Chateau Cheval Blanc 2004

Eighty thousand bottles of 2004 Cheval Blanc were produced from a blend of 55% Cabernet Franc and 45% Merlot. Subtle herb, menthol, cranberry, black currant, and licorice aromas emerge from this dark ruby/plum-colored wine. It is medium-bodied and elegant with plenty of sweet fruit, but not a lot of weight or intensity. The complexity and nobility of Cheval Blanc’s gravelly terroir is apparent in this delicate, subtle St.-Emilion. Give it a few years to develop additional aromatics, and drink it over the following 12-15.

The 2004 Cheval Blanc displays a dark plum/ruby color in addition to a perfumed sweet nose of cranberries, cherries, incense, dried herbs, espresso, and mocha. Elegant, medium-bodied, layered, and significantly richer than its weight suggests, this defined, perfumed, stylish wine should at its peak between 2008-2019. It is an outstanding, but hardly inspired effort.

This may be the finest Cheval Blanc since the monumental 2000. Only 50% of the crop made it into the final blend (55% Cabernet Franc and 45% Merlot). Cheval has a tendency to come across as a bit light in its infancy, but the 2004 lacks neither stuffing nor intensity. A deep ruby/purple color is accompanied by a classic Cheval perfume of menthol, red as well as black currants, smoke, oranges, and black tea. It possesses beautiful sweetness and purity, medium body, extraordinary elegance, and potential complexity. While not a blockbuster in the style of the 2000 and 1998, it is a precise, fragrant, potentially top-flight effort as well as one of the finest wines of the vintage. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2022.

Intense aromas of tar, blackberry and wet earth, with just a hint of tobacco and flowers. Full-bodied, chewy and long. Extracted, yet turns caressing and velvety in texture. Broad-shouldered and muscular for this estate. Better than the 2000. Best after 2012.

Incredible richness of Cabernet Franc here, with blackberries and dark chocolate character. This is full-bodied, with a solid core of fruit, but it's like a tightly knit ball of cashmere thread. The manager of the estate thinks it's better than his classic 2003. I think he may be right

[CF 5%; M 45%; average yields 45 hl/ha; grand vin represents 50% of total production; third wine, 27%, also produced] Very deep, purplish crimson. Much more reticent on the nose than the second wine Petit Cheval. Deep flavours with some floral notes. Extremely round, supple tannins and impressive depths of undeveloped flavour with lovely appetising dry tannins (as opposed to a drying, rasping finish) - truly winemaker Pierre Lurton's "cashmere" tannins. Round, intense mulberry flavours. Quite insistent, ripe tannins on the finish. Relatively gentle and the vintage with the most recognisable Cheval character of recent years. Great balance, savoury and rather playful. Lots of fruit and well-hidden tannins. Good freshness without any excess of acidity.Drink 2014-28