Le Petit Cheval, Grand Cru Classé, St Emilion, 2019
Produced from 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc, Petit Cheval is an athletic, muscular cuvee with a beautiful bouquet of finely ground stones - very mineral indeed. The fruit on the palate is bright, clear, clean and precise. There is good texture, but despite the high proportion of Merlot, there is no puppy fat here; this is tense and linear, but ever so graceful. Super-fine tannins here.
critic reviews
A blend of 56% Merlot and 44% Cabernet Franc, the 2019 Le Petit Cheval is deep garnet-purple in color. It bursts with flamboyant notions of baked plums, blueberry preserves, and kirsch, plus suggestions of cedar chest and lavender. The full-bodied palate is bright, refreshing, and breezy with fine-grained tannins and a mineral-laced finish.
The 2019 Petit Cheval has a very attractive cedar and tobacco infused bouquet that seems precise and supremely well focused. The oak is neatly assimilated. The palate is medium-bodied with a bolder presence than intimated by the aromatics, sweet and layered black fruit, quite plush, satin texture with a persistent and seductive, modern style finish. Lovely. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.
Exhibiting aromas of plums, sweet wild berries, rose petals, spices and cigar wrapper, the 2019 Le Petit Cheval is medium to full-bodied, velvety and seamless, with supple tannins and succulent acids. Pierre-Olivier Clouet explains that his aspiration is to produce 100% Cheval Blanc and that, as a result, this cuvee simply represents anything that doesn't belong in the grand vin's blend. Of course, however, it shares some of the latter's DNA.
Muscular frame with rippling tannins that close in on the finish but never hide the layers of black chocolate, bilberry and charcoal. Juicy but controlled, with tension right through the core. This is a serious wine, playing between dense and elegant. 5.5% of overall production in Petit Cheval, no added press wine. Harvest September 10 to October 4. 50% new oak.