CHATEAU SMITH HAUT LAFITTE
Famously, Château Haut-Brion was the only red wine outside the Médoc region to be recognised in the 1855 Grands Crus Classés ranking. But there was a second estate, just a few miles to the south in the (then) region of Graves, that played an equally important if less high-profile role. This was Château Smith Haut Lafitte, whose owner Lodi-Martin Duffour-Dubergier was mayor of Bordeaux at the time. He was the man who decided to illustrate Bordeaux’s exhibition space in Paris with a classification of the region’s best wines. He instructed the local brokers to come up with a list, so giving the world a set of names that still dominates fine wine today.
Despite having a history that dates back to the 14th
