Château Cheval Blanc: Tasting & Drinking

Many of my earlier experiences of the wines of Château Cheval Blanc came from a tasting, with Pierre Lurton, of the grand vin, second wine and also Cheval des Andes, an Argentinean venture (which I include with my tasting notes below for completeness) as long ago as 2005. It was a memorable event. Of course this tasting was not the first time I had drank the wines of Cheval Blanc, although for economic reasons it was often the ‘weaker’ vintages that I had previously tasted, such as 1992, although I did taste the fabulous 1998 in 2004 in a tasting of St Emilions from that vintage.

More recently though I met Pierre Lurton again, this time in Edinburgh, for a tasting of Château Cheval Blanc and Château d’Yquem, a tasting that was memorable not just for the range and quality of the wines poured, but also for having to walk four miles home in ill-fitting shoes, long past midnight, along pitch-black country roads; I had been so entranced with the wines, I had missed the last day bus, and the night bus terminated one village short of my destination. During the days that follows the blisters on my feet provided an unusual reminder of a fine dinner and tasting.

Naturally, since then I have visited the estate several times when in Bordeaux, most often during the primeur tastings, but sometimes during or after harvest. My experience of the wines, both young and mature, are sufficient to tell me that this property deserves its place among the Bordeaux ‘first growths’, even if such status was voluntarily relinquished in 2022. This is despite not having tasted the legendary 1921, or the occasionally sighted and similarly mythical 1947, both vintages doing much to secure Cheval Blanc’s reputation during the 20th century. While this might mean my palate has missed out on some valuable educational experiences, I suppose it does also mean I am not basing my wine beliefs (or my published tasting notes) on bottles concocted in a laboratory by convicted wine fraudster Rudy Kurniawan.

Subscribe Here / Lost Password