Château Cheval Blanc 2023

Jane Anson - Inside Bordeaux

Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider

A riveting vintage of Cheval Blanc, balancing its opulent character with firm tannins and energy. In 2023, it is the Cabernet Franc that shines, with its pungent aromatic profile, opening with a bouquet of flowers, spices, mint, Cuban cigars, black and red fruits, cocoa, and a hint of orange peel. This is a slow-developing tasting experience: It takes time to get going, holding back some of its personality. On the palate, you experience its full length, purity, vibrance, elegance, and refinement, along with its tannins and energy, as the wine builds in intensity, lingers, expands, and captures your attention for nearly 60 seconds. The château believes it is better than the 2022; I do not agree (Although they are close), though I understand their perspective. The wine blends 52% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon. 2030-2065.

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

From bottle, the 2023 Château Cheval Blanc is one of the most compelling wines of the vintage, just as it was from cask. Bursting with aromas of cherries and mulberries mingled with notions of violets, rose petal and anise, it's full-bodied, velvety and layered, with a deep and enveloping core of vibrant fruit, ripe tannins and a long, expansive finish. It's a blend of 52% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Franc and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon, drawing on fully 46 of the blocks that make up Cheval Blanc, and it attained 13.8% alcohol.

One of Bordeaux's most complex terroirs, Cheval Blanc sits on the site of an ancient river delta, with (to generalize) clay-rich soils in the lower-lying parts where rivulets once flowed and gravel and sand elsewhere. This complexity is reflected, of course, in the resulting wine but also in how it is farmed and made, with thoughtful use of cover crops according to soil type and parcel-by-parcel vinification. A concerted effort is being made, moreover, to bring life back to the vineyard, with hedges of native species to act as wildlife corridors and fruit trees planted among the vines. The same attention to detail that's applied in the vineyards, for example with regard to developing and testing an in-house massal selection, is applied in the cellar, where cooperage trials are notable for their exigence.

The 2023 vintage has turned out just as well in bottle as I had hoped. Director Pierre-Olivier Clouet described the season as unremarkable in terms of rainfall overall (though thunderstorms in June gave rise to almost tropical conditions that amplified disease pressure), observing that temperatures, while high, were not particularly extreme in the context of the last decade. Flowering was rapid and successful, as at other addresses, and in Cabernet, maturity took its time coming, making for a protracted harvest between September 6 and October 3.

James Suckling

Blackberry and dark-chocolate aromas with bark, mushrooms, stems, flint, lead pencil and a hint of violets. Medium-bodied with a toned structure from the tight, compressed palate and fine, polished tannins. Extremely long. A blend of 52% merlot, 46% cabernet franc and 2% cabernet sauvignon. Best after 2029.