Ch. Cheval Blanc
Grand Cru
Saint Emilion
2016

The producer

Cheval Blanc is one of, if not the, finest chateaux in Saint-Emilion. Located in the north-western part of the appellation right on the border with Pomerol; west of Chateau Dominique and east of Chateau Figeac. The soils have high gravel contents, which favours the Cabernet grape varieties – thus not surprisingly, Cheval Blanc is the Saint-Emilion estate with the highest Cabernet Franc content in the blend (usually around 57% and complemented with Merlot) – and arguably the finest Cabernet Franc based blend in the world. Cheval Blanc’s history can be traced back to 1832, but the modern era started in 1998 when the estate was jointly acquired by Bernard Arnault and Baron Albert Frere in a deal worth around 150 million euros. Pierre Lurton (who also runs Chateau d’Yquem in Sauternes) manages the estate.

Aged entirely in new oak, it retains enticing purity of aromatics as part of its allure, backed by richly textured fruit and velvety tannins. The essence of seductive Saint-Emilion!  In the 2004 film, Sideways, Miles finally drank his only bottle of 1961 Cheval Blanc – having said he been saving it for a special occasion, for many years. His new girlfriend reminded him that “drinking it was the special occasion”!    We can only agree!

Having had the status of as 1er Grand Cru Classe A for many years, Cheval Blanc made the announcement in 2021 that they would no longer be participating in subsequent classifications.

The wine

One of the leading estates of the entire Right Bank, Cheval Blanc is always some of the first in the appellation to harvest which undoubtedly contributes to preserving freshness and pristine aromatics in their wines. The blend varies with vintage conditions but usually includes around 55% Merlot with 40% Cabernet Franc and the remainder Cabernet Sauvignon. Fermentation and maceration take place in stainless steel tanks and is followed by ageing for around 18 months in 100% new French oak barrels.

Enticing purity of aromatics is part of Cheval Blanc’s allure and backed by richly textured blackberry fruit with floral notes, velvety tannins, a sumptuously rich and full-bodied palate, and a long refreshing aftertaste. This is the essence of seductive Saint-Emilion and one of the greatest wines of the region!

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.