France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Dark fruit, mineral, herbs, some ash on the nose. A palate with only medium concentration, dark fruit, not overly harmonious. Fine tannins, a bit too high acidity, not overly well integrated. Being revealed as the 2003 I was surprised as this is not how you would expect a 2003 to be. This was in the first flight (03, 04, 05, 07) and my palate was not yet fully ready. Hence, in an ideal setting I would probably score it higher than the 91 points.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: This was quite unspectacular, not overly deep, not enough wait on the mid palate, some greenish notes but otherwise fine tannins and a well integrated acidity. This was in the first flight (03, 04, 05, 07) and my palate was not yet fully ready. Hence, in an ideal setting I would probably score it higher than the 89 points.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: This was a notable underperformer. The concentration was better than in the 03 or 04, there are some first nice signs of age with tobacco and leather but overall I found this quite closed and not overly harmonious (acidity). But you could sense that the wine has more in store. I had this at the beginning of the night and my palate was probably not yet fully ready. Hence, in an ideal setting and with proper decanting, I would likely score it higher than the 91 points. This needs air and time.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Dark ripe fruit, hints of coffee and some toffee on the round and harmonious nose. Very fragrant, soft and feminine on the palate with dark and some red fruit at the core. Very soft structure, round and balanced with good length. After being revealed I was a bit disappointed as I expected clearly more depth from a 2000. But maybe this 2000 is just still a bit in a sleepy phase (many 2000s are). 94 points with upside potential.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Dark fruit, caramel, some herbs on the pleasing nose with medium+ intensity. Lots of mineral scents with crushed rock, gravels, earth and tree bark on the palate, a nice sweetness which, however, was not intense and present enough to make this a fully harmonious experience. Some coffee notes with some time. Good round structure, medium- length. Good but without any exceptionalism.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Dark, dense black hole nose which sucks in all the aromas which might be there. The structure is impeccable with loads of very fine tannins, not one hard edge and a well-integrated acidity. There is so much substance and elegant weight on the palate but the wines is not overly expressive. Some fruit and some nice tertiary aromas at the center. The precision was medium at best. On a side note: This is the third bottle of this for me in the past 2 years: The first bottle was a youthful superstar, the second bottle was much more evolved missing concentration and now this bottle was muted and closed. Strangely extreme differences in terms aroma profile, character and especially stage of development. JM Quarin sitting next to me blamed the crappy corks the winery used that year which turns “buying or opening a bottle of this into a lottery”. Make sure that you have enough time to decant the wine if you pop a bottle today. 94 points today but with much more potential (I’ve rated it 98 before).
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: This showed quite nice with lots of quite ripe red fruit, a good terroir expression with crushed rocks, gravel and some barnyard notes. Quite nice aromatic profile with good precision but not overly deep or concentrated and one of the lesser Chevals in terms of softness and harmony. Anyway a good wine, especially for such a subpar vintage.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Sadly, this was slightly corked which made tainted the experience and made an analysis of the nose quite difficult. Much less of a problem on the palate. This was a lot of fun to drink. Dark and red fruit, perfumed floral notes, lots meaty notes (this was rather surprising), leather and all embedded in a powerful but soft structure with softened tannins and a good acidity and on top with a very good length. Like many 2001 this would be a steal which could easily reach 95-97 points (without the TCA and with a one or the other more years on the hip). Still not really a strong buy considering the price. 94 (probably 96 without the cork).
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: When revealed, this was a massive surprise, especially as I didn’t knew that the 2011 Cheval has a great reputation (with high ratings from critics and a well-deserved high CT rating). This wine has a dense, concentrated nose with dark fruit, red berries, mocca, meaty notes and herbs. Packed, round and sexy on the palate (would you ever expect to describe a 2011 like that?) displaying all the before-mentioned aromas along lots of burnt sugar centered around a fresh and sexy red fruit core and embedded in a soft structure, with very good length. 95 points (following this over a few hours and the rating would certainly have been one or two points higher).
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Wow! This is one of the best Cheval Blancs in the past 40 years, if not the very best (haven’t had the 2018, though). In hot years like 2015, the Cheval gets this extra kick in terms of concentration and complexity (same is true for the 2009 and the 1982) which lifts the wine into higher spheres. In addition, this 2015 shines with its incredible purity. Tons of aromas with fresh red cherries, pure strawberries, red forest berries, some darker fruit, cola, coffee, herbs, wet earth, gravel, cola. Intense, highly precise, great length, super structure with ultra-fine tannins, a perfect acidity. This was good and special from the go (bottle opened three hours earlier) but got clearly better in the glass and with some swirling. I would give it two, three hours in the decanter. A must buy. 99 points today. On its own, following over a few hours and/or once mature this might very well reach perfection.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Herbs, meat, mineral-driven with some development showing and more dark fruit than red fruit. Medium complexity and precision. Of all the Chevals we had this had the least soft structure with a bit of furry tannins and high power. Not as fine-grained as the other vintages but in now way bad. Very good freshness. Medium length. This is very pleasant but without any exceptionalism. 94 points today, can probably reach 95 or 96 once hitting its peak but hardly the 97+ point category.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Not overly expressive, cool, fresh in style, fairly round and balance, some terroir expression and red fruit perfume but overall lean, subpar concentration and hardly any complexity. Not that it would be bad to drink, not that it is not likely one of the better 2013s but this is just not interesting enough.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: This is one of the weaker vintages missing concentration and showing a bit much ripness and slightly too much alcohol and a slightly drying finish. Not much to chase. It got a bit better and more balanced with time in the glass but overall quite mediocre, despite the signature soft structure.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Second time this year I’ve taste this great vintage and it again delivers. This is one of the more slutty 2009 Bordeaux with loads of coffee, toffee, herbs, dark and red fruit on the intense nose. Hard to stop smelling the wine. Same is true for the palate with weight and verve without being heavy or cloying with a much more red fruit profile and all the above mentioned layers and an additional mineral layer. Perfectly structured and with a never ending finish. Rated 97 the last time, 98 this time. As I wrote a few months ago, this will probably be not the longest-lasting 2009 but it is one of the best to drink today. 98+ points. I could even see 99 points.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Despite a first impression of a very closed wine with limited complexity it became instantly clear, that this could be one of the great years. The exceptional purity of the fruit, the heightened elegance, the magic sense of weightlessness... A Burgundian vintage. At first not enough concentration but with more swirling the wine gained substance and became more open with more and more aromas popping up. Like many 2010s this would have needed several hours (5+ at least) in the decanter, in context of this larger vertical tasting the wine got only two, three hours of slow-ox which was not remotely enough. 95 points today with potential for much more. It will be great to taste it against its sluttier, hotter 2009 sibling in 5, 10 and 20 years.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: To be honest, I haven’t had enough time to taste it properly. When the flight was revealed I still was sucked-in by the 2009 and 2010 served alongside. As the next flight was about to be served and as 2006 was not a particularly good vintage I took a quick sniff and sip, found it rather lean and uninspiring and went on.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: This was rather lean and uninspiring vintage. The structure was impeccable with the softness and elegance of Cheval which transpired through all vintages as well as a good freshness but the complexity and precision was subpar with not enough concentration. Mostly red fruit dominating the picture. Medium+ length.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: With some swirling this wine opened-up nicely with red fruit, tertiary aromas, coffee, toffee and mineral scents on the nose and additional aromas of herbs, meat and earthy tones on the palate. Not as harmonious, deep, concentrated and precise as the best vintages but a lovely wine.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: This seemed much younger than the 1996 drank alongside, darker and red fruit, quite ripe, not as elegant and round with a slightly overpowering acidity. Not overly complex vintage but with a good density, concentration and length. Solid effort.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Wonderful fine aromatics with black truffles, forest floor, red and dark red fruit, tobacco, tree bark. Perfectly mature with good level of fruit to form a highly enjoyable wine. It’s does not have the concentration or complexity of the big years but there is enough tension and good length to make this a very enjoyable wine I could quaff liters of it. Lots of fun to drink. In the context of this tasting easily 94 points. Probably even 95/96 drinking it on its own and following it over some hours. The 1982 is clearly and by far the best Cheval from the 80s but this 85 beats all other vintages (we had no 83, though).
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Extraordinary wine, easily 97-99 points today. The nose is incredibly intriguing and sexy full of coffee, toffee, leather and truffles along sweet red fruit notes. Good concentration and tension on the medium+ bodied palate displaying the same above mentioned aromas with some herbs and more forest floor as well as some tobacco showing. But the most intriguing part is the very pure caramel aroma at the core. High complexity and precision, very good length, fully melted tannins, good acidity. This just has it all, the prefect structure and the alluring aromas. Wow! Perfect bottle with perfect provenance and storage.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Served right after the magical 1982 and it held its grounds well. Together with the 2009, this is most dominated by the burnt sugar, toasted oak, caramel sexiness. As with the others these aromas are perfectly balanced by abundant fruit and minerality. Very expressive and precise nose and palate, Very good structured with full-integrated soft tannins and a good freshness. I expected a bit more tertiary aromas after roughly 30 years but while not seeming young this is not yet fully there. Let’s wait and see but I’m not fully sure that it has enough tension to reach the highs of the 1982 in terms of complexity. Anyway, great wine.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: I did not spend too much time with this wine (as I kept crawling back to the 1982 and 1990 served beforehand). This is very pleasant, fresh and soft with lots of pure red fruit at the core and a surprisingly lots of pine tree/fir on the nose. This wine is clearly on the leaner side but still a fun to drink and slightly edging out he 86/88/89.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: While this has a bit higher concentration and density than the 88 but slightly weaker than the 87/89 and not match for the 85 or 82. I found it not as balanced and round as the other wines from the 80s. At times it showed even a bit heat but overall a solid effort with lots of the sexy aromas of coffee, burnt sugar along red fruit found in so many vintages. Medium- complexity, medium+ precision, good tension, good length.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Denser and a bit darker, more concentrated than the 86/87. Round and seductive dark red fruits, coffee, tobacco, old leather, forest floor. Overall not as well delineated and not as complex as in the best year but drinking pleasantly with a soft structure with melted tannins and a good acidity.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: I really like the nose here with a lot of stingy toasted oak, the most of all vintages. Same aromas on the palate along coffee, burnt sugar and nice red fruit. A bit disappointing in terms of depth and length given the much lauded 89 vintage, so not really one to chase but not bad either.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Another surprise. This seemed very young and very classic, without the burnt sugar notes of hotter years but very much driven by purity of fruit (fresh red fruit) and lots of terroir expression with wet earth and crushed rocks. Quite dense and powerful, this seemed to be very young. There is not much complexity or great length but it’s still a pleasant wine. I guess this will further improve with some age.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Not much to say about this wine as I didn’t fully dive into it at the end of a long tasting. Good concentration with dark red fruit, coffee, and minerality. Not much depth but pleasant to drink. 92/93 point experience.
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Good fill level (neck). At first there was some fizz and some gave up as the wine finished its malo. It needed a bit of unconventional swirling to get rid of the fizz and dive into the pure wine experience and what an experience it was. Like a well-aged Burgundy the nose shows stems, great terroir expression with wet earth and wet gravel/flint, a sexy component with some burnt sugar. Lots of sweet red fruit, coffee, burnt sugar, some stems on the palate. Fresh, soft, highly elegant and with good length. This wine in this condition easily deserves 95 points.
2003 Château Cheval Blanc 91 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Dark fruit, mineral, herbs, some ash on the nose. A palate with only medium concentration, dark fruit, not overly harmonious. Fine tannins, a bit too high acidity, not overly well integrated. Being revealed as the 2003 I was surprised as this is not how you would expect a 2003 to be. This was in the first flight (03, 04, 05, 07) and my palate was not yet fully ready. Hence, in an ideal setting I would probably score it higher than the 91 points.
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2004 Château Cheval Blanc 89 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: This was quite unspectacular, not overly deep, not enough wait on the mid palate, some greenish notes but otherwise fine tannins and a well integrated acidity. This was in the first flight (03, 04, 05, 07) and my palate was not yet fully ready. Hence, in an ideal setting I would probably score it higher than the 89 points.
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2005 Château Cheval Blanc 91 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: This was a notable underperformer. The concentration was better than in the 03 or 04, there are some first nice signs of age with tobacco and leather but overall I found this quite closed and not overly harmonious (acidity). But you could sense that the wine has more in store. I had this at the beginning of the night and my palate was probably not yet fully ready. Hence, in an ideal setting and with proper decanting, I would likely score it higher than the 91 points. This needs air and time.
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2000 Château Cheval Blanc 94 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Dark ripe fruit, hints of coffee and some toffee on the round and harmonious nose. Very fragrant, soft and feminine on the palate with dark and some red fruit at the core. Very soft structure, round and balanced with good length. After being revealed I was a bit disappointed as I expected clearly more depth from a 2000. But maybe this 2000 is just still a bit in a sleepy phase (many 2000s are). 94 points with upside potential.
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2007 Château Cheval Blanc 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Dark fruit, caramel, some herbs on the pleasing nose with medium+ intensity. Lots of mineral scents with crushed rock, gravels, earth and tree bark on the palate, a nice sweetness which, however, was not intense and present enough to make this a fully harmonious experience. Some coffee notes with some time. Good round structure, medium- length. Good but without any exceptionalism.
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1998 Château Cheval Blanc 94 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Dark, dense black hole nose which sucks in all the aromas which might be there. The structure is impeccable with loads of very fine tannins, not one hard edge and a well-integrated acidity. There is so much substance and elegant weight on the palate but the wines is not overly expressive. Some fruit and some nice tertiary aromas at the center. The precision was medium at best. On a side note: This is the third bottle of this for me in the past 2 years: The first bottle was a youthful superstar, the second bottle was much more evolved missing concentration and now this bottle was muted and closed. Strangely extreme differences in terms aroma profile, character and especially stage of development. JM Quarin sitting next to me blamed the crappy corks the winery used that year which turns “buying or opening a bottle of this into a lottery”. Make sure that you have enough time to decant the wine if you pop a bottle today. 94 points today but with much more potential (I’ve rated it 98 before).
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2002 Château Cheval Blanc 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: This showed quite nice with lots of quite ripe red fruit, a good terroir expression with crushed rocks, gravel and some barnyard notes. Quite nice aromatic profile with good precision but not overly deep or concentrated and one of the lesser Chevals in terms of softness and harmony. Anyway a good wine, especially for such a subpar vintage.
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2001 Château Cheval Blanc 94 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Sadly, this was slightly corked which made tainted the experience and made an analysis of the nose quite difficult. Much less of a problem on the palate. This was a lot of fun to drink. Dark and red fruit, perfumed floral notes, lots meaty notes (this was rather surprising), leather and all embedded in a powerful but soft structure with softened tannins and a good acidity and on top with a very good length. Like many 2001 this would be a steal which could easily reach 95-97 points (without the TCA and with a one or the other more years on the hip). Still not really a strong buy considering the price. 94 (probably 96 without the cork).
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2011 Château Cheval Blanc 95 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: When revealed, this was a massive surprise, especially as I didn’t knew that the 2011 Cheval has a great reputation (with high ratings from critics and a well-deserved high CT rating). This wine has a dense, concentrated nose with dark fruit, red berries, mocca, meaty notes and herbs. Packed, round and sexy on the palate (would you ever expect to describe a 2011 like that?) displaying all the before-mentioned aromas along lots of burnt sugar centered around a fresh and sexy red fruit core and embedded in a soft structure, with very good length. 95 points (following this over a few hours and the rating would certainly have been one or two points higher).
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2015 Château Cheval Blanc 99 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Wow! This is one of the best Cheval Blancs in the past 40 years, if not the very best (haven’t had the 2018, though). In hot years like 2015, the Cheval gets this extra kick in terms of concentration and complexity (same is true for the 2009 and the 1982) which lifts the wine into higher spheres. In addition, this 2015 shines with its incredible purity. Tons of aromas with fresh red cherries, pure strawberries, red forest berries, some darker fruit, cola, coffee, herbs, wet earth, gravel, cola. Intense, highly precise, great length, super structure with ultra-fine tannins, a perfect acidity. This was good and special from the go (bottle opened three hours earlier) but got clearly better in the glass and with some swirling. I would give it two, three hours in the decanter. A must buy. 99 points today. On its own, following over a few hours and/or once mature this might very well reach perfection.
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2012 Château Cheval Blanc 94 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Herbs, meat, mineral-driven with some development showing and more dark fruit than red fruit. Medium complexity and precision. Of all the Chevals we had this had the least soft structure with a bit of furry tannins and high power. Not as fine-grained as the other vintages but in now way bad. Very good freshness. Medium length. This is very pleasant but without any exceptionalism. 94 points today, can probably reach 95 or 96 once hitting its peak but hardly the 97+ point category.
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2013 Château Cheval Blanc 91 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Not overly expressive, cool, fresh in style, fairly round and balance, some terroir expression and red fruit perfume but overall lean, subpar concentration and hardly any complexity. Not that it would be bad to drink, not that it is not likely one of the better 2013s but this is just not interesting enough.
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2008 Château Cheval Blanc 90 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: This is one of the weaker vintages missing concentration and showing a bit much ripness and slightly too much alcohol and a slightly drying finish. Not much to chase. It got a bit better and more balanced with time in the glass but overall quite mediocre, despite the signature soft structure.
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2009 Château Cheval Blanc 98 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Second time this year I’ve taste this great vintage and it again delivers. This is one of the more slutty 2009 Bordeaux with loads of coffee, toffee, herbs, dark and red fruit on the intense nose. Hard to stop smelling the wine. Same is true for the palate with weight and verve without being heavy or cloying with a much more red fruit profile and all the above mentioned layers and an additional mineral layer. Perfectly structured and with a never ending finish. Rated 97 the last time, 98 this time. As I wrote a few months ago, this will probably be not the longest-lasting 2009 but it is one of the best to drink today. 98+ points. I could even see 99 points.
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2010 Château Cheval Blanc 95 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Despite a first impression of a very closed wine with limited complexity it became instantly clear, that this could be one of the great years. The exceptional purity of the fruit, the heightened elegance, the magic sense of weightlessness... A Burgundian vintage. At first not enough concentration but with more swirling the wine gained substance and became more open with more and more aromas popping up. Like many 2010s this would have needed several hours (5+ at least) in the decanter, in context of this larger vertical tasting the wine got only two, three hours of slow-ox which was not remotely enough. 95 points today with potential for much more. It will be great to taste it against its sluttier, hotter 2009 sibling in 5, 10 and 20 years.
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2006 Château Cheval Blanc
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: To be honest, I haven’t had enough time to taste it properly. When the flight was revealed I still was sucked-in by the 2009 and 2010 served alongside. As the next flight was about to be served and as 2006 was not a particularly good vintage I took a quick sniff and sip, found it rather lean and uninspiring and went on.
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1999 Château Cheval Blanc 91 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: This was rather lean and uninspiring vintage. The structure was impeccable with the softness and elegance of Cheval which transpired through all vintages as well as a good freshness but the complexity and precision was subpar with not enough concentration. Mostly red fruit dominating the picture. Medium+ length.
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1997 Château Cheval Blanc
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Corked.
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1996 Château Cheval Blanc 94 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: With some swirling this wine opened-up nicely with red fruit, tertiary aromas, coffee, toffee and mineral scents on the nose and additional aromas of herbs, meat and earthy tones on the palate. Not as harmonious, deep, concentrated and precise as the best vintages but a lovely wine.
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1995 Château Cheval Blanc 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: This seemed much younger than the 1996 drank alongside, darker and red fruit, quite ripe, not as elegant and round with a slightly overpowering acidity. Not overly complex vintage but with a good density, concentration and length. Solid effort.
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1985 Château Cheval Blanc 94 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Wonderful fine aromatics with black truffles, forest floor, red and dark red fruit, tobacco, tree bark. Perfectly mature with good level of fruit to form a highly enjoyable wine. It’s does not have the concentration or complexity of the big years but there is enough tension and good length to make this a very enjoyable wine I could quaff liters of it. Lots of fun to drink. In the context of this tasting easily 94 points. Probably even 95/96 drinking it on its own and following it over some hours. The 1982 is clearly and by far the best Cheval from the 80s but this 85 beats all other vintages (we had no 83, though).
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1982 Château Cheval Blanc 98 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Extraordinary wine, easily 97-99 points today. The nose is incredibly intriguing and sexy full of coffee, toffee, leather and truffles along sweet red fruit notes. Good concentration and tension on the medium+ bodied palate displaying the same above mentioned aromas with some herbs and more forest floor as well as some tobacco showing. But the most intriguing part is the very pure caramel aroma at the core. High complexity and precision, very good length, fully melted tannins, good acidity. This just has it all, the prefect structure and the alluring aromas. Wow! Perfect bottle with perfect provenance and storage.
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1990 Château Cheval Blanc 96 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Served right after the magical 1982 and it held its grounds well. Together with the 2009, this is most dominated by the burnt sugar, toasted oak, caramel sexiness. As with the others these aromas are perfectly balanced by abundant fruit and minerality. Very expressive and precise nose and palate, Very good structured with full-integrated soft tannins and a good freshness. I expected a bit more tertiary aromas after roughly 30 years but while not seeming young this is not yet fully there. Let’s wait and see but I’m not fully sure that it has enough tension to reach the highs of the 1982 in terms of complexity. Anyway, great wine.
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1987 Château Cheval Blanc 94 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: I did not spend too much time with this wine (as I kept crawling back to the 1982 and 1990 served beforehand). This is very pleasant, fresh and soft with lots of pure red fruit at the core and a surprisingly lots of pine tree/fir on the nose. This wine is clearly on the leaner side but still a fun to drink and slightly edging out he 86/88/89.
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1986 Château Cheval Blanc 92 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: While this has a bit higher concentration and density than the 88 but slightly weaker than the 87/89 and not match for the 85 or 82. I found it not as balanced and round as the other wines from the 80s. At times it showed even a bit heat but overall a solid effort with lots of the sexy aromas of coffee, burnt sugar along red fruit found in so many vintages. Medium- complexity, medium+ precision, good tension, good length.
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1988 Château Cheval Blanc 92 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Denser and a bit darker, more concentrated than the 86/87. Round and seductive dark red fruits, coffee, tobacco, old leather, forest floor. Overall not as well delineated and not as complex as in the best year but drinking pleasantly with a soft structure with melted tannins and a good acidity.
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1989 Château Cheval Blanc 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: I really like the nose here with a lot of stingy toasted oak, the most of all vintages. Same aromas on the palate along coffee, burnt sugar and nice red fruit. A bit disappointing in terms of depth and length given the much lauded 89 vintage, so not really one to chase but not bad either.
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1993 Château Cheval Blanc 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Another surprise. This seemed very young and very classic, without the burnt sugar notes of hotter years but very much driven by purity of fruit (fresh red fruit) and lots of terroir expression with wet earth and crushed rocks. Quite dense and powerful, this seemed to be very young. There is not much complexity or great length but it’s still a pleasant wine. I guess this will further improve with some age.
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1994 Château Cheval Blanc 92 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Not much to say about this wine as I didn’t fully dive into it at the end of a long tasting. Good concentration with dark red fruit, coffee, and minerality. Not much depth but pleasant to drink. 92/93 point experience.
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1949 Château Cheval Blanc 95 Points
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
All tasted blind. 1982 to 2015 (with 1949 in the mix). The wines are fragrant, perfumed, seductive and always soft and without weight. Best performing vintages: the rather hot/ripe vintages 2015, 2009 and 1982 (all complex, seductive, complete and with elevated concentration). Next best: the promising and pure 2010, the still sexy 1990 and the immortal 1949. Notable outperformer: 2011 with many other good off-vintages. Notable underperformer: 2005, 2000, 1998 which all showed rather muted and not yet ready.
TN: Good fill level (neck). At first there was some fizz and some gave up as the wine finished its malo. It needed a bit of unconventional swirling to get rid of the fizz and dive into the pure wine experience and what an experience it was. Like a well-aged Burgundy the nose shows stems, great terroir expression with wet earth and wet gravel/flint, a sexy component with some burnt sugar. Lots of sweet red fruit, coffee, burnt sugar, some stems on the palate. Fresh, soft, highly elegant and with good length. This wine in this condition easily deserves 95 points.
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