Le Petit Cheval, Grand Cru Classé, St Emilion, 2021
2021 Le Petit Cheval offers a charming fragrance of iodine, oyster shell, cherries, cedar and incense. Good mid-weight flavours on the palate; quite dark and earthy, with a nervous tension. The tannins just seem slightly rustic compared to usual. 60% Merlot, 33% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7% Cabernet Franc. Representing 13% of the crop.
critic reviews
Only 12,000 bottles were made of Le Petit Cheval 2021. It is a blend of 60 % Merlot, 33% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 7% Cabernet Franc and it has a deep garnet-purple color. It offers up expressive notes of black pepper, dusty soil, and garrigue, leading to a core of red and black plums, redcurrant preserves, and tobacco leaf. The medium-bodied palate is refreshing and delicately styled, with bright red berry layers and a slight chewiness to the texture, finishing with a peppery lift.
A serious Petit Cheval, with roses, chalky tannins, blackcurrant, red cherry, capsicum, graphite and smoked earth. First time to have Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend of Petit Cheval, which along with the vintage itself perhaps lends this savoury quality. The harvest was long and slow, September 22 to October 14, later than in most recent years, with a yield of 28hl/h.
The 2021 Le Petit Cheval has held on to that strict, almost Médoc-like nose engendered by the higher proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon (33%): blackberry, briar, incense and graphite, the latter more pronounced than at en primeur. The palate is medium-bodied with a clean and precise entry, fresh acidity, refreshing sapidity and an almost briny finish that lingers in the mouth.
As readers may remember, this cuvee simply represents everything that doesn't synergize with Cheval Blanc's blend, so the 2021 Le Petit Cheval is composed of some 60% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 33% Cabernet Sauvignon, amounting to fully half the surface planted to Cabernet Sauvignon at Cheval Blanc. Offering up aromas of dark berries, mulberries and mint framed by creamy new oak, it's medium to full-bodied, fleshy and polished, concluding with a long, delicately vanillin-inflected finish. Its composition means that it will reward a bit of patience.
product details
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