France

Cabernet Sauvignon

Merlot

Cabernet Franc

Ch. Cheval Blanc

Chateau Cheval Blanc Premier Grand Cru Classe A Saint-Emilion Grand Cru

Bordeaux

Saint-Emilion Grand Cru

We are in an entirely different world of textured tannins, and dense fruit character compared to most, clearly among the red wines of the vintage. Showing an inky character, cigar box, cassis, bluberry, crushed roses, gunsmoke and flint nose along with powerful but understated blueberry and damson fruits. The 30th anniversary with Pierre Lurton as director, and the last official year as Premier Grand Cru Classé A - both things that put this firmly in the buy camp. Biggest percentage of Cabernet Franc since 2011, and the first time to use more Cabernet Franc than Merlot in the blend. 100% new oak.

Inside Bordeaux

A blend of 52% Cabernet Franc, 43% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, there were 72,000 bottles produced of Cheval Blanc 2021. It has a deep garnet-purple color and springs from the glass with energetic notes of kirsch, black raspberries, and wild strawberries, followed by suggestions of menthol, lavender, and cedar chest. The medium-bodied palate shimmers with red berry and mineral layers, supported by fine-grained tannins and well-knit freshness, finishing long with loads of floral sparkles. So, so pretty!

by Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW

Lilac, peony flowers, same family of aromatics as the Petit Cheval, same feeling of finesse and precision, but here everything has been taken up a notch, more density, more slate and pumice stone texture. Expect subtle complexity, a wine that steals up on you, impresses in its precision and clarity. July and August just 20mm of rain each month, well below 30 year average, 140mm rain in September, highest since 2006, harvest September 18 to October 3, 3.62ph (3.9ph in 2022), 37 plots out of the 56 in the vineyard are in here.  100% new oak for ageing. Looking forward to seeing after ageing, it has all the elements and bones in place for a totally delicious Cheval.

The 2023 Cheval Blanc, accounting for 75% of this year's crop, is deep garnet-purple in color. After a little swirling, the nose erupts with an atomic perfume of Morello cherries, wild blueberries, black raspberries, and ripe plums leading to a fragrant undercurrent of rosebud tea, menthol, star anise, and cinnamon stick. The medium-bodied palate is fantastically fresh and graceful, delivering super-fine-grained tannins and just enough tension to support the red, black, and blue fruit layers, finishing on a lingering mineral note. This is magnificent. The blend is 52% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon, with pH 3.80.

The 2022 Cheval Blanc is a blend of 53% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon and it has a deep garnet-purple color. It erupts from the glass with an intense perfume of violets, rose oil, and licorice, leading to a vibrant, fruity core of juicy blueberries, fresh blackberries, redcurrant preserves, and raspberry coulis, plus a waft of cinnamon stick. Medium-bodied, the palate begins fragrant and opulent, textures and flavors melting in the mouth like Turkish Delight, leading to a generous core of juicy black, blue, and red berry layers, supported by super-fine, silt-like tannins, finishing very long, minerally and refreshing. So graceful, so singular, so Cheval.

Great purity and intensity, layers of fresh dark fruit, plum, cassis, detailed and layered with an extraordinary density and super refined tannins, good notion of freshness and a superbly long finish. Great already and tremendous potential.

Sommelier

100 - Robert Parker The Wine Advocate
97 - Wine Spectator
100 - Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider
98 - Jane Anson - Inside Bordeaux

Critic Average Rating

The 2018 Cheval Blanc is deep garnet purple in color. It drifts effortlessly out of the glass with scents of black cherry compote, boysenberry preserves, and anise, plus touches of cedar, pencil shavings, and kirsch. Full-bodied, the palate is rich and muscular with firm, grainy tannins and a long, earthy finish. 

Exotic nose with mint, sage, ripe dark fruit, pure cassis, gravel and black cherry no noticeable oak, rather ripe and intense, yet with plenty of class and elegance. The palate is dense and concentrated yet in a somewhat medium body with just muscles and no fat. incredible purity, texture and length. Very harmonious and complete in a more open and accesible style, yet with the classic elegance.

This has depths that steal up on you, clinging on through the palate, dark fruit expression, cassis bud, blackcurrant puree, raspberry leaf and mandarin peel freshness, nuanced and gorgeous and hard to argue with. All the plots but two made it into the main wine in this vintage. 100% new oak, Pierre Lurton director. As an aside, it's wonderful tasting Cheval and Ausone in 2015, as both deliver such a clear imprint of their different locations in St Emilion, and both are exceptional wines.

Deep garnet-brick in color, the 2014 Cheval Blanc needs a lot of swirling to unlock notes of plum preserves and fruitcake plus suggestions of garrigue, black pepper, and tapenade with a hint of camphor. The medium to full-bodied palate has a rock solid structure of chewy tannins and bold freshness supporting the savory, muscular fruit, finishing on a lingering mineral note.

One of the best of the lineup, this has supple tannins, nuanced raspberry and redcurrant fruit, with lift and juice through the finish. Still an early drinker with higher acidity than in most years of this wine, but one that is worth seeking out and enjoying, with just a hint of the magic of these soils. 60% 1st wine with the rest divided into 20% Petit Cheval, with 20% declassified.

Seductive, rich flavours, far more creamy in its fruit expression than many of the top Left Banks in the 2012 vintage, and yet also higher in fresh acidities, giving a lovely push-and-pull contrast. Persistent, with sage and white pepper spice, this is a nuanced and sculputed wine, full of personality and grace. Not the depth of the truly great vintages at Cheval such as the 2010 or 2016, but this is one of the wines of the tasting, with layers of flavour that will take decades to fully unwind. 100% new oak.

Solbær, lyse bjørnebær, sorte og røde plommer, paprika, grønnaktig spice, krydder, pepper, hint av anis, lakris, pene integrerte eiketoner.

Smak av blåbær, røde plommer, og noe sursøt solbær. Veldig elegant på smak, fin konsentrasjon, med fin lengde.

Smakt hos Chateau Cheval-Blanc.

Expert

Stunning, a huge wall of tannins, with rich liquorice and black chocolate notes. Traces of the high alcohols on the palate if you are really looking for them, but there is just so much going on here that you barely notice (and let's not forget 1947 Cheval was pretty much 15%!)

Aromatically open, welcoming and nuanced, closing down slightly in the mid palate as it promises to hunker down for the long haul but already it is clear just what an exceptionally good wine this is. Tasting surprisingly nuanced and balanced next to the monumental 2010 at supper - this has more minerality and lyricism. Soft raspberry fruits and smoked liqourice that remind me of the 2006 but this is far more layered and complex and a brilliant vintage - maybe a better comparison is the 1982 about it in that it felt so approchable at first that it was almost underestimated but keeps on delivering at the top of expectations, with waves of flavours and an easy but powerful grip. 67% 1st wine. I gave this wine 100 points when I tasted it at the 10 years on mark, and I am so happy to report that it continues to delight.

A great moment to begin drinking this, although still young at 15 years old with no rush to get going. Rich berry fruits, huge depth to the black cherry, textured raspberry and bilberry flavours, firm and fresh. Just the beginning of tobacco, fennel, truffle and crushed stone. 3.94ph. A year that really favoured Merlot, and its seductive appeal is fully on display.

Almost equal proportions of Cabernet and Merlot, summing up how balanced the 2005 vintage was. Rosehip, rose petal, ripe raspberry fruits. Now beginning to open up, even inching towards tertiary with its wisps of florality and tobacco but still with so much power and concentration. This is right up there as one of the wines of the vintage, with huge complexity, touches of Asian spice, mint leaf, you really feel just how much is going on in the glass. Plenty of Cheval signature in its classicism and balance, with a moreish bitter almond and salted cracker signoff. I last had this three or four years ago and it was not ready, but it has flipped the switch now, and can be enjoyed with a good few hours in a carafe. Harvest September 12 to 27, 42hl/h yield. 100% new oak, 57% of overall production, no press wine. Vinified in the old cellar, and this is three years before the arrival of current technical director Pierre Olivier Clouet, with Thierry Garnrud cellar master, Pierre Lurton director. Unrolls in the glass, with decades ahead of it.

Leather, tobacco, plum, chocolate, blackcurrant, cedar, pepper, red fruit, dark fruit and smoke

Nuanced supple tannins with saffron, cold ash and violets notes. Extremely charming, this highlights so many of the things that Cheval Blanc does so well - nuance, elegant, precision, flesh, silken fruits with freshly crushed mint and eucalyptus on the finish. 55% 1st wine, 1% press wine with 100% new oak.

A blend of 53% Merlot and 47% Cabernet Franc, the 2000 Cheval Blanc has a medium garnet-brick color. It explodes with an amazingly complex array of fragrant earth and exotic spice scents, leading to a core of raspberry preserves, cherry cola, dried mulberries, and violets, plus hints of licorice, iron ore, and unsmoked cigars. The palate is gracefully styled and medium-bodied with layer upon layer of fruit, earth, and perfumed spice flavors, framed by silky tannins and beautiful tension, finishing long and minerally. Phenomenal!

The 1999 Cheval Blanc has a deep garnet-brick color. The nose opens with notions of pencil lead, bay leaves, preserved plums, and redcurrant jelly, plus a hint of crushed rocks. The medium-bodied palate is fresh and well-defined, with lightly chewy tannins and a ferrous finish.

Igjen en elegant vin - fastere i frukten i peer group - pen sødme - sublim balanse - (95)

Part of a crazy lineup of wines at a private supper this year, and this was the glass that disappeared on me almost before I noticed I was drinking it. Layer upon layer of black truffle, white truffle, redcurrant and raspberry fruit, with edges of lemongrass and pomegranate punctuating the rich texture with points of freshness. There are tannins here, offering the most gentle of guidance at this point, and yet you just know this wine has decades still ahead of it. A hot and dry year tha produced a healthy yield of just under 45hl/h. 84% of the production in this wine, harvest 15 to 28 September (matching on 1989 and 1990 in terms of early harvests over the previous 50 years). Underestimated by most critics at the time of release, this is still going strong.

A blend of 50% Merlot and 50% Cabernet Franc, the 1989 Cheval Blanc comes from a dry, hot vintage. It has a medium brick color and the nose begins with ferrous wafts of rusty nails, giving way to a core of redcurrant preserves, sweaty leather, dusty soil, and incense, followed by a touch of unsmoked cigars. The medium-bodied palate is elegant, refreshing, and soft-textured, delivering a lifted finish.

Transparent ruby with a garnet rim. Blueberries, cassis, leather and minerals. Fresh acidity. Vibrant and playful with cherries, licorice, crowberries and spice. Polished integrated tannins. Very long.

Drink from now until 2040(?).

Cheval Blanc is one of the most modern wineries in Bordeaux. They have 41 hectares of vineyard located very close to Pomerol with sandy blue clay soil. From Cheval Blanc you have a 20 minute walk to Petrus and less to Figeac. Up to 1838 the vineyards were a part of Chateau Figeac. It was then purchased by the Ducasse family.

Along with Chateau Ausone, Angelus and Pavie, Cheval Blanc is one of the four Premier Grand Cru Classe A in St. Emilion.

In the movie Ratatouille (do see it if you have not) the Restaurant critic Anton Ego orders a bottle of 1947 Cheval Blanc to go with "some fresh, clear, well-seasoned perspective". The 47 is an iconic bottle of Cheval Blanc. Have I tasted the 1947 vintage? Nope, but I just tasted a splendid 1986 Cheval Blanc :)

Nesen bærer preg av tobakk, plomme, kirsæbær og krydder. Tanninene er helt avslepne og har nå sluppet grepet sitt. Vedvarende finish.

Amatør

The 1982 Chevel Blanc has a medium garnet-brick color and springs from the glass with scents of kirsch, dried cranberries, and pencil shavings, leading to hints of rose oil, rare steak, and crushed rocks. The medium-bodied palate is packed with mature red fruit and earthy layers, textured with satiny tannins and delivering seamless acidity, finishing on a long-lingering mocha note. Still very youthful, this was clearly a very good bottle, coming directly from the Chateau. The yields in 1982 for Cheval Blanc were a whopping 55 hl/ha, according to Pierre Lurton.

BN fill med en fin kork som kanskje er 30% gjennomtrukket. Murstein i kjernen med en tydelig brunet kant. Åpner ganske svakt med med en vegg av søtlig tobakk og cedertre på nesen. Etter en times tid på karaffel kommer det toner av klassisk bdx i form av solbærblad, litt plommer, grafitt, søt tobakk, cedetre samt et snev av lauvbærblad. Med syre.  Lett elegant men ganske dempet rød frukt med en balanse på det svart syrlige siden. Lette peppertoner, full integrerte tanniner men med en nydelig konsentrasjon med flere komplekse lag i smakskurven. Runder ut i en medium + lang utgang preget av søtlig tobakk. Tenker denne flasken nok har vært bedre når det fantes litt mer frukt som kunne bidrat til en ennå mer presis balanse, men opplevelse og drikkegleden er det absolutt ikke noe å si på


fra Furuholmen auksjonen - perfekt 75 med runde tanniner - ørlite jordlig med mørke bær. Kjølig kjeller vinner alltid.

Wow, sitter fortsatt ved bordet. Skriver mens jeg har smaken på tunga. Fra et trist år for bordeaux så kommer de sterke frem. Korken smuldret med duranden men med tålmodighet så gikk hele ut uten biter i vinen. 

Fløtekonsistens med smak av mørke bær, vanilje og eksellens. Duft av skog, mose og høst. 

Enda rød i fargen (drukket flere viner fra 73 der alle har vært brune). 

Drukket til indrefilet

Fantastisk

definisjonen av eleganse. Intet preg av tørket frukt. Sømløs vin med dyp frukt. Raffinert og kompleks. En av de bedre røde bdx på lenge (95+)

Har mer å gå på - mørkere frukt enn 60/50/40 - frisk - strålende syre - pen fruktsødme - delikat krydret (94+) /// Okt. '21: Overraskende tannisk (95)

The 1967 Cheval Blanc has a medium brick color. The nose begins subtle and restrained, offering soft-spoken scents of leather, cast-iron pan, and Indian spices, before revealing a fragrant core of lavender and cherry cola, with a fragrant waft of dried roses. The medium-bodied palate is lively and delicately nuanced, with loads of exotic spices and mineral sparks, textured by powdery tannins, finishing on a lingering mineral note.

kraftfull, fortsatt tanniner, kunne vært mer energisk

fra Furuholmen kjelleren - utsøkt fruktsødme med underliggende mineralitet mot varm grus - mørk eksotisk krydret frukt - sensuell tekstur - strålende flaske (94)

perfekt kork - meget elegant - slankere enn 59 og mindre søt - sømløs - perfekt balansrt - (96)

Solbær, lett tørkede svisker, søt tobakk, lavendel, kompleks og elegant, utrolig ren, høy konsentrasjon, fløyeltanniner. 

Imponerende ungdommelig og givende frukt, på mange måter alt man leter etter. 98p

16.05.13 på Bagatelle: 1947 Cheval Blanc magnum: Nesen var mildt sagt eksotisk - nesten som første gangen jeg entret et beduintelt i Saudi Arabia i 1993. I munnen merket man definitivt varmen fra alkoholen - ekstrem mocca og sjokolade - etter 30 sekunder gikk vinen over i en mer "elegant" finish - det er syre til å matche motoroljen, men nærmere port kommer man ikke. (96-98) 
// Sep. '20: mye mer elegant enn en magnum på Bagatelle for noen år tilbake - delikat fruktsødme - sublim tanninfølelse mot skifer - rød frukt - ren paprika - raffinert - lang blir årets understatement (99) // Sep. '20: korken kom ut hel - rikerer og mer krydret enn den forrige - dypere frukt, men lavere syre og ikke så kompleks - dog en utsøkt vin (96) // Nov. '20: intens og frisk, mer mot rødfrukt. (95) // Okt '21: fjerde flasken fra den samme kalde norske kjelleren - noe rikere og «ferskere» frukt enn de tre andre flaskene - ørlite volatil - dyp frukt - kledelig spice - røk - sjokolade og kirsebær - støvete tanniner - kommer med luft - de kunne det før  (97)

Mähler-Besse - rekorket på chateauet i 2018 - en godt moden CB - plomme og sjokolade, ikke den mest konsentrerte og noe tørring på finish - men ingen oksidasjon og urenheter - ok lengde

Category	Red wine
Vinmonopolet no.
Producer	Ch. Cheval Blanc
Vintages	2021
Country	France, Bordeaux, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru
Bottle	75 cl

Alcohol	13 %
Acid	5,3 %
Sugar	< 3 g/l

Packaging	Glass
Cork type	Naturkork
Selection	Bestillingsutvalget
Wholesaler	Belmonte Beverage Group As
Carrier	Skanlog AS