Château Cheval Blanc 2010

Gorgeous nose of fresh mint, finely polished tannins, precisely and cleanly defined, harmonious, with an intense, never-ending finish. Brimming with charm and great class.

This is stone-cold shut down right now, but why worry? You'll want to wait at least a decade before breaching a bottle as massively endowed as this, with loads of loamy bass notes thumping along underneath a riveting track of licorice snap, pastis-steeped black currant fruit, maduro tobacco and espresso. And then there's an echo of petrichor at the very end that hints at the aromatic fireworks to come with cellaring. Should compete for wine of the vintage. Best from 2020 through 2040.

The aromas here are crazy with flowers, mushroom, forest floor, and fruit. It seems like I am walking through a row of the vines in Cheval Blanc when I have my nose in the glass. It's full-bodied, with fabulous layers of ultra-fine tannins and milk chocolate, raspberries, and a phenomenal finish. Truly one of the greatest Chevals ever. Better than 2009. Try in 2020.

An intriguing perfume filled with stone, flowers, blackberry liqueur, dark plums, licorice, smoke, oak and hints of bitter chocolate asks for—and receives—your attention. Lush, sensuous, silk- and velvet-drenched fruit, saturated with opulence bordering on decadence, coats your palate. The pure, intense, sensuous finish lasts at least 60 seconds. This sublime Bordeaux wine has become a better tasting experience since it was last tasted.

Deep dark ruby, purple reflections, brightening on the edge. Fine nuances of savouriness with a hint of coconut, pleasant fine wood spice, delicate hints of nougat, ripe cherries; a very complex, seductive bouquet. Juicy, good complexity, pronounced in fruit, multi-layered texture, vivid, precise tannins. Everything is perfectly executed here and that makes a really great wine, which has an excellent future ahead of it.

Showing even better than a bottle a few years ago, the 2010 Chateau Cheval Blanc is perfection in a glass and wine doesn’t get any better. As with the 2009, it’s a powerful, concentrated Cheval Blanc, yet it has a slightly dark, cooler profile in its smoky black fruits, graphite, new leather, crushed rocks and cured meat aromas and flavors. Where the 2009 hits the palate with a sunny, sexy style, this stays more inward and masculine, yet it still has incredible sweetness of fruit, flawless integration of its fruit, tannins, and acidity, a great mid-palate, and a finish that goes on for over a minute. It opens up with time in the glass and offers incredible pleasure today, with an exotic masculine yet sexy style, but feel free to enjoy this legendary wine any time over the coming 3-4 decades.

55% Cabernet Franc, 45% Merlot. 30 hl/ha. Still restrained bouquet, nuances of rock candy, lilac, dark plums, cassis, black tea notes, focusing more on depth and spice than on fruit. Fleshy, full-bodied palate, showing plenty of glycerol and silkiness in the rich tannins, gigantic aromatics that build on the palate, focused finish. A classic Cheval that will only reveal its true greatness in 20 years.

55% Cabernet Franc, 45% Merlot. 30 hl/ha. Still restrained bouquet, notes of rock candy, lilac, dark plums, cassis, black tea; focuses more on depth and spice than on fruit. A meaty yet structured palate, plenty of richness and polish in the generous tannins, a gigantic aromatic profile that keeps building on the palate, a tightly knit finish. A classic Cheval that will likely show its true size only in 20 years. If I have to choose between Ausone 2010 and Cheval Blanc 2010, I’ll take the Cheval! Without a second’s hesitation.

Fresh, deep, complex, closed bouquet; blue berries, tobacco, mint, noble woods, currants, pralines. Balanced, multi-layered, elegant, fresh palate with a dense, silky structure; dense, full, fresh aromatics; plenty of fine tannins; compressed aromatics; very long, elegant, fresh finish. Can improve further. 19/20 2019 - 2045

The kind of aromatics that tell you this is a concentrated, rich and silky wine without having to take a sip. Expect a brooding 2010 at this point, packed with cocoa bean, liquorice, crushed rocks, smoked earth. So so good but so young - this could be half its 15 years of age, and it is going to take its sweet time to come around, but recognising its quality is effortless. 50% new oak for ageing.

The 2010 Cheval Blanc is deep garnet in color, with a touch of brick. Broody to begin, offering wafts of tar, chargrill, and smoked meats, after considerable swirling the nose reveals a fragrant perfume of Morello cherries and violets, with a touch of star anise. The concentrated, full-bodied palate is packed with tightly knit, impactful black fruits, framed by firm, yet plush, tannins and bags of freshness, finishing very long and earthy.

Though closed, this wine shows immense potential for the future. Very pure, well-defined, superbly elongated, with a fine and precise grain, its satiny texture and remarkable transparency of flavor are truly appreciable.

A very elegant Cheval Blanc that returns to a majority Cabernet Franc, which suits it well. The tannins are fine, the substance is less generous than 2009 but shows greater length. It will age for a long time.

The nose is elegant, racy, well-guided, offering lovely precision, definition, depth and intensity (with finesse). This wine needs decanting. It reveals notes of wild blackberry, wild blackcurrant and, more subtly, grey pepper, combined with small touches of graphite and ripe plum, as well as very fine hints of fig, dried raspberry and licorice, with a very discreet hint of camphor, pencil lead, an imperceptible touch of green cardamom and black tea. The palate is fruity, balanced, very discreetly tight, and offers a juicy/tangy backbone, lovely indulgence/definition, a pleasing creamy/fresh touch, as well as beautiful finesse of grain, aromatic purity and substance/density. On the palate, this wine expresses notes of fleshy/quite ripe blackcurrant, fleshy/pulpy damson plum and, more slightly, crushed wild strawberry, combined with hints of licorice, caramelization, fig, cocoa, toasted hazelnut, sweet spices and a subtle hint of black olive. The tannins are elegant, silky and well-handled. Good length. A very fine salinity and power on the finish/persistence. A beautiful marriage of extremes: concentration, substance and freshness. The tannins are all finesse.

Very beautiful nose of fresh fruit, subtle, gentle, slightly smoky and deep at the same time. Meticulous texture from the very first sip, where the wine starts off somewhat reserved. From mid-palate, however, it gains structure and rises, long and perfumed, leaving an impression of both delicacy and firmness. This contradiction makes me think the bottle should not be opened yet, as I currently consider it closed.

This is the finest Cheval Blanc for many years. It is, quite simply, magnificent. The wine shows the greatness of Cabernet Franc in the vintage, with 57% of the variety in the blend. It is beautifully structured and perfumed, with velvety tannins, balanced acidity and swathes of black-currant and black-cherry fruits. It's well on course to becoming a legendary wine.

The 2010 is one of the most impressive two-year-old Cheval Blancs I have tasted in 34 years in this profession. The final blend of 54% Cabernet Franc and 46% Merlot has the tell-tale berry/floral nose with subtle hints of menthol, blueberry, raspberry and flowers in addition to some forest floor and a delicate touch of lead pencil shavings. The wine exhibits more structure and density than it did from barrel, and it was already remarkable then. The foresty/floral notes seem to linger and linger in this surprisingly full-bodied, powerful Cheval Blanc, yet it possesses a very healthy pH that should ensure enormous longevity. Dense purple in color, and a bigger, richer wine than usual, this is one Cheval Blanc that will probably need a decade of cellaring. I like the description from the estate’s administrator, Pierre Lurton, who said it tasted like “liquid cashmere,” a perfect expression, despite the wine’s structure and intensity. This is another 50-year wine from this amazingly structured, rich vintage.