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Red

2000 Château Cheval Blanc

Red Bordeaux Blend

  • France
  • Bordeaux
  • Libournais
  • St. Émilion Grand Cru

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Community Tasting Note

  • nvandyk Likes this wine: 96 points

    November 27, 2013 - 'twas an interesting day. Drank this to celebrate walking away from what could easily have been a fatal auto collision (big truck with a flatbed auto carrier trailer clipped me and spun me around 540 degrees and across two lanes of a busy freeway, etc.) I can't say I saw my unconsumed wines flash before my eyes but I did think that it was time to have something special that I'd not had before. And voila, here's just the wine.

    I had high hopes this would approach the 1947, which remains by a country mile the best wine I've ever had. This is a delicious wine, but it is not in the same league as the 1947. So I'll get that out of the way.

    What this IS, however, is very nice. Inky, deep ruby color, with a light, oiliness (this is a good thing) that coats the glass evenly -- not legs, but a clean, slick coating that hangs there beautifully (I'm drinking this out of Riedel Sommelier editions Bordeaux glasses). The initial nose was cedar with a hint of Bordeaux Bandaid but that blew off after 20 minutes. The nose is reticent but broodingly dense, if that makes sense. You know there's something profound in the glass but it's not leaping from it.

    The flavor is lovely -- it's still a young wine and there is a crispness coming from the tannins and a balanced acidity. For a wine that I expected to be quite rich, though, it's a feminine style. It's Bordeaux wrapped in a cloak of Burgundy, minus the stemminess that detracts from my enjoyment of much of that region. There's cocoa, ripe currants and a bit of the violets that I normally associate with Petrus in my limited experience with that wine. The real thing that makes this stand out, though, is the finish. It essentially never goes away. By the time it starts to fade, you'll likely have had another sip. I had one before I started this paragraph and I can still taste it.

    I've not written a tasting note in some time and have overdone it with this one. Add 3 points to my score if you don't like big California Cabs like the Hundred Acre I had last night. But I am a sucker for rich claret and this is lacking just a little stuffing in the mid palate for me, which keeps it from being the perfect wine that Parker rates it. And again, it's not the 1947...but what is? (if you know the answer to this, message me!)

    1 person found this helpful 6,219 views

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