2000 Chateau Cheval Blanc Premier Grand Cru Classe A, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 1x750ml

Vinous 94

The 2000 Cheval Blanc is a wine that I have encountered more than a dozen times. Now at just over 20 years of age (how time flies – I remember tasting this from barrel), it has a lovely, quite beguiling bouquet of brambly red berries, iron rust, Provencal herbs and clove, powerful and somehow enveloping. The peppery palate is medium-bodied with quite firm, stocky tannins and good backbone, though coming after a vertical of recent vintages, it feels more rustic and feral. As Pierre-Olivier Clouet noted, there are fewer "pixels" in this millennial Cheval Blanc, but you can t help falling for its charms. Ready to drink now but will age for the next 20-30 years. Tasted at Cheval Blanc. [Neal Martin, 22/09/2021]

Anticipated maturity: 2021-2040

Robert Parker 97

An ex-chateau bottle, this is the best bottle of Cheval Blanc 2000 that I have encountered in several years, though we had to reject one corked example first! Coming directly from the chateau, it has a backward, sultry bouquet that demands coaxing form the glass, but it eventually reveals wonderful delineation and brooding power with scents of dark plum, fireside hearth and anis. The palate has a sublime entry, almost understated until a wave of intense dark cherry and iodine crashes onto the back palate. Velvet smooth in the mouth, this is clearly a vin de garde that has a very long future ahead. Tasted February 2014. [Neal Martin, 01/02/2014]