Château Cheval Blanc 1er Grand Cru Classé Tinto

Description

**Château Cheval Blanc** Since its first medal, won at the 1862 London Universal Exhibition, a medal that has adorned its labels ever since, Château Cheval Blanc has established itself over the decades as one of the great wines of the world. Its grace, its alchemy and its elegance embody a refined French culture of unmatched quality. **Winemaking** The general principles of winemaking at Cheval Blanc rest on cool maceration of the grapes, rigorous plot-by-plot vinification, the use of indigenous yeasts selected on the estate, gentle extraction, extended maceration, manual pump-overs, and a single delestage during the four-week vatting period. Malolactic fermentation takes place in vats, followed by ageing of the wines in barrels. The Château Cheval Blanc 2020 was aged for 16 months in 100% new oak barrels. Production: 100,908 bottles Bottling: 7 July 2022 **2020 – An Extreme Year** 2020 was an extreme year, marked by a severe drought over the summer and very high temperatures during the harvest. The wines perfectly reflect these climatic conditions, showing an intense, ripe nose and a powerful, dense tannic structure. **Vegetative Cycle** 2020 was an early harvest, from bud break to vintage. The particularly mild month of March stimulated rapid vegetative growth. Average flowering occurred on 21 May, and average veraison on 19 July for Merlot and 2 August for Cabernet Franc. The grapes ripened uniformly, with little variation in ripeness within the plots. The harvest took place between 3 and 23 September. The frequency and intensity of spring rains created very high pressure from downy mildew, which was progressively controlled by the hot, dry conditions of the summer. At harvest, numerous signs of sunburn were observed on the clusters exposed to the western sun. Yield: 34.5 hl/ha **Analysis** Total acidity: 3.06 g/L H₂SO₄ pH: 3.67 **Awards** 100/100 Vinum Wine Magazine 100/100 Izak Litwar – Great Wines from Bordeaux 100/100 Adrian van Velsen – vvWine.ch 100/100 Fastaff 100/100 Jean-Marc Quarin 100/100 Giuseppe Lauria – Fine Wine Guide 99/100 Jane Anson – Inside Bordeaux 99/100 Wine Spectator 99/100 Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider 99/100 The Wine Palate 98/100 Raffaele Vecchione – WinesCritic.com 98/100 Wine Enthusiast 98/100 Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate 98/100 The Wine Independent 98/100 CellarTracker 97–98/100 Wine Maniacs 97/100 Chris Kissack – Winedoctor 97/100 Tom Cannavan 18/20 Jancis Robinson **Allergen Information** Contains sulphites. SKU: 106624-2