Cheval Blanc Vertical

Cheval Blanc means "white horse." What is Cheval Blanc? Well, what's a horse? Plato pointed out that while horses vary widely among themselves, there is an ideal form of "horseness" to which every horse accords in most of its essential qualities, even though no horse itself perfectly resembles the ideal of "horseness." Vertical tastings are a useful way to figure out what the "horseness," or the Platonic ideal, of a particular wine is. None of the wines we had tonight achieved the ideal form of Cheval Blancness, but taste them all together and the ideal form nevertheless emerges. And this time, the closest to the ideal was the dark horse, Cheval Blanc 1981.

• 1981 Château Cheval Blanc 95 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  At its peak and, consequently, the runaway wine of the night for me. Expressively fragrant bouquet combining autumn leaves with a cakey sweetness. The fruit is still juicy and fresh to taste with firm and precise acidity given added weight by its sticky sappiness. But the dominant flavor isn't fruit at all but bold tobacco that bulges like a plume of cigar smoke on the back end.

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• 1983 Château Cheval Blanc Flawed

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Maderized nose with figs and raw nuts. Clearly not a well-stored bottle, but it tastes more agreeable than it smells.

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• 1993 Château Cheval Blanc 84 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Quiet bouquet with that leafy autumnal character but very faint. Linear in structure, thrown out of balance by the heavy tannin, which is drying and dusty and substantially outweighs the rest of the material here. It almost feels structured like a Barolo but it's hard to imagine merlot/cabernet franc softening all that tannin the way nebbiolo can. The gamey finish makes it more interesting and it shows decent Cheval character, but the substance is too weak to prevail over all that muscle.

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• 1989 Château Cheval Blanc 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  A sweet, nutty bouquet but relatively faint. A powerhouse in the mouth, very dark in profile with a grip that sticks, and sticks, and sticks . . . more from its fundamental sappiness than the tannin, which is actually pretty soft and graceful. The fruit is marked by a compote-like sur-maturite but the minty finish adds freshness. All that said, this needs more time for the terroir to out. There is still a lot of young, primary fruit here that will need to evolve before the signatures of Cheval Blanc make their appearance.

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• 1985 Château Cheval Blanc Flawed

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Corked.

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• 1999 Château Cheval Blanc 87 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Soft but pretty fragrance of fresh leaves, but this time spring leaves instead of autumn. The fruit has the flavor of the bold, ripe 1995 but tastes more dilute and watery, especially on the back. Despite the relative leanness it executes that leafy tobacco character very clearly, so good typicity on the light side.

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• 1996 Château Cheval Blanc 89 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Smoky bouquet, wisps of cigarette smoke and barbecue smoke. More transparency than the 1995 as well as more tartness and acidic bite. There is a wall of structure but the wine seeps through it OK. A shadow of the 1995 in terms of scale and intensity, but it tastes more typical of Cheval Blanc today.

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• 1995 Château Cheval Blanc 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Smells just like a barrel sample: just-crushed grapes and a tire-rubber thing. A heavyweight in the mouth, expansive juice that utterly slathers the palate with sweet cranberry fruit until the tannins take over and just colonize your tongue. This ought to be a great wine some day but please don't kill it now. Zero reward.

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• 2001 Château Cheval Blanc 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Starts out very aromatic - briar, toast, and black fruit - then it quiets down. Blacker in flavor than the 2002 and structured with screechy tannin like a cru Beaujolais and dynamic acidity like a Clos Roche Blanche Cabernet. Next to the 2003, a ninja vs. a sumo wrestler. My money's on the ninja.

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• 2002 Château Cheval Blanc 86 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Oaky nose like antique furniture. Slick-textured, glossy fruit and muscular tannin somehow coexist. Thick in body. Give this time to come together.

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• 2003 Château Cheval Blanc 78 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Smells like a barrel sample, fat grapes and toasty oak. Tastes like an Australian Grenache. Fatter than Fat Elvis and stickier than peanut butter, this will thrill those who crave wines they can spread on toast and, to be perfectly fair, if you spread this on toast your toast would taste just a little bit like Cheval Blanc.

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