January 13, 2024 - I didn't notice until after I had decanted it and brought it to the restaurant but this bottle had tiny lettering at the bottom of the label indicating it was recorked and relabeled in 1996 at the château. One thing for sure - it was topped up with more '64 Cheval. The wine was bright red and very tasty indeed but tasted like something from the nineties or even the aughts. Fruit but minor complexity and no soil tones. I avoid recored bottles for exactly this reason but didn't know about this one when I bought it years ago. No rating.
November 15, 2023 - One of the stars of the vintage starts out strong and keeps on going. Silky, soft, complex, earthy, sweet, fresh, and pure, there is a gorgeous elegance on the palate with its layers of truffled, spicy, floral fruit that is impossible to get enough of. At this point, it is all about the storage, but if you find a well-stored example, you are in for a treat! Though, if you are sitting on any, there is no reason to hold it any longer. Drink from 2023-2029.
September 28, 2023 - Very odd; the label says 1964 but the cork has imprinted both 1964 Cheval Blanc and 1964 Gruaud Larose. My guess is that it was the Gruaud since it had more of a left bank cassis character. Anyway, quite nice and still alive but losing energy.
July 30, 2023 - Versus the perfumed and lifted 86 from a month back, this is a completely different animal. If there is a key takeaway here, that is this stuff is probably immortal. The bouquet shared resemblance to port - wafts of dried plums, dark chocolate, intense cocoa powder and tobacco. The core is so raw and bottomless, and the palate so densely sauvage and rustic.. maybe even a touch medicinal. Stuffing in this is unreal and unquestionably alive.
July 30, 2023 - Almost port like on the nose. I don’t like the pruney note, keep waiting for floral notes to take over but never arrive. Incredibly young though, maybe time will do wonder to this, who knows? Apparently old vines were ripped out in ‘56, so this would have come from 8 years old vines. How did they manage to make such a complex wine with young vines?
July 29, 2023 - C & YM Birthday Dinner (Empire Chinese Cuisine): Blind. Port like, dry fruits, raisin, rustic tannins, almost surply on the palate. Apparently this is how it is suppose to be like looking the tasting notes.
July 29, 2023 - Birthday celebration for C/Y: Agree with every word in acyso’s note on 6/4/2023. Incredibly youthful colour but a slightly distracting port-like nose. Palate was very vibrant and slightly sweet with some dark spice, chocolate notes. Grateful to have tried this but think I admired rather than enjoyed this wine.
May 26, 2023 - Truly superb bottle. Less than 1 mm amber rim, very top shoulder/base of neck. Tasted next to a 1964 Ausone and clearly more intense and complex. Perfect balance. Will not likely get better, but no rush. Superb!
April 6, 2023 - BYOK with Olivier Krug at Next (Chicago, IL): Stellar stuff. Unnaturally youthful, with almost no bricking whatsoever. Next to the 2014, the colours really aren't that different. This has some of that old school porty red Bordeaux character to it (sans roastedness or pruney notes). This doesn't quite have the same perfume and liftedness that I'm familiar with in Cheval Blanc; it's made in a much more old-school, rustic style. But for its vivacity, this was an outstanding bottle.
January 5, 2023 - I remember being blown away by this wine when we had it a few years ago and this experience was no different. This is awesome. Vibrant, bright, dark fruits, more spice and maybe just the hint of library. Drinking so very nicely at the moment. These are great.