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Chateau Cheval Blanc 2024
Standard - 75cl
ETA: +2 years
ETA: +2 years
- Vintage2024
- ColourRed
- ProducerChateau Cheval Blanc
- CountryFrance
- RegionBordeaux
- Sub RegionSaint-Emilion Grand Cru
- DesignationAOP
- Bottle SizeStandard - 75cl
- ABV13.5
- LWIN10081082024
Wine Critic Reviews
For the third year in a row, it was a great privilege to taste with Arnaud de Laforcade, Commercial & Financial Director at Cheval Blanc. His detailed background notes inform so much about the flavour and stance of the pair of fascinating and forensically assembled wines made here. Arnaud explained that only 66% of the harvest was bottled, and from a possible yield of 40 hl/ha, only 28 hl/ha were vinified. Interestingly, the Cheval Blanc estate footprint has barely changed since 1832, and the joy of this wine is that it uses fruit from virtually all sectors of the estate to build complexity. Only the sandier plots are regularly relegated to the second wine (which came in in 1988). The difficulties of the vintage are well documented, and with a six-week-long flowering, irregular ripeness, even within bunches, was the biggest hurdle aside from obvious botrytis concerns. Sorting was critical here, and this explained the cliff edge difference between potential yields and actual yields, and the fruit in this wine and Le Petit Cheval is pristine. Cheval Blanc is another property that used a ‘densimetric bath’ to eliminate grapes that looked ripe to the eye but lacked genuine fruit weight and density of ripeness. The level of care and attention needed to ‘drive’ a Delta Densilys is incredible, and Cheval Blanc has mastered this useful piece of kit. The ‘baths’ used were plot-specific and considered the required changes that occurred overnight between harvested grapes and those that left the cold room the next day. This extraordinary attention to detail eliminated significant percentages of sub-standard grapes, resulting in an incredible wine, built on terrific tannins and cool, long, immovable fruit notes. There is tremendous strictness here, and this is undoubtedly a Cheval Blanc designed for committed purists and life-long devotees of this historic property. This wine feels discreetly addictive and intellectually challenging. With no unnecessary generosity or flattery, this is an unflinchingly honest and stunningly refined example of why this Château has remained so famous for nigh on two centuries. Cheval Club Card holders need only apply, as they have the monastic patience to allow this wine to reach its apogee slowly and deliberately. In time, 2024 Cheval Blanc will tell the story of its vintage with extraordinary clarity and determination – the twin traits responsible for its creation.
- Reviewer Name: Matthew Jukes
Deep dark ruby, opaque core, purple reflections, delicate rim brightening. Delicate nougat, a hint of cassis and savouriness, with ripe cherry in the background, fine wood nuances, multi-faceted, inviting bouquet. Taut, medium body, ripe tannins, fresh and elegant, still somewhat closed, mineral, good persistence, this wine definitely needs time to integrate the tannins, sure development and certain ageing potential.
A blend of 48% Cabernet Franc, 48% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2024 Château Cheval Blanc is one of the stars of the vintage. Unwinding in the glass with notes of minty berries and plums mingled with violets, cigar wrapper and rose petals, it's medium-bodied, suave and complete, with a cool, layered core of fruit, beautifully integrated tannins and a long, aromatic finish. Pierre-Olivier Clouet and his team conducted an aggressive green harvest and also, exceptionally, used densimetric sorting to mitigate heterogenous maturity between and within bunches (a consequence of a protracted flowering), accepting losses to rot in pursuit of full maturity. Yields were 39 hectoliters per hectare at harvest, but some 34% of that was eliminated between sorting and press wine (which is never retained at Cheval Blanc). Of what fermented, however, 70% ended up in the grand vin.
- Reviewer Name: William Kelley
The 2024 Cheval Blanc was picked from September 18 until October 3 and aged entirely in new oak with a little dabbling in concrete tanks and amphorae. The purity on the nose is the first facet that you notice with perfumed black cherry, blackcurrant, wild strawberry and touches of potpourri and crushed stone. There is certainly some mineralité here. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly brittle tannins. Very well balanced, this is clearly a Cheval Blanc built in a more elegant, sapid, linear style with a residual pepperiness that lingers in the mouth. It will need just 2 or 3 years in bottle and should drink well for 20 to 25 years. The 2024 is charming and refined.
- Drinking Window: 2029 - 2050
- Reviewer Name: Neal Martin
Lilac, peony flowers, same family of aromatics as the Petit Cheval, same feeling of finesse and precision, but here everything has been taken up a notch, more density, more slate and pumice stone texture. Expect subtle complexity, a wine that steals up on you, impresses in its precision and clarity. July and August just 20mm of rain each month, well below 30 year average, 140mm rain in September, highest since 2006, harvest September 18 to October 3, 3.62ph (3.9ph in 2022), 37 plots out of the 56 in the vineyard are in here. 100% new oak for ageing. Looking forward to seeing after ageing, it has all the elements and bones in place for a totally delicious Cheval.
- Drinking Window: 2032 - 2050
- Reviewer Name: Jane Anson
The 2024 Cheval Blanc is a blend taken from 37 of the 45 parcels on the property. Dried flowers, mocha, rose petal and blood orange open nicely in the bouquet, leading to an understated mid-palate and a subtly persistent finish. Understated and nuanced, the 2024 offers lovely forward fruit in a soft, accessible style with no hard edges or awkward contours. All the elements are nicely put together, and yet there is no denying the fact that the 2024 is very light. Élevage will be everything here.
- Drinking Window: 2032 - 2054
- Reviewer Name: Antonio Galloni