2009 Château Cheval Blanc, St Emilion, Bordeaux

A 60/40 blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc; pH 3.82; 13.7% alcohol; a 65% selection.

Ruby-purple. Knockout nose offers deep aromas of cassis, minerals, cedar, cocoa and coffee. Then, it is very rich and creamy in the mouth, with luscious, extremely concentrated blackcurrant flavours, blueberry, raspberry liqueur, and cedar. Finishes pure and extremely long, with velvety tannins, delicate smoke, and mineral notes. Though this is an amazingly refined wine, it also strikes me as a much bigger Cheval Blanc than usual, but it doesn’t go over the top like many other wines do in ’09.

It’s not unlike the 1998 or the 2000, but with more power than the former wine and more grace than the latter. Director Pierre Lurton told me he worries that this wine may be underrated during the spring tastings, as is often the case with Cheval Blanc. This superlative wine should age splendidly for decades.

Super-spicy, this is an extremely elegant 2009 with enormous concentration and finesse. The complex finish lights up the sky, and you wonder how this spectacular ripeness could have been more perfectly expressed.

Drink or hold

Beautiful fragrance! So smooth and confident. Gorgeous already – those famous cashmere tannins as vaunted by Pierre Lurton of Cheval Blanc, but an appetisingly dry finish. 

Drink 2017 - 2040

Hold +2 years or carafe for 4 hours.

It is so good; it has been the benchmark Cheval Blanc for the past 15 years and continues to deliver exceptional quality. Lean into the poised, confident ruby red fruits, pomegranate, loganberry, and cassis, studded with cloves, turmeric, cappuccino and violet flowers, with an undertone of pulsing minerality—50% new oak for ageing. Tasted alongside the rest of the lineup, and a reminder that in St Emilion, when many estates were making winemaking choices led by the market, the best were focused on the voice of their own vineyard. This will age from here for decades, but it is already a pleasure to drink.

Drink 2024 - 2050

The 2009 Château Cheval Blanc continues to just blow me away every time I’m lucky enough to taste a bottle. It has that rare mix of elegance and power that can be hard to describe. Offering a massive bouquet of black cherry liqueur, flowery incense, crème de cassis, toasted spices, and forest floor, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a magical, seamless texture, and a great, great finish. Its tannins and structure are just now starting to emerge from under ample baby fat, but it still has incredible opulence, richness, and flawless balance. Enjoy this masterpiece any time over the coming 20-30 years.

Drink 2020 - 2050

Deep garnet colored, the 2009 Cheval Blanc offers profound notions of baked blueberries, blackberry compote and crème de cassis with suggestions of chocolate mint, new leather and cloves plus a waft of candied violets. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is an exercise in elegance with very classy, super fine-grained tannins, beautiful freshness and layer upon layer of mineral-laced blue and black fruits, finishing long and perfumed.

Drink 2020 - 2057

The 2009 Cheval Blanc has a rambunctious nose with copious red fruit, meat juices, sage, and crushed stone aromas, and it is ineffably complex. This is so refined, constantly mutating in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine, saturated tannin. There is a mixture of red and black fruit and hints of cassis, cardamom, and allspice. Immense depth and grip towards the finish express ripe Cabernet Franc. This is an outstanding 2009 destined for long-term ageing.

Drink 2021 - 2060

It will be fascinating to follow the evolution of the 2009 Cheval Blanc versus the 2010 as well as the awesome 2005, 2000, 1998 and 1990. This famous estate’s vineyard is situated at the juncture of Pomerol and the sandy, gravelly soils of St.-Emilion, facing the two noble estates of l’Evangile and La Conseillante.

A blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc, the 2009 Cheval Blanc tips the scales at just under 14% natural alcohol. Its dense blue/purple colour is accompanied by an extraordinary nose of incense, raspberries, cassis, sweet forest floor and a subtle hint of menthol. Opulent and full-bodied with low acidity but no sense of heaviness, this dense, unctuously textured, super-smooth, velvety, pure, profound Cheval Blanc is impossible to resist despite its youthfulness.

Drink 2018 - 2050

Bright red-ruby. Flamboyant yet classy aromas and raspberry, mocha, coffee and herbs flavours. It is like liquid velvet in the mouth but with great lift and perfume, giving the wine outstanding inner-palate verve—wonderfully rich and classically dry Cheval with noble tannins, strong mineral energy and great lingering aromatic character. It is atypically full and approachable for young Cheval Blanc, but I’m not complaining—one of the longest wines of the vintage and among my handful of favourites.