Wine of the Year 2022

Château Cheval Blanc has been producing wines in the very highest segment for years. This 2022 could very well be the best wine of the year, if we are to believe wine critics Robert Parker, James Suckling, and Jane Anson. This Saint-Émilion from the Right Bank in Bordeaux belongs, along with Château Pétrus and Ausone, to the legendary estates of the Right Bank. An incredible concentration combining finesse and freshness. Only the truly great players can do it like this. Iconic to this wine is that it is vinified using the principle of gravity. This means that the wine is not pumped around to extract extra color and flavor. Rest and calm bring this wine to the absolute top. Let the wine rest quietly for a few more years so that it can mature well, and the taste only improves. Ready to drink from 2032 and can be stored until 2064.

Tasting note Château Cheval Blanc 2022

In the glass, the wine is a deep dark red with a bright purple rim. The nose is explosive, layered, and enormously complex. Rose petals, licorice, and smoked wood. Dark aromas of blueberries, ripe blackcurrants, plums, and sultry cherries. Followed by a spicy, earthy feast with saffron, minerals, forest leaves, and citrus peel. A finish that seems never-ending. Pair this wine with red meat, grilled dishes, or mature cheeses. Best enjoyed from about 10 years after the vintage and can be aged for at least 40 years.

Vinification

The Château Cheval Blanc 2022 consists of 53% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Franc and 1% Cabernet SauvignonAfter the manual harvest and sorting of the grapes, fermentation and malolactic fermentation begin in concrete vats for 4 weeks. Subsequently, the wine ages in 100% new oak barrels for 16 months.

Château Cheval Blanc

Château Cheval Blanc, located on the right bank of Bordeaux, is known worldwide as one of the legendary properties. Their second wine, Petit Cheval, offers an excellent introduction to the excellence of the great Cheval Blanc wines, with crisp, powerful flavors and a richness of fruit. With a new winery, designed by Christian de Portzamparc and inaugurated in June 2011, Château Cheval Blanc continues the legend of the finest Bordeaux wines.

The Château Cheval Blanc vineyard covers a unique and rare site of 39 hectares, of which 33.3 hectares are in production, located on the Saint-Emilion plateau. Unlike the limestone formations for which the Saint-Emilion appellation is known, Château Cheval Blanc is situated on the Quaternary alluvial soil of the Isle, a formation without limestone and with a varied texture of equal proportions of gravel and clay. This exceptional soil gives the estate soil advantages comparable to those of the top wines of Pomerol.

Awards:

James Suckling on the 2022 vintage – 99-100 points

Jane Anson on the 2022 vintage – 98-100 points

Robert Parker on the 2022 vintage – 97-99+ points

Perrotti-Brown 2022 vintage – 98-100 points

Jancis Robinson on the 2020 vintage – 18.5/20