France · Saint-Émilion

Château Cheval Blanc

Château Cheval Blanc is the most distinctive of the Saint-Émilion First Growths, set apart by its unusual Cabernet Franc-dominant blend (typically 55–60%) on gravel and clay soils at the Pomerol border — a terroir and variety combination that produces wines of extraordinary floral perfume, silkiness, and complexity quite unlike any other Bordeaux. The estate farms 39 hectares and produces approximately 120,000 bottles per year of the grand vin. The 1947 Cheval Blanc is considered by many experts the greatest wine of the 20th century: a year of extraordinary heat produced a wine of almost port-like concentration with 14.5% alcohol — remarkable for a dry table wine of that era — and extraordinary complexity that has remained exceptional for 75+ years. Jancis Robinson has called it 'perfection'; Robert Parker has given it 100 points on multiple occasions. A double-magnum (3 litres) of the 1947 sold for $304,375 at Christie's in 2010. Ownership passed to investment holding company Société Civile de Château Cheval Blanc in 1998, controlled by LVMH's Bernard Arnault and Belgian businessman Albert Frère; the purchase was the first acquisition of a First Growth Bordeaux estate by a luxury goods conglomerate and presaged subsequent LVMH involvement in Yquem. The estate's distinctive two-tone label — half of the text in red, half in black — is one of the most recognisable in fine wine.