Tasting Note:
We tasted at Chateau Cheval Blanc after a long day covering the greatest terroirs of St Emilion and Pomerol. If our palates were feeling fatigued, Cheval Blanc revitalised them and reinvigorated our enthusiasm for the vintage. This is a monumental wine, and for this taster, this and Chateau Lafleur were the standout wines from the Right Bank. Pierre-Olivier let us marvel and then nonchalantly said, 'it's not too bad, huh?'. Not too bad, this is a masterpiece. It's classical and elegant like the wonderful 2016, but perhaps there is even more concentration, energy and freshness. Macerations lasted just 22 days, six fewer than normal. It starts with a regal bouquet of potpourri, violets, cassis sweet earth and graphite. The palate is pure velvety black fruit - it is so effortless and charming, yet there is precision and tension. Deeply powerful and concentrated this may be, but it hovers, taut, harmonious, persistent, effortless. There is such presence and length. This is an immensely impressive Cheval; classical, detailed, perfumed, ripe, handsome; this is grandiose in every sense yet wonderfully balanced and refined. A tour de force.