Cheval Blanc 1971

Château Cheval Blanc 1971 is a mature, Right Bank Bordeaux from the iconic St-Émilion property of Cheval Blanc. The producer of the most famous Cabernet Franc-based wine in the world, Cheval Blanc is one of only four wines to be ranked Premier Grand Cru Classé A in the classification of St-Émilion wine. The estate has three main soil types. clay, gravel and sand. Red grape plantings are made up of 60% Cabernet Franc and 40% Merlot, which are used to produce wines with marvellous aromatics, with floral and smoky nuances. These wines frequently require a decade or more to begin to reveal their profound charms. "Opened by Pierre Lurton, who was sad that I could not celebrate my half-century in style, this bottle of 1971 Cheval Blanc had been reconditioned at the property in 1999. It has a ferrous nose of peaty scents and undergrowth but just enough vestige of black fruit (less than when I regularly drank this in the early noughties). The palate is balanced and gains cohesion with aeration, though never powerful like vintages in the 1980s." Neal Martin, 2023