Cheval Blanc 2012

A Cheval Blanc with an impressive center palate of blueberries, chocolate, almonds and spices. Full body, a solid core of fruit and a long, long finish. Goes on for minutes. Beautiful wine. Seamless tannins. Needs a few years of bottle age. Better in 2017

Seductive, rich flavours, far more creamy in its fruit expression than many of the top Left Banks in the 2012 vintage, and yet also higher in fresh acidities, giving a lovely push-and-pull contrast. Persistent, with sage and white pepper spice, this is a nuanced and sculputed wine, full of personality and grace. Not the depth of the truly great vintages at Cheval such as the 2010 or 2016, but this is one of the wines of the tasting, with layers of flavour that will take decades to fully unwind. 100% new oak.

54% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Franc. Deep dark crimson. Marked Cabernet nose. Smells pure and fresh and crunchy. Finest of fine tannins but they go deep, as does the fruit. It is not leafy but there that classic Cabernet Franc fresh aroma that tends that way. There's some grip but fine friction. Elegant, long; energy underneath a relatively gentle-seeming exterior. 'Power and sweetness of Merlot and finesse of Cabernet Franc. The true Cheval Blanc style we like', says Kees van Leeuwen. Very clean, complex aromatic profile. Delicious and I think you could drink it, with much pleasure, even earlier than I have suggested. (JH)

This wine is gorgeous in all facets, offering a simultaneously loamyand creamy mouthfeel, seamless layers of red and black currant,cherry, raspberry and blackberry fruit, and a long, tobacco-fueledfinish that features alluring hints of black tea and incense. The fruitand terroir shine in this broad, deep and defined style. Best from2018 through 2030.

The nose has a lovely mix of fruits bramble, black cherry and a touch of mulberry all backed by a hint of spice. The mid palate is deep with rich flavours but towards the back it is fresher giving the finish an elegant charm. 2018-35.

Cheval Blanc's yields were unusually low in 2012 because of a difficult flowering that lasteda month and a green harvest in August. The proportion of Merlot was slightly lower thannormal, but otherwise this is a typically impressive performance from Pierre Lurton and histeam: focused, polished, yet quite closed, with plenty of tannin and minerality, good densityof fruit and the sense that the wine needs at least a decade to show at its best.Drink: 2015-40

Medium to deep garnet colored, the 2012 Cheval Blanc reveals lovely cassis, warm black cherries and redcurrant jelly notions with underlying hints of cedar chest, garrigue, Indian spices and damp soil. Medium to full-bodied, it possesses wonderful energy and freshness on the palate with a beautifully poised ethereal nature and long mineral-tinged finish. This elegantly crafted beauty should enter its drinking window in a couple of years and cellar gracefully for another 20+ years. Drink 2020-2040.

The final blend for the 2012 Cheval Blanc was 54% Merlot and 46% Cabernet Franc. Despite the use of 100% new oak, there is not a hint of vanillin, toast or espresso notes in the aromatic bouquet, which is filled with scents of black currants, sweet cherries, lavender, forest floor and a hint of underbrush. Concentrated with a surprisingly lofty alcohol level of 13.9% as well as a tannin level that equals their 2010 (a wine bestowed a three-digit score), this full-bodied, opulent 2012 has a pH of 3.8, which accounts for its suppleness, velvety texture and heady richness. It is a great success in this vintage. It will be approachable early given its silky structural aspects, and should last for two decades.

Tasted blind at the 2012 Southwold tasting, the 2012 Cheval Blanc has a perfumed, outgoing, almost "glossy" bouquet that wants to be noticed, lavished with damson, wild strawberry, fig jam and crème de cassis scents that are totally seductive. The palate is medium-bodied with ripe, succulent, sensual red cherries and wild strawberry fruit, though perhaps the finish showed some superfluous hubris that just erased some of the potential delineation and focus. On this occasion it was pipped to the post by Ausone, but let us see how it matures, because the white horse always repays those that are patient. Tasted January 2016.

The Grand Vin is a blend of 54% Merlot and 46% Cabernet Franc, 26th September until the 13th October that comes from 35 different parcels. The picking is done in the vineyard for the first sorting by the pickers and then sorted by hand as they are sure delicate than using optical sorting machine. It has a dense, broody nose that has the looming presence of the Quinault L'Enclos. It veers towards a red fruit profile, with "rocky" aromas, perhaps a touch of marmalade and quince. The palate is medium-bodied but displays very good concentration for the vintages. It feels very harmonious - silky but with a citric acid edge that lends the finish the tension it needs to maintain the freshness. This will probably become a masculine Cheval Blanc that will need a decade in bottle. Tasted April 2013.

This is really beautiful with blackberry, chocolate, and light nuts character. Full yet refined and beautiful. Seamless tannins. It goes on for minutes. This is so elegant and beautiful. The tannins are just right and not overdone for the vintage.