1973 Château Cheval Blanc

Community Tasting Notes (22) Avg Score: 91.7 points

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Papies's profile
  • Report Issue

  12/8/2023 - Papies wrote: 96 Points

  2023 Athens Wine Event; 12/8/2023-12/9/2023 (Athens, Greece): Tasted blind and perplexed our group and frankly most of us thought this was burgundy, lilt La Tache level and this is the testament to the beauty ( we would have never guessed 1973) of this wine. A magical wine for sure.
  Well aged, but still full of life, mature fruit but less earthy and more still with a savoury richness in the fruit. Impressive for sure and we can go for a long time here. For us the wine of the night even though we rated others higher than this still it was a magical wine. 96-97

  1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Papies's profile
  • Report Issue

  4/1/2022 - Papies wrote: 95 Points

  Top shoulder level. Brittle cork but help well and the wine was healthy.
  The nose , oh the nose on this wine ( frankly served blind we would have said 80s La Mouline) , smoky, soft spice, leather. So expressive and at this age the highlight of the wine. The palate is soft, tertiary, but also beautiful, touch of a northern Rhône feel here too. What an experience to say the least. 95-100

  2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View LB88's profile
  • Report Issue

  12/31/2020 - LB88 wrote: 94 Points

  My WOTN it had a beautiful aromatic nose, u could smell the sweetness. The wine was jammy and candied with enough tannins left to leave a impression but just so elegant and refined at this point. An absolutely perfect bottle thanks to VO. Next to this the 85, 96 where also drinking well but just at different evolution points.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Krugalex's profile
  • Report Issue

  9/8/2020 - Krugalex Likes this wine: 93 Points

  This bottle was bought at auction a few months ago. 1973 is not an acclaimed vintage at all, but the wine level was excellent for a 47 years old bottle (at the exact point where the neck and the shoulder meet).
  
  I opened it at around 1:30 PM and let it slow ox in the opened bottle until dinner time, around five hours later (6:30). The cork did crumble in a thousand pieces, but amazingly we were able to remove the last third of what was remaining of it by very carefully pulling it out with a regular corkscrew (I need a Durand!) and not a single piece of cork fell into the wine.
  
  Slow ox really does wonders with old wines. Upon opening of the bottle, all I could smell was oak and cork and not much of the juice itself. Five hours later, the wine was singing and it kept evolving in my Zalto Bordeaux glass throughout the evening.
  
  The color was appropriate for its age (pale brick and quite transparent on the rim).
  
  On the first nose, what struck us were the spicy notes. Then the remnants of the fruit emerged as a layer of thick raspberry jam. As the night went by, the spices became more precise: vanilla and cinnamon (you know those little cinnamon hearts?). Overall, it smelled like a very "warm" wine. Not much freshness there, but that is totally normal.
  
  Pure velvet on the palate, with 10% left of tannins that kept the wine well alive (with very few sediments in the bottle). Medium-long finish. This could easily pass as an early 80's vintage (not 82 though) since the condition of my bottle was excellent.
  
  With a duck breast (raspberry sauce), buttered french shallots and garlic ratte potatoes, this wine met my expectations.

  1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Jammy Wine's profile
  • Report Issue

  11/10/2019 - Jammy Wine wrote: 78 Points

  A resolved array of mixed berries, earthy black truffles and damp tobacco. Fully mature with tamed tannins and gentle nose of maturing fruits. Not a bad effort in a weak vintage. (78/100)

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

View all 22 Community Tasting Notes

Professional reviews have copyrights and you can view them here for your personal use only as private content. To view pro reviews you must either subscribe to a pre-integrated publication or manually enter reviews below. Learn more.