A great Cheval Blanc that stands up to the potential that I found during en primeur. Extremely restrained and classic in its construction, shot through with points of mint, liquorice, raspberry and eucalyptus. The fresh aromatics mean you could almost think that it is from a cool year, except for the huge density that runs through the palate, along with a creamy texture. Extremely good-quality. Something that you are going to want to put away for a good few decades. I get big, chewy tannins on the finish. Exceptionally good and extremely elegant.

Love the floral character to the aromas of dark fruit, such as blueberries and black cherries. Red and black licorice, too. The full-bodied palate starts slowly and then expands with super polished, searing tannins that lead you up the palate into a place of grandeur. Lightly chewy at the end. Such great purity and presence here. 6% cabernet sauvignon in the blend with franc and merlot. Try after 2028.

The first thing that strikes about this wine is its massive density. The second is the richness of the structured Cabernet Franc that is such an important element in the blend. Weight is balanced by the intense fruits and amazing freshness of a wine that has such concentration. This wine will age for years. Don’t touch it before 2027. Cellar Selection

Showing beautifully from barrel and now from bottle, the 2018 Château Cheval Blanc is a final blend of 54% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon. It's a pure, classic Cheval Blanc in that it relies more on complexity and elegance than power, offering a beautiful perfume of red and blackcurrants, spring flowers, spice, forest floor, incense, and tobacco. This carries to a medium to full-bodied Cheval Blanc offering wonderful purity of fruit, a seamless, layered texture, incredible tannins, and a lengthy, focused finish. It shows less of the sunny style of the vintage now than it did from barrel, and it's a wonderfully complete wine that delivers awesome freshness in its aromatics, plenty of ripe, sweet fruit, and the tannins and structure that seem to come from a long, cooler season. Reminding me slightly of the 2016, with a touch of the 2001, give this gorgeous wine 5-7 years of bottle age, count yourself lucky, and enjoy over the following 2-3 decades.

The 2018 Cheval Blanc is a blend of 54% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc and 6% Cabernet Sauvignon, with a 3.75 pH and 14.5% alcohol. Deep garnet-purple colored, it needs considerable swirling and air to releases fragrant notes of stewed plums, juicy black cherries and ripe blackberries with underlying suggestions of damp soil, black truffles, rose oil and cardamom with wafts of underbrush and iron ore. The medium to full-bodied palate is densely packed with rich black fruits and loads of earthy accents, framed by super firm, grainy tannins and seamless freshness to balance, finishing with amazing length and a beautiful array of floral and mineral sparks. Thirty-three plots contributed to this wine, out of the forty-three in production. Of the rest, five went into Petit Cheval and five into bulk. It will need a good 6-7 years at least to really start to strut its stuff and should cellar for a further 30 years or more.
Rating: 98+

This has the vintage's profile, with a sleek and slightly austere frame holding a core of cassis, bitter cherry and raspberry coulis notes tightly together while flashes of bay, dried anise and savory add range and detail. Has a late tug of warm earth along with a very perfumy echo through the finish. A beauty. Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.