'll likely (and sadly) never see again. Cheers and thanks again for the great note!
Comment posted by Agunner23:
7/24/2023 6:35:00 PM - Wow, what a deal, I will be going to Costco tomorrow and see what they have, thank you for the heads up!
Comment posted by RichEB1:
7/24/2023 6:51:00 PM - No problem.....but just a heads up that most Costco's seem to have sold through the better 2019 Bordeaux already, and some even have 2020 in stock (at higher prices). Just didn't want you to be disappointed if you make the trip and end up walking away empty handed.....and cursing my Cellar Tracker Name, ha!
Comment posted by Agunner23:
7/24/2023 8:37:00 PM - That is cool thanks, I will get something from there, wine or not. I need a 5-gallon bucket of pickles anyways lol.
Comment posted by RichEB1:
7/24/2023 9:38:00 PM - Don't forget the paper towels!! ;)
Comment posted by Agunner23:
7/25/2023 6:07:00 AM - Funny, you should say that I do need paper towels and will be picking up a pallet of them.
Comment posted by Agunner23:
7/25/2023 12:44:00 PM - Oustanding, went to costco and pick up all the '18 smith haut lafite, 14 bottles for 79.97 a piece. I got all they had l.they had one OWC and the rest loose.
Comment posted by RichEB1:
7/25/2023 12:46:00 PM - Nice work buddy! Gotta love Costco!
Comment posted by Agunner23:
7/25/2023 1:10:00 PM - You, also picked four bottles of '19 Siran for 24.99 a bottle and something I never seen before, a second or third label of Pape Clement, it is a blanc and it was 26 99. Again thanks for the heads up on costco!
Comment posted by IlliniWine:
7/25/2023 1:11:00 PM - AGUNNER23: I'm jealous. I usually check Costco every week but they haven't had anything that interests me for some time now. I haven't checked now in a month - just what I get for slacking off! Guess I'll just have to enjoy my six bottles purchased at a much higher price point!
Comment posted by IlliniWine:
8/1/2023 12:58:00 PM - AGUNNER23: I finally had some time to check out your cellar - IMPRESSIVE! You've amassed an awesome collection. The breadth of bordeaux is tremendous - you have lots of vintages that should be in a great drinking window now and plenty that will give you something to look forward to for years to come. And you've got enough other varietals to change things up and keep things interesting - something to drink whether you're in the mood for new world/old world, young/aged, full bodied/medium bodied. Great job! You're an inspiration!