Château Cheval Blanc Château Cheval Blanc St.-Emilion 2022 750ml

Made with 45% Cabernet Franc, this great wine offers a beautiful, rich and perfumed character. This is an exceptional vintage for this estate which incorporated into the blend fruit from parcels of the vineyard that would normally go into the second wine. It is packed with black-fruit flavors and broad tannins, with a background of juicy acidity and a firm structure. Drink from 2027. (Roger Voss)

One of the unequivocally great wines of the vintage is the 2019 Cheval Blanc, a stunning young Saint-Émilion that wafts from the glass with aromas of wild berries and plums mingled with notions of lilac, pipe tobacco, violets, raw cocoa, licorice, crushed mint and burning embers. Full-bodied, layered and enveloping, it’s deep and intense, with beautifully rich, powdery tannins and vibrant flavors. Concluding with a long, saline finish, this rivals the 2016 as the finest Cheval Blanc of the decade, and in many respects it might be thought of as the latter vintage’s sun-kissed cousin. Bravo to Pierre-Olivier Clouet and his team! (William Kelley)

The 2019 Cheval Blanc is a stunning, riveting wine. There is simply nothing like a great Cheval in all of Bordeaux. Soaring aromatics are immediately alluring. Bright red-toned fruit, blood orange, cinnamon, espresso and dried herbs build in a Cheval that possesses tremendous layers and exceptional balance. Clean, mineral notes lend tension and drive. The 2019 is a bit strict today and not ready to show all its cards, but it is very clearly a special, special wine in the making. In 2019, the Grand Vin represents 82.5% of the estate’s production, a very high amount by any measure. I wouldn’t dream of touching a bottle anytime soon. The 2019 is an eternal Cheval Blanc. (Antonio Galloni)

The 2022 Château Cheval Blanc is based on 53% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon, brought up all in new oak, and this is the second year where no Petite Cheval was produced. (2015 was the last.) Its deep purple color is followed by a riveting Cheval Blanc that has fabulous aromatics of blackcurrants, spice, flowers, spicy wood, and white truffle. These carry to a medium to full-bodied, remarkably pure, elegant, seamless 2022 that has a layered, rounded mouthfeel, absolutely riveting purity, velvety tannins, and a great finish. It brings to mind a more refined, elegant version of the 2010 and is every bit its equal. Hitting 14% alcohol with a healthy pH of 3.83, it warrants a solid decade of bottle age and will have 40-50+ years of overall prime drinking.

The Grand Vin 2020 Château Cheval Blanc checks in as a blend of 65% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon that was raised, as always, in 100% new French oak. As usual with Cheval Blanc, it’s primarily about finesse and elegance, as well as complexity, and exhibits a deep purple hue as well as a kaleidoscopic bouquet of sweet red and black fruits, spring flowers, spicy incense, loamy earth, and smoke tobacco. Absolutely flawless on the palate, it’s full-bodied, has perfectly integrated oak, ripe, silky tannins, and a gorgeous finish that keeps you coming back to the glass. This powerful, concentrated Cheval Blanc offers pleasure even today (needs lots of air) but warrants 7–8 years of bottle age and will see its 40th birthday in fine form.

Reminding me slightly of the 1990, the 2019 Château Cheval Blanc is a brilliant, brilliant wine from this estate that’s up there with the true greats. It shows the purity, finesse, and elegance of the vintage beautifully yet backs it up with density, concentration, and depth, revealing a stunning nose of red and black currants, tobacco leaf, new saddle leather, and spring flowers, with absolutely perfect ripeness. As complex and nuanced as only Cheval Blanc can be, even at this young age, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, abundant opulence, fat, and sweetness, polished tannins, and a gorgeous finish. It’s almost in a class all its own. It deserves at least 5–7 years of bottle age and will shine for 30+ years. Hats off to Pierre-Olivier Clouet, who continues to keep this estate at the top of the pyramid in Saint-Emilion! (Jeb Dunnuck)

Extremely perfumed, showing red roses and violets as well as hints of flower stems. A touch of sandalwood. This turns to blue fruits with such pure grape character, like smelling must. Savory, light brine and black olives. The palate is tight and refined before taking off at the end. The perfectly integrated tannins melt into the wine, giving it fascinating tension and intensity. 53% merlot, 46% cabernet franc and 1% cabernet sauvignon. Drink after 2028.

The 2020 Cheval Blanc is eternal, seamless and exceptionally beautiful. All the elements are so well put together. Rose petal, blood orange, raspberry jam and cinnamon all take shape in the glass. Above all else, the 2020 Cheval Blanc is a wine of mind-blowing balance. Hints of mocha, raspberry jam, pomegranate and spice emerge with time in the glass. Cheval is quite simply one of the truly great wines of the vintage.

Loganberry, boysenberry and blackberry compote notes give the core an almost outsized feel, but there's restraint and focus, as touches of warm loam, licorice root and smoldering tobacco keep this well-grounded. There's cut and drive too, even though this is dense and slow-moving, with alder smoke, Turkish coffee and bittersweet cocoa checking in. Then a lilting black tea and violet backdrop emerges at the very end, adding grace and sensuality. A marvelous expression of a distinctive vintage. Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Best from 2028 through 2050. 6,845 cases made, 1,000 cases imported.

A lovely sanguine hint leads off, followed by racy, elegant juniper, tobacco, red currant and damson plum notes that move in unison. Broadens and deepens, adding notes of currant preserves, warm ganache and smoldering tobacco, with a swath of loamy structure. Yet even as the bass line increases in volume through the finish, this maintains purity and poise. Should deliver some stunning aromatics at peak, which will take awhile to achieve. Best from 2025 through 2045. 8,250 cases made. (James Molesworth)

The wine is very fine, elegant and impressive. It has depth and concentration, being very floral and offering great black fruits alongside the firm tannins. There is a lovely line of succulent fruit and acidity. Almost accessible now, it is really set for long-term aging.

The 2022 Château Cheval Blanc has turned out beautifully in bottle, bursting from the glass with aromas of minty mulberries, licorice and rose petals mingled with hints of pipe tobacco and baking chocolate. Full-bodied, rich and velvety, it's layered and unctuous, with sweet, powdery tannins and a broad, enveloping profile, concluding with a long, fragrant finish. Flamboyant but controlled, this blend of 53% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Franc and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon spent only 12 months in barrique. There's no Petit Cheval this year, as what little wasn't deemed up to the level of the grand vin was sold off in bulk.

This wine has power and density. It also offers a perfumed intensity of black fruits and ripe tannins. The shape of the wine is already there even if it is still very young. Ripe and sweet, the fruit is delicious and open, bringing great freshness behind the structure. Drink this wine from 2027.

The 2015 Cheval Blanc represents the entire vineyard this year, since there is no Le Petit Cheval (two plots that did not meet requirements were not included in any blend). A blend of 45% Cabernet Franc/Cabernet Sauvignon and 55% Merlot, matured in 100% new oak, it has a very complex bouquet, subtle and tightly wound, very precise with dark berry fruit, hints of graphite, minerals and a hint of black pepper, perhaps a little spicier than recent vintages. The palate is medium-bodied with extraordinarily fine tannin. Beautifully balanced, perfectly controlled, this Cheval Blanc gently builds in the mouth, but remains strict and precise. The Cabernet Franc here is very expressive (though apparently the Merlot was showier prior to malolactic). This is an intellectual Cheval Blanc, thoroughly enjoyable, but it will need 10–12 years to really show its pedigree. A profound wine in the making, it will rank with the great wines of the past.

A Cheval with a depth and finesse that reminds me of the 1998. Full body, ultra-fine tannins and amazing length and beauty. Such finesse and harmony. Super silky and classic for Cheval Blanc.

A wine of total finesse, the 2015 Cheval Blanc speaks to understatement above all else. Sweet floral notes meld into a core of bright red stone fruits and mint. Silky, nuanced and wonderfully persistent on the palate, the 2015 possesses remarkable depth, but in an understated fashion. There is plenty of tannin buried beneath the fruit. The 2015 is not an obvious Cheval Blanc, but rather a sublime wine that will only start to blossom with a decade plus in bottle. It will drink well for decades beyond that.