Château Cheval-Blanc - St.-Emilion 2005 (18L)

 
WS
97
WE
97
WA
100
JS
98
V
100

Price: $40000.00

Producer Château Cheval-Blanc
Country France
Region Bordeaux
Subregion St.-Emilion
Varietal Bordeaux Blanc
Vintage 2005
Sku 3240
Size 18L

Wine Advocate: 100 Points

The 2005 from Cheval Blanc is a quintessentially elegant beautiful deep bluish/ruby-colored wine from St.-Emilion with raspberry blueberry and floral notes impressive density great precision freshness and purity. Full-bodied but extremely light on its feet I don?t mean to gush but it is super-intense rich and just so meticulously crafted! This is another fabulous wine and a perfect expression for this vintage. It is difficult to forget the gorgeous blueberry and raspberry fruit full body sweet tannin a multi-layered texture and purity and palate presence of this stunning wine. Drink it over the next 20 years. P.S. In 2005 this was 50% Cabernet Franc and 50% Merlot.

Vinous: 100 Points

The 2005 Cheval Blanc has been nothing less than magical on two separate occasions. A wine of breathtaking nuance and sophistication the 2005 Cheval dazzles right out of the gate. With a few hours of aeration the aromatics blossom and the wine is explosive in every dimension. Espresso rose petal mint blood orange and incense all open as the 2005 shows off its magnificence and pedigree. Bright saline underpinnings convey energy tension and brilliance. Cheval Blanc is perhaps not as immediately seductive as some of the other top 2005s but its all there. In spades. I would give it a few more years to unwind.

v

James Suckling: 98 Points

Always a fabulous nose of black fruit dark chocolate nuts and spices. It's full-bodied with beautifully dense tannins reminiscent of cashmere. A long long finish rounds out this beautiful wine. It would be better to leave it alone until 2020 but so hard not to revel in its splendor now.

v

Wine Enthusiast: 97 Points

"Plump padded and comfortable is the initial impression. But this is also finely structured and dense with tannins that are sweet flavors of dark chocolate to go with the roundness and the enticing Cabernet Franc perfumes. In all this is a great wine with considerable aging potential but with enough sweet fruit to make it attractive now."

Wine Spectator: 97 Points

This is starting to awaken with mulled spice warm cocoa freshly plowed loam and steeped black currant fruit aromas and flavors emerging slowly but steadily. The long finish ripples with dark earth licorice snap and smoldering tobacco notes while the currant core keeps pace easily. A big beautiful wine.?Blind '01/'03/'05 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2017). Best from 2020 through 2040.