2023 Cheval Blanc
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Tasting Notes
This has a stunning nose of soft flowers, red fruit compote and dark berries. It’s all very pure and delicate, yet somehow enveloping in its intensity and charm. On the palate, it is equally sensational, starting slow, sensual and soft, building in intensity and concentration to a crescendo of black fruit. Perfect balance leaves almost no impression of tannin or acidity, just a sense of vibrancy and purity. Long and floral on the finish – this is a great Cheval Blanc and certainly one of the wines of the vintage. It has 13.65% alcohol and 3.82pH (high for the vintage, although you wouldn’t know it tasting the wine). Blend: 52% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Franc, 2% Cabernet Sauvignon
Critic Scores
Average Score
James Suckling
William Kelley, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The Grand Vin 2023 Château Cheval Blanc is based on 52% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon and, as always, is resting in 100% new French oak. It's deep ruby/plum-hued and offers a gorgeous array of ripe black cherries, currants, leafy herbs, spring flowers, and spicy oak. This carries to a medium to full-bodied Cheval with gorgeous mid-palate depth, ripe, building, yet polished tannins, and a certainly salty, mineral character on the finish. This is a classic, regal, aristocratic Cheval Blanc that will need bottle age, but it’s absolutely gorgeous. It's the finest wine I tasted on the Right Bank.
The Cabernet Franc makes a strong impression in the nose with its tobacco, flowers, black, with red fruits, chocolate, orange skin, and mint leaf in the nose. However, it is on the palate with its length, purity, vibrance, elegance, and refinement that is the star of the show. The wine starts slow, building in intensity as it lingers. But once it gets going, you find layer, after layer of vibrant, silky, electric fruits. Perfectly ripe, balanced, and fresh, the finish holds with you for close to 60 seconds. The chateau thinks it is better than the 2022, I am not sure. But, I am ready to blind taste both, again, and again to find out for sure. The key to the vintage this year is the uniqueness, and inclusion of each parcel. With 2023, all 41 parcels produced fruit used in the Grand Vin allowing for a true representation of the vineyard into the wine. In other words, 2023 is a vintage where the terroir provides the shape, and character to the wine, more than the climatic conditions. The wine is made from 52% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Franc and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon. 13.65% ABV, 3.8 pH. The harvest began September 6 for the Merlot. The Cabernet Franc took place September 12 - October 3.
The 2023 Cheval Blanc, accounting for 75% of this year's crop, is deep garnet-purple in color. After a little swirling, the nose erupts with an atomic perfume of Morello cherries, wild blueberries, black raspberries, and ripe plums leading to a fragrant undercurrent of rosebud tea, menthol, star anise, and cinnamon stick. The medium-bodied palate is fantastically fresh and graceful, delivering super-fine-grained tannins and just enough tension to support the red, black, and blue fruit layers, finishing on a lingering mineral note. This is magnificent. The blend is 52% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon, with pH 3.80.
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About the producer
Ch. Cheval Blanc is one the finest producers in Bordeaux. The Saint-Emilion estate’s Cabernet Franc-dominant wines are consistently among the top wines of the vintage.