1959 | Château Cheval Blanc | Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Detailed Description

The nose is explosive with beguiling pure black cherries, wild strawberry, sage, crushed violets and just a touch of glycerine.

Reviews:

• Vinous: The 1959 Cheval Blanc was a bottle that had been acquired directly from the château and boy, did that provenance show on this spectacular Saint Émilion. It seemed to glisten in the glass and showed little ageing on the rim. The nose is explosive with beguiling pure black cherries, wild strawberry, sage, crushed violets and just a touch of glycerine. The delineation, the detail here is exemplary. The palate is an intoxicating mixture of succulent lush red fruit that disguise the backbone underneath. This is such a vivid and vivacious Saint Émilion one that to me feels more Merlot-driven than Cabernet Franc.

• Jeb Dunnuck: I loved the 1959 Chateau Cheval Blanc. This puppy is upfront, exuberant, sweetly fruited and loaded with character. It’s certainly fully mature yet offers gorgeous notes of ripe red and black fruits, truffle and forest floor as well as full-bodied richness and a core of sweet fruit on the palate that makes it a joy to drink.

Producer Information

Château Cheval Blanc is a highly lauded wine estate in the Saint-Émilion region of northeast Bordeaux. Classified with the top ranking of Premier Grand Cru Classé A, it is regarded by many as one of the greatest wines of the appellation – if not, the greatest. It is certainly the most famous Cabernet Franc-based wine in the world, albeit often alongside very similar levels of Merlot. Typically, the “grand vin” (the estate’s eponymous wine) is lush and full bodied with great weight of fruit. It tends to require ten years of bottle age and the best vintages can last half a century or more. The second wine of the estate is Le Petit Cheval. The vineyard is located in the northwest of the region, bordering Pomerol (La Conseillante is a neighbor) and consists of 39 hectares (96 acres) divided into 45 plots. There is an unusually large amount of Cabernet Franc planted – about 52 percent – with 43 percent Merlot and five percent Cabernet Sauvignon.