Château Cheval Blanc

Le Petit Cheval, St Emilion, 2023

Name: Le Petit Cheval, St Emilion
Brand: Château Cheval Blanc
Price: 720 GBP

93/100

Inside Bordeaux

92-94/100

The Wine Independent

91-93/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

delivery

in bond

En primeur

2023
6x75cl
EP
£720.00

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

There is a Petit Cheval this year, and very good it is too, although only 15,000 bottles have been produced. Slightly subdued initially, then revealing a rather attractive bouquet of vibrant cherries, rose petals, fine cigar tobacco. and sandalwood. Pure, sumptuous fruit on the mid palate, very aromatic and expressive; wild berry fruit, cranberries and vanilla, wrapped in quite serious and multifaceted tannins, grippy but supple. Long, clear fruited finish - very refined.

delivery information

GUARANTEED PROVENANCE

Provenance in fine wine

When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of upmost importance. A wine’s history – where it’s sourced from and how it’s been stored – can have an enormous influence on the eventual enjoyment it provides. At Justerini & Brooks, we can trace nearly every case back to the domaine, estate or Château it originally came from; we ship from over 200 wine producers throughout the world.

Wines not bought directly from the vineyard are either sourced from trusted suppliers, with whom we share the same philosophy and rigour in buying, or from our own network of Cellarers customers. These customers’ wines are stored in optimal conditions in Octavian Corsham and, in the vast majority of cases, have been stored by us since the wine was first shipped. We do not purchase wine from auctions.

We feel it is equally important to for our customers that the case they buy and leave in storage with us is exactly the same case they subsequently have delivered. This may sound obvious and straightforward, yet we are one of very few merchants to have taken measures to ensure this.

We have created a system where every case is independent, thereby ensuring a trail of ownership and peace of mind for every customer.

The Journey

Justerinis ensures that every case of wine stored with Cellarers (Wines) Ltd has a unique identifier and customer’s name, almost unheard of in the industry as it is expensive to administer. These details are printed and placed on every case which is logged and recorded under your account name and kept in the world’s most renowned storage facility, Octavian Corsham.

This information is sent from our systems to the warehouse every day to ensure the trail of ownership is verified and upheld.

While customer reserves are stored in Corsham, our physical stocks are kept in Hoddesdon, further providing a geographical separation between customers’ wines with Cellarers and Justerinis’ own stock.

Further Reassurance

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is a legally separate limited company from Justerini & Brooks which currently holds approximately £450 million worth of customer reserves. It is fully insured to catastrophic loss. Many merchants will state that wine in their care is fully insured, but in reality this is on an individual case basis with insufficient cover for total loss as this is prohibitively expensive. The cover provided by Octavian and Justerini & Brooks is unmatched.

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is audited by PwC every year.

Critic Reviews

92-94/100

Lisa Perrotti-Brown,

The Wine Independent

Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2023 Le Petit Cheval storms out of the glass with powerful earthy/savory notes of tar, tapenade, and underbrush giving way to a core of ripe black plums, boysenberries, and iris bulb with a fragrant touch of dried Provence herbs. The medium-bodied palate is satin-soft and refreshing, with a well-sustained mid-palate of savory flavors, finishing with a cheeky red berry lift. The blend is 50% Merlot and 50% Cabernet Franc, aged in 1-year barrels with no new oak. Le Petit Cheval accounts for 10% of production.

drinking window 2028 - 2042

date of review 05/2024

93/100

Jane Anson,

Inside Bordeaux

Precise carved quality to this Petit Cheval, gorgeous vibrancy to the tannins, savoury cassis and blueberry fruits, with sage, fennel and lemongrass edges, grilled and mouthwatering spices on the finish. Drawn from five plots in 2023. Pierre Olivier Clouet director, 40hl/h yield, 10% of overall production, harvest September 6 to October 3.

drinking window 2030 - 2044

date of review 05/2024

91-93/100

Neal Martin,

Vinous

The 2023 Le Petit Cheval, which sees no new oak, offers blackberry and raspberry fruit on the nose, with hints of fireside hearth and light Earl Grey aromas, all finely delineated. The palate is medium-bodied with expressive Cabernet Franc that imparts subtle bell pepper notes in the background. Cohesive, silky-smooth and moderate in length, this is an attractive Le Petit Cheval that will give a decade's drinking pleasure.

drinking window 2026 - 2038

date of review 04/2024

product details

Specifications

Country:

Region:

Appellation:

Producer:

style:

Grape Variety:

abv:

13.1%

allergen information

This product may contain sulphites. Full allergen information is available upon request, please call our Customer Relations Team on +44 (0)20 7484 6430.