2022 Chateau Cheval Blanc, Saint-Emilion, Bottle (750ml)
$699
100JD100LP
Critic key
JD = Jeb DunnuckLP = Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Product Description
JD100 "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." JD Feb 2025
LP100 "There was no Petit Cheval in this vintage, the majority of the crop going into Cheval Blanc, taking 78% of the harvest, while 22% was sold as bulk wine (which was almost all press wine which is never included in the blend at Cheval Blanc) and there was not sufficient volume to create a Petit Cheval. A groundbreaking harvest here, beginning August 29th, the first time the Cheval Blanc harvest has begun before the arrival of September. The blend is 53% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Franc and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the élevage was shorter than usual, amounting to just 13 months, in 100% new 225-litre oak barrels. It was bottled in May, a couple of months ahead of schedule. This is just glorious on the nose, expressive but with fabulous perfume, with dense raspberry and red cherry fruits, with rosehips, vanilla and toast, pure and just leaping from the glass. The palate is beautifully composed, just so elegant and precise, with toasted summer berries, wrapped in pencil shavings and a touch of coffee bean, but the most significant finding here is one of beautifully coherent and elegant harmony, the wine filled with defined Cabernet energy, beneath which there is a fresh and peppery core of tannins. I see not a single hair out of place;overall this is a stunning Cheval Blanc, I think probably the most convincing and energetic young vintage I can recall tasting, and it is one you should leave in your cellar for a very long time before broaching. Perfection. Tasted twice. The alcohol on the label is 14%." CK for TWI Jun 2025
LP100 "There was no Petit Cheval in this vintage, the majority of the crop going into Cheval Blanc, taking 78% of the harvest, while 22% was sold as bulk wine (which was almost all press wine which is never included in the blend at Cheval Blanc) and there was not sufficient volume to create a Petit Cheval. A groundbreaking harvest here, beginning August 29th, the first time the Cheval Blanc harvest has begun before the arrival of September. The blend is 53% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Franc and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the élevage was shorter than usual, amounting to just 13 months, in 100% new 225-litre oak barrels. It was bottled in May, a couple of months ahead of schedule. This is just glorious on the nose, expressive but with fabulous perfume, with dense raspberry and red cherry fruits, with rosehips, vanilla and toast, pure and just leaping from the glass. The palate is beautifully composed, just so elegant and precise, with toasted summer berries, wrapped in pencil shavings and a touch of coffee bean, but the most significant finding here is one of beautifully coherent and elegant harmony, the wine filled with defined Cabernet energy, beneath which there is a fresh and peppery core of tannins. I see not a single hair out of place;overall this is a stunning Cheval Blanc, I think probably the most convincing and energetic young vintage I can recall tasting, and it is one you should leave in your cellar for a very long time before broaching. Perfection. Tasted twice. The alcohol on the label is 14%." CK for TWI Jun 2025