2008 Chateau Cheval Blanc, Saint-Emilion [OWC], 6ltr

NM96 "Tasted ex-chateau and single blind in Southwold. The Cheval Blanc 2008 is a great wine. Here, this bottle has a pure, elegant bouquet that unfurls with each swirl of the glass. It offers a smorgasbord of red fruits: wild strawberry, a touch of kirsch, cranberry and just a touch of lifted alcohol. The new oak is seamlessly integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent tannins that are ripe and rounded, perhaps belying the sheer weight of its sweet core of fruit. It is a little more ostentatious than I expected and blind, I conjectured whether it could be Chateau Angelus? Superb. Tasted January 2012." NM for the WJ RobertParker.com May 2012

VM95 "The 2008 Cheval Blanc has a very precise, mineral-driven bouquet, a mixture of red and black fruit, energetic and incredibly focused, perhaps even more so than Ausone? The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin though I discerned a patina of oak dragging its heels, waiting to be subsumed. There is great concentration and yet conversely it feels bright and fresh; with aeration evermore nimble and sprightly. Towards the finish there are subtle hints of bay leaf and cedar, the Cabernet Franc taking over the steering wheel from the Merlot. There is a lot going on in this outstanding Cheval Blanc that does not deserve to be in the shadow of the feted 2009 or 2010." NM for VM Feb 2018

WS95 "Menthol, tobacco and incense aromas give way to warm plum, blackberry and black cherry compote flavors. Loam and cedar notes ride through the finish, with the supple fruit lingering. Admirably seductive for the vintage. -- Blind '01/'03/'05 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2017). Best from 2020 through 2035." JM for WS Dec 2017