54% Merlot, 46% Cab Franc. More Cab Franc in the nose. A mix of red and black fruit flavors, fine tannins, minerals, and then graphite coming in on the back of the palate.
Not a very good vintage in general for red Bordeaux wines. Cool & wet early w/ dry, hot August. Short harvest window from Oct rains, leaving some grapes with a bit more rustic tannins.
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A private Cheval Blanc tasting (Bolomey Wine Imports, Amsterdam, NL): Not decanted. Clearly recognisable terroir expression, the fruit development is less perfect than in the 2016, but it is straight and has good tension, fresh, well-judged tannins almost match the lighter weight, starting to show some evolution, no lack of weight on the palate, very good length. Charming in a direct way, do not keep too long.
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On the nose blackberries, plums, cooked cherries, oak, vanilla, licorice, cloves, eucalyptus, peppercorn, bell pepper, green beans, earth, tobacco leaf and herbs.
Full bodied with medium acidity.
Dry on the palate with currants, black cherries, plums, earth, oak, spices, licorice, coffee, dark chocolates, tobacco leaf, light river rocks and peppercorn.
Long finish with round tannins and tangy raspberries.
This 11 year old red Bordeaux is starting to drink nicely now, but oh so young.
Not fully balanced yet, and needs 10 years to come to its own. Will continue to age nicely in the next 30 years.
Showing great complexity already, with lots of earth notes. Spicy and entertaining.
Very yummy, and good by itself or with food. A gorgeous wine.
A blend of 54% Merlot and 46% Cabernet Franc. Aged in all new French oak barrels.
13.5% alcohol by volume.
93 points.
$550.
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Cheval Blanc & Yquem dinner @ Anhelo Restaurant (with Pierre Lurton) (Phoenix, AZ): Without question the best 2012 Bordeaux I’ve had to date, this bottling of Cheval Blanc is a smooth operator through and through. With an elegance (not fragility) that interlaces the core red cherry, fresh red and black raspberry, pink roses, and wet stone flavors within an encasement of perfectly defined acidity, the 2012 is all class. It displays as incredibly resolved, which is a testament to its smartly executed balance. Finishes with a gently flowing cassis note that firms up ever so slightly in the back end. It’s as if the 2012 is the Yin to the 2009’s Yang.
Compared to a 2012 Lafleur I had recently, the 2012 Cheval shows certain similarities - namely a red fruited contour that shapes the medium-bodied profile into an affable and appealing specimen, but the Cheval adds some next-next level classicism, complexity, and purity that are seemingly unmatched. The 2012 will continue to evolve gracefully for decades, but in many respects, there’s little need to delay gratification here. 11 years in from vintage and it’s already a winner ready and willing to show off its goods.
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Cheval Blanc and Yquem Tasting Dinner (Anhelo (Phoenix)): PnP - A very nice wine in a somewhat spotty vintage. Not too complex, but very enjoyable! Nose is perfumed, as always! Plenty of red and dark fruit, some anise, violets and some cocoa and spice on the palate, with notes of sweet tobacco. Not the best Cheval Blanc, but still a very good Cheval Blanc! Solid 95 points for my palate!
Note: Paired quite well with a strawberry, lavender duck!
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En Primeur campaign for the 2022 vintage Day Five (Bordeaux): Slightly jubey, leather, fresh plums, sweet spice, a little cedar, dense, broad plenty of palate weight, talc textured tannins, dark hued fruits with red berry a noticeable partner. Slight non-intrusive alcohol warmth on finish but rather nice today.
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2012 Cheval Blanc. Pop n pour and paired with lamb dinner. Classic CB redcurrant and bramble fruit with a chocolate finish, if on the lighter side. Smooth, velvet tannins with a finish of pipe tobacco and green pepper. This had a lovely smooth roundness to it, but I wish the concentration was a bit higher. Solid 94-95 (and for 2012 Bordeaux, I have yet to find anything that beats Lafleur in this slightly off vintage).
A reserved vintage for Cheval Blanc, the wine pops with flowers, cigar wrapper, mint leaf, spice, cedar, and just a hint of truffle. Bright, fresh, juicy, crisp red cherries and plums are also front and center of this medium-bodied, elegant, classic version of Cheval Blanc. Drink from 2022-2045.
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Bordeaux 2012 - 10 Years On - 33 Reds: All wines tasted blind. Not decanted. A few observations: 1) 2012 is a good quality vintage without the depth/length of great vintages. Still, one of the better “off-vintages”. 2) Many but not all wines are drinking well today. They are generally open, round and fleshed out. 3) Further cellaring is advised as there are hardly any tertiary aromas yet and that extra complexity will render the wines more interesting. The wines generally have the structure and fruit to age gracefully. 4) The level of ripeness/alcohol are not a concern (09, 10, 15, 18 have more problems in that area). 5) Left bank (avg. 92.2 pts) beats right bank (91.0) (group has right bank a notch ahead). The overall group avg. score is at a good 92.1, but unsurprisingly below past retrospectives of better vintages (00, 09, 10). 6) There are highlights on both sides: my best wines today were Ausone (96 pts), Mouton (96), Cheval (95) and Margaux (95).
TN: Expressive nose full of ripe but still fresh enough dark red and blue fruit, the typical Cheval coffee/toasty aromas, some herbal notes, minerality. Complex, precise, inviting and seductive. On the palate this continues with fine ripe but not too ripe dark red, blue and some darker berries, herbs, coffee, toast, hints of chocolate and with a good minerality backbone. Quite round and elegant, fine creamy texture, no excess weight, fine, velvety tannins and well-integrated acidity. This is a lot of fun to drink, quite complete. Has good length, high complexity, superb precision. A great wine, yes ripe and probably not for the purists but easily worth 95 pts. Cheval again delivers, in its typical fashion (easily detectable in a blind tasting) and it is certainly one of the big names that delivers the most pleasure early on and throughout its life.
Decanting: This was good from the go and didn’t need much air in the glass to open up. Needs no extended decanting.
Group rank: Shared 3rd out of 33 reds Group average score: 95.0
More information, vintage comparisons, top and worst 10 list, appellation rankings from the group in the story link.
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54% Merlot and 46% Cabernet Franc. Medium body, elegant, perfume, fresh, fruity (red and black fruits). Double-decanted and slow ox in bottle for 2 hours. Enjoyed over 2 hours. Smooth and silky. Very balanced wine. Complex and layered. Delicious and great length. Gorgeous wine.
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Bordeaux 2012 10 years on tasting: A 2012 Bordeaux vintage horizontal hosted by a private collector. Main observations were: 1/ Left bank beats right bank thanks to Paulliac, St Estèphe and Margaux, 2/ (over-)extraction was a frequent issue, making this a vintage where winemaking decisions and skill mattered, 3/ as such, unsurprisingly, first growths and right bank equivalents clearly outperformed the pack, 4/ highlights were Ausone (97) followed by Cheval Blanc, Mouton, Pichon Lalande (all 96), 5/ the lowlight was an over-extracted Pape Clement (88). Complete ranking and additional observations included in the tasting story.
Tasting note: Pretty signature black coffee and roasted coffee beans, layered red and blue berries, sweet spices and oaky notes. This marries elegance with lushness and generosity. Light on the palate, tannin with grip but well built into the structure. Good length finish. Very clear and precise fresh red berry fruit. Only bested by Ausone in this horizontal.
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Soft. smooth and of course young - but extremely friendly. Sweet, carresing fruit, silke style, great length and superb balance; this is more Merlot than Cab Franc here, it seems. #AarhusVinselskab
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30 Vintages of Cheval Blanc: 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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Chateau Cheval Blanc - 30 year vertical (1949-2015) tasted blind: A hard stance for this wine as it sat next to the spectacular 2015 who blew everyone out of the water. The reason for my low note of this wine is its over-ripeness in the nose. I found there too much fruit compote (score higher if you can handle this). The palate has good volume but a slightly drying finish. Also here there was discussion whether it had a slight TCA taint. Light enough for me to notice but still rate the wine.
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DRC tasting group. Served blind. Nose was full and rich. Palate was rich and delicious. Thought about calling it new world but it had the Bordeaux markers on the finish so I was thinking a warm year Right bank. Did not pick up any Cab Franc spice or markers so I wasn't expecting this wine. Most of the group found this wine surprising. A very good wine but didn't show like a typical Cheval Blanc. Certainly would buy it though. It was excellent.
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In a lineup with multiple chevals this wine showed well given the age. Defiantly no where near plateau but the stuffing is in the bottle. Will take some time for it to flesh out but a very good effort from the Chateau.
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MW Institute 2012 Bordeaux Tasting: Very light natured - floral, spice, some light earth and some plum on the nose. The palate is delicate across the very good length, there is a sense of power but always in the background. Quite fine and with a lovely sense of restraint. Great stuff, with plenty of potential as well.
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Vertical tasting of six recent vintages. Far more expressive than the 2013. Quite dry with high acidity. All the components are there. Should be very good.
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MW 2012 Annual Bordeaux Tasting San Francisco, slightly subdued nose of summer rain shower on a dusty road, red and black fruit, allspice, and floral notes, same on the palate, big body, slightly closed today but with coaxing, very sweet and rich fruit but not sugary, medium amount of soft tannins, medium/big body, subtle like always, long finish.
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Very rich and dense, very long and smooth, silky indeed, great vintage for Cheval; a tight grip at the end. Wonderful concentration. This is going places ... #Angleterre
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Fun to drink this young, it is obviously a great wine that was surprisingly accessible now (at least to me)...should continue to evolve in the bottle and improve
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Lovely dark cherries, smoky oak, violets, blueberries on the nose, quite open and accessible still. on the palate very powerful, brooding, mineral, fresh - tannins are kicking in late leading to an impressive finish. I think this will turn into something pretty special. 94-95+(+?)
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Black cherry liqueur, chocolate mint, espresso and black cherry in the mouth. Silky, with velvet tannins, stone and sweet, ripe, sensuous black and red fruits in the finish.
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With 54% Merlot and 46% Cabernet Franc, the wine reached 13.9% alcohol with a pH of 3.78. One of the keys to the vintage at Cheval Blanc was the extensive green harvesting needed, due to the extended time needed for flowering. In the perfume, the wine pops with flowers, licorice, earth, caramel and ripe, sweet blackberries. On the palate, the wine displays sweet black and red fruits, spice and a fresh purity of sweet fruit. The tannins are silky, the wine is fresh and long in the finish, complicated by an herbal, tapenade note buried in the fresh, ripe fruit. 94-96 Pts
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2/21/2024 - SWHighlander Likes this wine: 94 Points
54% Merlot, 46% Cab Franc. More Cab Franc in the nose. A mix of red and black fruit flavors, fine tannins, minerals, and then graphite coming in on the back of the palate.
Not a very good vintage in general for red Bordeaux wines. Cool & wet early w/ dry, hot August. Short harvest window from Oct rains, leaving some grapes with a bit more rustic tannins.
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12/7/2023 - Xavier Auerbach wrote: 93 Points
A private Cheval Blanc tasting (Bolomey Wine Imports, Amsterdam, NL): Not decanted. Clearly recognisable terroir expression, the fruit development is less perfect than in the 2016, but it is straight and has good tension, fresh, well-judged tannins almost match the lighter weight, starting to show some evolution, no lack of weight on the palate, very good length. Charming in a direct way, do not keep too long.
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8/10/2023 - Odedis.Wine.reviews Likes this wine: 93 Points
Dark ruby in color with a short reddish rim.
On the nose blackberries, plums, cooked cherries, oak, vanilla, licorice, cloves, eucalyptus, peppercorn, bell pepper, green beans, earth, tobacco leaf and herbs.
Full bodied with medium acidity.
Dry on the palate with currants, black cherries, plums, earth, oak, spices, licorice, coffee, dark chocolates, tobacco leaf, light river rocks and peppercorn.
Long finish with round tannins and tangy raspberries.
This 11 year old red Bordeaux is starting to drink nicely now, but oh so young.
Not fully balanced yet, and needs 10 years to come to its own. Will continue to age nicely in the next 30 years.
Showing great complexity already, with lots of earth notes. Spicy and entertaining.
Very yummy, and good by itself or with food. A gorgeous wine.
A blend of 54% Merlot and 46% Cabernet Franc. Aged in all new French oak barrels.
13.5% alcohol by volume.
93 points.
$550.
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6/24/2023 - csimm wrote: 95 Points
Cheval Blanc & Yquem dinner @ Anhelo Restaurant (with Pierre Lurton) (Phoenix, AZ): Without question the best 2012 Bordeaux I’ve had to date, this bottling of Cheval Blanc is a smooth operator through and through. With an elegance (not fragility) that interlaces the core red cherry, fresh red and black raspberry, pink roses, and wet stone flavors within an encasement of perfectly defined acidity, the 2012 is all class. It displays as incredibly resolved, which is a testament to its smartly executed balance. Finishes with a gently flowing cassis note that firms up ever so slightly in the back end. It’s as if the 2012 is the Yin to the 2009’s Yang.
Compared to a 2012 Lafleur I had recently, the 2012 Cheval shows certain similarities - namely a red fruited contour that shapes the medium-bodied profile into an affable and appealing specimen, but the Cheval adds some next-next level classicism, complexity, and purity that are seemingly unmatched. The 2012 will continue to evolve gracefully for decades, but in many respects, there’s little need to delay gratification here. 11 years in from vintage and it’s already a winner ready and willing to show off its goods.
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6/22/2023 - LiteItOnFire Likes this wine:
Dinner with Château Cheval Blanc and Château d’Yquem President Pierre Lurton (Anhelo Restaurant Phoenix, Arizona): Create story
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6/22/2023 - I'd Rather Be Drinking Wine Likes this wine: 95 Points
Cheval Blanc and Yquem Tasting Dinner (Anhelo (Phoenix)): PnP - A very nice wine in a somewhat spotty vintage. Not too complex, but very enjoyable! Nose is perfumed, as always! Plenty of red and dark fruit, some anise, violets and some cocoa and spice on the palate, with notes of sweet tobacco. Not the best Cheval Blanc, but still a very good Cheval Blanc! Solid 95 points for my palate!
Note: Paired quite well with a strawberry, lavender duck!
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4/26/2023 - chatters wrote:
En Primeur campaign for the 2022 vintage Day Five (Bordeaux): Slightly jubey, leather, fresh plums, sweet spice, a little cedar, dense, broad plenty of palate weight, talc textured tannins, dark hued fruits with red berry a noticeable partner. Slight non-intrusive alcohol warmth on finish but rather nice today.
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1/13/2023 - Lord of the Bottles Likes this wine: 94 Points
2012 Cheval Blanc. Pop n pour and paired with lamb dinner. Classic CB redcurrant and bramble fruit with a chocolate finish, if on the lighter side. Smooth, velvet tannins with a finish of pipe tobacco and green pepper. This had a lovely smooth roundness to it, but I wish the concentration was a bit higher. Solid 94-95 (and for 2012 Bordeaux, I have yet to find anything that beats Lafleur in this slightly off vintage).
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11/17/2022 - fcxj wrote: 92 Points
Quaffable.
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7/9/2022 - Jeff Leve wrote: 95 Points
A reserved vintage for Cheval Blanc, the wine pops with flowers, cigar wrapper, mint leaf, spice, cedar, and just a hint of truffle. Bright, fresh, juicy, crisp red cherries and plums are also front and center of this medium-bodied, elegant, classic version of Cheval Blanc. Drink from 2022-2045.
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3/8/2022 - Cailles wrote: 95 Points
Bordeaux 2012 - 10 Years On - 33 Reds: All wines tasted blind. Not decanted. A few observations: 1) 2012 is a good quality vintage without the depth/length of great vintages. Still, one of the better “off-vintages”. 2) Many but not all wines are drinking well today. They are generally open, round and fleshed out. 3) Further cellaring is advised as there are hardly any tertiary aromas yet and that extra complexity will render the wines more interesting. The wines generally have the structure and fruit to age gracefully. 4) The level of ripeness/alcohol are not a concern (09, 10, 15, 18 have more problems in that area). 5) Left bank (avg. 92.2 pts) beats right bank (91.0) (group has right bank a notch ahead). The overall group avg. score is at a good 92.1, but unsurprisingly below past retrospectives of better vintages (00, 09, 10). 6) There are highlights on both sides: my best wines today were Ausone (96 pts), Mouton (96), Cheval (95) and Margaux (95).
TN: Expressive nose full of ripe but still fresh enough dark red and blue fruit, the typical Cheval coffee/toasty aromas, some herbal notes, minerality. Complex, precise, inviting and seductive. On the palate this continues with fine ripe but not too ripe dark red, blue and some darker berries, herbs, coffee, toast, hints of chocolate and with a good minerality backbone. Quite round and elegant, fine creamy texture, no excess weight, fine, velvety tannins and well-integrated acidity. This is a lot of fun to drink, quite complete. Has good length, high complexity, superb precision. A great wine, yes ripe and probably not for the purists but easily worth 95 pts. Cheval again delivers, in its typical fashion (easily detectable in a blind tasting) and it is certainly one of the big names that delivers the most pleasure early on and throughout its life.
Decanting: This was good from the go and didn’t need much air in the glass to open up. Needs no extended decanting.
Group rank: Shared 3rd out of 33 reds
Group average score: 95.0
More information, vintage comparisons, top and worst 10 list, appellation rankings from the group in the story link.
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2/13/2022 - NMIZ Likes this wine: 97 Points
54% Merlot and 46% Cabernet Franc. Medium body, elegant, perfume, fresh, fruity (red and black fruits). Double-decanted and slow ox in bottle for 2 hours. Enjoyed over 2 hours. Smooth and silky. Very balanced wine. Complex and layered. Delicious and great length. Gorgeous wine.
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2/7/2022 - sirpat00 wrote: 96 Points
Bordeaux 2012 10 years on tasting: A 2012 Bordeaux vintage horizontal hosted by a private collector. Main observations were: 1/ Left bank beats right bank thanks to Paulliac, St Estèphe and Margaux, 2/ (over-)extraction was a frequent issue, making this a vintage where winemaking decisions and skill mattered, 3/ as such, unsurprisingly, first growths and right bank equivalents clearly outperformed the pack, 4/ highlights were Ausone (97) followed by Cheval Blanc, Mouton, Pichon Lalande (all 96), 5/ the lowlight was an over-extracted Pape Clement (88). Complete ranking and additional observations included in the tasting story.
Tasting note:
Pretty signature black coffee and roasted coffee beans, layered red and blue berries, sweet spices and oaky notes. This marries elegance with lushness and generosity. Light on the palate, tannin with grip but well built into the structure. Good length finish. Very clear and precise fresh red berry fruit. Only bested by Ausone in this horizontal.
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8/25/2021 - beatles wrote: 95 Points
Soft. smooth and of course young - but extremely friendly. Sweet, carresing fruit, silke style, great length and superb balance; this is more Merlot than Cab Franc here, it seems.
#AarhusVinselskab
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12/16/2019 - Cailles wrote: 94 Points
30 Vintages of Cheval Blanc: 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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11/29/2019 - Collector1855 wrote: 94 Points
Chateau Cheval Blanc - 30 year vertical (1949-2015) tasted blind: A hard stance for this wine as it sat next to the spectacular 2015 who blew everyone out of the water. The reason for my low note of this wine is its over-ripeness in the nose. I found there too much fruit compote (score higher if you can handle this). The palate has good volume but a slightly drying finish. Also here there was discussion whether it had a slight TCA taint. Light enough for me to notice but still rate the wine.
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8/6/2019 - hiker_guy Likes this wine:
DRC tasting group.
Served blind.
Nose was full and rich. Palate was rich and delicious. Thought about calling it new world but it had the Bordeaux markers on the finish so I was thinking a warm year Right bank. Did not pick up any Cab Franc spice or markers so I wasn't expecting this wine.
Most of the group found this wine surprising. A very good wine but didn't show like a typical Cheval Blanc.
Certainly would buy it though. It was excellent.
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6/7/2019 - SommStags Likes this wine:
In a lineup with multiple chevals this wine showed well given the age. Defiantly no where near plateau but the stuffing is in the bottle. Will take some time for it to flesh out but a very good effort from the Chateau.
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4/30/2017 - CamWheeler wrote: 93 Points
MW Institute 2012 Bordeaux Tasting: Very light natured - floral, spice, some light earth and some plum on the nose. The palate is delicate across the very good length, there is a sense of power but always in the background. Quite fine and with a lovely sense of restraint. Great stuff, with plenty of potential as well.
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1/26/2017 - RaggaMat wrote: 93 Points
Vertical tasting of six recent vintages. Far more expressive than the 2013. Quite dry with high acidity. All the components are there. Should be very good.
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1/25/2017 - bestdamncab Likes this wine: 96 Points
MW 2012 Annual Bordeaux Tasting San Francisco, slightly subdued nose of summer rain shower on a dusty road, red and black fruit, allspice, and floral notes, same on the palate, big body, slightly closed today but with coaxing, very sweet and rich fruit but not sugary, medium amount of soft tannins, medium/big body, subtle like always, long finish.
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11/24/2016 - beatles wrote: 95 Points
Very rich and dense, very long and smooth, silky indeed, great vintage for Cheval; a tight grip at the end. Wonderful concentration. This is going places ...
#Angleterre
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10/20/2016 - walkerjfw wrote: 95 Points
Wine Spectator, NY Wine Experience Grand Tasting...more wines than time...shorter notes (NY City): First time drinking a young Cheval Blanc. Sweet and fragrant wine. Nose of red fruits, floral notes. Palate of bright cherry, raspberry, black cherry, lavender. Back palate has baking spices, and black tea...really elegant mouthfeel.
Fun to drink this young, it is obviously a great wine that was surprisingly accessible now (at least to me)...should continue to evolve in the bottle and improve
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11/7/2015 - rossi.wine wrote: 95 Points
Lovely dark cherries, smoky oak, violets, blueberries on the nose, quite open and accessible still. on the palate very powerful, brooding, mineral, fresh - tannins are kicking in late leading to an impressive finish. I think this will turn into something pretty special. 94-95+(+?)
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5/15/2015 - Jeff Leve wrote: 96 Points
Black cherry liqueur, chocolate mint, espresso and black cherry in the mouth. Silky, with velvet tannins, stone and sweet, ripe, sensuous black and red fruits in the finish.
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4/26/2013 - Jeff Leve wrote: 96 Points
With 54% Merlot and 46% Cabernet Franc, the wine reached 13.9% alcohol with a pH of 3.78. One of the keys to the vintage at Cheval Blanc was the extensive green harvesting needed, due to the extended time needed for flowering. In the perfume, the wine pops with flowers, licorice, earth, caramel and ripe, sweet blackberries. On the palate, the wine displays sweet black and red fruits, spice and a fresh purity of sweet fruit. The tannins are silky, the wine is fresh and long in the finish, complicated by an herbal, tapenade note buried in the fresh, ripe fruit. 94-96 Pts
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