Appellations

Cheval Blanc 2010

St Emilion, Premier Grand Cru Classé A

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Tasting Notes

Tasted at the property, the Cheval Blanc 2010 has a wonderful bouquet with pixelated clarity: blackberry, briary, crushed stone and a touch of cigar box it is stately and almost aloof in style. The palate is medium-bodied with superb balance and focus. The tannins are fully ripe, but it maintains the austere style of the vintage. Hints of bay leaf, black pepper and a touch of black truffle inform the dry, but powerful finish. This will need 10 years to really show its pedigree, but it will grow up to be a sublime Cheval Blanc.

Score: 98 Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Date: 01 March 2013

A blend of 60% Cabernet Franc and 40% Merlot, the latter suffering a little coulure (so bunches were cut earlier during the season after veraison to increase homogeneity.) The Merlot were reaching around 14.5% alcohol and the clay/gravel soils inhibited the increased alcohol level at the end. The harvest began on 15th September and finished on 13th October with a major part of the vineyard picked on 7th October. Like many samples, the Cheval Blanc takes a long time to open but eventually reveals a very refined, tightly-knit bouquet with dark berries, espresso, underbrush, the Cabernet Franc dominating the Merlot at present. The palate is medium-bodied and much more masculine compared to the fleshier 2009 last year, like the nose, the Cabernet Franc defining the wine with touches of dried herbs, a little allspice and white pepper. There is a firm backbone to this Cheval Blanc, quite structured towards the spicy finish, fresh but obdurate and broody. This will need a decade to really open up. Very promising, but do not expect fireworks...yet. Drink 2020-2040+ Tasted March 2011.

Score: 95 - 97 Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2020-2040+ Date: 27 April 2011

The aroma in this wine is crazy with flowers, mushroom, forest floor, and fruit. It seems like I am walking through a row of the vines in Cheval Blanc when I have my nose in the glass. It's full-bodied, with fabulous layers of ultra-fine tannins and milk chocolate, raspberries, and a phenomenal finish. Truly one of the greatest Chevals ever. Better than 2009. Try in 2020.

Score: 100 James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com Maturity: 2020+ Date: 04 February 2013

The 2010 is one of the most impressive two-year-old Cheval Blancs I have tasted in 34 years in this profession. The final blend of 54% Cabernet Franc and 46% Merlot has the tell-tale berry/floral nose with subtle hints of menthol, blueberry, raspberry and flowers in addition to some forest floor and a delicate touch of lead pencil shavings. The wine exhibits more structure and density than it did from barrel, and it was already remarkable then. The foresty/floral notes seem to linger and linger in this surprisingly full-bodied, powerful Cheval Blanc, yet it possesses a very healthy pH that should ensure enormous longevity. Dense purple in color, and a bigger, richer wine than usual, this is one Cheval Blanc that will probably need a decade of cellaring. I like the description from the estate’s administrator, Pierre Lurton, who said it tasted like 'liquid cashmere,' a perfect expression, despite the wine’s structure and intensity. This is another 50-year wine from this amazingly structured, rich vintage.

Score: 100 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2023-2063+ Date: 01 February 2013

The 2010 Cheval Blanc contains 13.8% alcohol, which is very high for this estate, and has an unusually high percentage of Cabernet Franc in the final blend (56% versus 44% Merlot). Yields were tiny, adding to the richness and intensity already instilled by the drought of summer and resulting tiny berries. In the style of some of the great Cheval Blancs of the late 1940s, this wine is rich, opulent, full-bodied, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record, as saturated purple in color as any Cheval Blanc I have seen. Mulberries, black currants, fresh minerals, and floral notes jump from the glass of this full-bodied, dense wine. With its tannins, good acidity and surprisingly modest pH, this should be an exceptionally long-lived wine, more backward and delineated than the fatter, more opulent 2009. Drink it over the next 30+ years.

Score: 96 - 98 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Date: 04 May 2011

56%CF, 44%M aged in 100% new oak. 60% of the crop used here. A very bright nose of berries, earl grey tea and orange peel. Pure with violet fruit, perfume and silky density. Very sensual and unforced. Rich on the attack then build and builds.

Score: 95 - 98 Albany Vintners, - Date: 28 April 2011

56% Cabernet Franc, 44% Merlot. Meaty and savoury. Almost austere on the nose relative to how young Cheval usually tastes. Very youthful but aromatic, then lovely lusciousness on the palate. Recalls great old Chevals with that seductive freshness. Lovely dry finish. (Blend for 2009 was exactly the opposite.) Coulure affected Merlot in 2010. Lost lots of volume on Merlot. Great structure but also lovely floral seductive aroma. Opens out in the glass in the most convincing manner. Presumably they think it would have been even better if vinified in the new cellar that is due for completion this summer. 14.5%. (18.5+ Points)

Score: 18 - 19 Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2025-2045 Date: 14 April 2011

Sublime wine. Fresh, floral, perfumed. More elegant and sensual than the '09. Pure, sumptuous fruit. Refined texture and tannins. Lovely acidity for balance. Seamless.

Score: 20 Decanter, Decanter.com Maturity: 2020-2050 Date: 01 April 2011

Lush and very rounded, with lots of muscle and heft, but also great polish and pose to the gorgeous boysenberry, plum and fig notes. Supercreamy on the finish, with bittersweet cocoa, violet, mint, anise and tobacco in reserve. Tasted non-blind.

Score: 95 - 98 James Molesworth, Wine Spectator Date: 31 March 2011