Chateau Cheval Blanc

About the producer

Château Cheval Blanc is widely considered to have created some of the greatest Bordeaux wines ever made. One of four Saint-Émilion wineries to enjoy the status of Premier Grand Cru Classé "A", alongside Château Angélus, Château Ausone and Château Pavie; Château Cheval Blanc produces the world’s greatest Cabernet Franc-based wine and is a reference point for the best that can be achieved with the grape. Cheval Blanc’s Grand Vin has received a number of all-important 100 and 99 point scores from Parker, with the 2010, 2005 and 1947 being among the most sought-after vintages. One of Cheval Blanc’s most admired qualities is its longevity, with some of the best examples capable of ageing for fifty years or more.

Château Cheval Blanc's history can be traced back to the 1830s when the Ducasse family purchased a patch of land and vines from Château Figeac. This land, combined with a number of parcels bought from other wineries, eventually became the Cheval Blanc estate that we know today. The historic Château was built in the late 1800s and is now recognised as one of the most beautiful and classic examples of Bordeaux wine architecture. In 2011, famous architect Christian de Portzamparc led the renovation of the estate’s facilities, including a state-of-the-art winery, barrel cellars, vinification room and tasting area, making Cheval Blanc the envy of all other Bordeaux estates. 

In The Vineyard

Located to the northwest of the Saint-Émilion appellation, on the border with Pomerol, Château Cheval Blanc neighbours a number of high profile estates, including Château Figeac to the South and Pétrus and Vieux Château Certan across the border in Pomerol. Located in Saint-Émilion, four kilometres north of the famed limestone plateau, Cheval Blanc is much closer on the map (and therefore in diversity of soil types) to Pomerol, with a mixture of 40% gravel, 40% clay and 20% sand. Each soil type is planted with each grape varietal (Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec) with the vineyard divided into 54 separate plots. Each plot is effectively treated as an autonomous vineyard, with no blending taking place prior to vinification, creating a unique sense of identity and adding to the complexity of the finished wines. This gives a true reflection of the piece of land on which grapes have been grown since the 15th Century.

A third of Cheval Blanc’s Grand Vin is located on the boundary with Pomerol, one third has the same gravelly soil as Graves and the remaining third is a classic Saint-Émilion limestone. The resulting combination of gravel, clay, limestone and sand helps shape and define Cheval Blanc’s unique taste. The vineyards are planted with some Merlot and a tiny proportion of Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon, but the main event is Cabernet Franc. This, in Parker’s words, leads to “a distinctive lighter, more delicate style” and “aromatic, long-lived wines that represent the quintessential, complex style of Bordeaux”.

In the winery

Many of the key components of the winemaking process have not changed since 1832, however technology has allowed the team to increase the precision and purity of each bottle. As Technical Director Pierre-Olivier Clouet explains “it’s the same picture, but with more pixels; we’re simply increasing the resolution of the wine”. Meticulous care and attention to detail happens at every stage, from growing the grapes, picking each plot when the grapes are precisely “al dente”, right through to bottling. The winemaking team at Cheval Blanc take the intra-plot fermentation process to the next level assessing extraction levels from each tank with the winemaking team constantly assessing the juice in order to rack off the skins at the opportune moment. The results are reliably precise, elegant and detailed expressions of Saint-Émilion at the highest level.

About the producer