Château Cheval Blanc, 1er Grand Cru Classé, St Emilion, 2015
The big news at Cheval Blanc is there'll be no Petit Cheval in 2015. 39 plots were so good they all made the grand vin and the remaining two were not of sufficient quality to make Petit Cheval. When we asked Pierre-Olivier about this decision, he explained that they tasted various blends time and time again, and every time they removed one plot, it diluted the quality. Their rather poetic analogy likens Cheval Blanc to an orchestra. If all the musicians are playing in harmony, you get a better experience from the whole orchestra. If you start removing musicians you lose something. They build complexity through diversity of terroir. After triangular tastings and much pressing from Pierre Lurton, the decision was to just make grand vin and sell off the remaining two parcels. It is certainly refreshing to see an estate with the confidence to make grand vin rather than declassify it into various lesser labels. As for the wine, well it is undoubtedly a grand vin, a vin de garde, a serious, complex Cheval Blanc of real pedigree. The bouquet is regal with detailed cranberry, tobacco, roses, lilac, violets and raspberry liqueur. It is a subtle, sophisticated wine with admirable precision and a real sense of tension. Pure, sleek, cherry fruit teases the palate. This is subtle and velvety, with salty minerality and the sleekest of delicate pure fruit tannins. A very assured Cheval! 55% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Franc.
critic reviews
The 2015 Cheval Blanc is sublime on the nose with red fruit, sandalwood, touches of tobacco and dried flowers. The oak is seamlessly integrated and very well focused. The palate is fine-boned, fresh and tensile, with a keen line of acidity, real depth and insistent grip suggesting that this will age with panache. Serious and absorbing from start to finish, this is one of the wines of the vintage. Tasted blind at the 2015 Bordeaux Ten-Year-On tasting at Farr Vintners.
This has depths that steal up on you, clinging on through the palate, dark fruit expression, cassis bud, blackcurrant puree, raspberry leaf and mandarin peel freshness, nuanced and gorgeous and hard to argue with. All the plots but two made it into the main wine in this vintage. 100% new oak, Pierre Lurton director. As an aside, it's wonderful tasting Cheval and Ausone in 2015, as both deliver such a clear imprint of their different locations in St Emilion, and both are exceptional wines.
All the plots but two made it into Cheval Blanc 2015. Those two were sold in bulk and no Petit Cheval was made in that year. With 55% Merlot and 45% Cabernet Franc, the deep garnet colored 2015 Cheval Blanc prances out with a gorgeous perfume of roses, spearmint, and black tea, before giving way to a core of chocolate-covered cherries, redcurrant preserves, and juicy plums, plus a waft of iron ore. Full-bodied, the palate is dense and muscular, featuring a fine frame of grainy tannins and seamless freshness, finishing with loads of floral and mineral fireworks. Stunning!