Barrel Sample Dark chocolate and mocha flavors, very dark and intense, this is a big, concentrated wine, flavored with bitter cherries and structured.
Reviews:
- Wine Advocate: The brilliant 2006 Cheval Blanc performed better from bottle than from barrel. A blend of equal parts Cabernet Franc and Merlot grown in a superb vineyard site facing La Conseillante and l’Evangile at the very edge of the sandy, gravelly soils of St.-Emilion, it boasts a dense ruby/purple color as well as a sweet perfume of menthol, charcoal, boysenberries, black currants, and hints of cocoa and caramel. Lush, textured, and opulent with superb purity, medium to full body, savory flavors, and sweet, sexy tannins.
- James Suckling: Displays lots of milk chocolate, cedar, berry and cappuccino aromas. Full-bodied, with chewy tannins, this is structured and layered for the vintage. Mouthpuckering. Needs time. This is one of the wines of the vintage.
Producer Information
Château Cheval Blanc is a highly lauded wine estate in the Saint-Émilion region of northeast Bordeaux. Classified with the top ranking of Premier Grand Cru Classé A, it is regarded by many as one of the greatest wines of the appellation – if not, the greatest. It is certainly the most famous Cabernet Franc-based wine in the world, albeit often alongside very similar levels of Merlot. Typically, the “grand vin” (the estate’s eponymous wine) is lush and full bodied with great weight of fruit. It tends to require ten years of bottle age and the best vintages can last half a century or more. The second wine of the estate is Le Petit Cheval. The vineyard is located in the northwest of the region, bordering Pomerol (La Conseillante is a neighbor) and consists of 39 hectares (96 acres) divided into 45 plots. There is an unusually large amount of Cabernet Franc planted – about 52 percent – with 43 percent Merlot and five percent Cabernet Sauvignon.
