2014 Le Petit Cheval, St Emilion, Bordeaux

2014 Le Petit Cheval, St Emilion, Bordeaux

Product: 20148123565
 
2014 Le Petit Cheval, St Emilion, Bordeaux

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Description

Twenty-five percent of the crop was used to create Le Petit Cheval in 2014 and the blend is classical for this wine. Tobacco leaf appears on the nose and there is a wonderful perfume to the fruit. Ripe, round and harmonious on the palate, there is a softness to this wine, but a long lingering finish is also in attendance.

52% Merlot, 48% Cabernet Franc

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate91/100
The 2014 Le Petit Cheval, a blend of 52% Merlot and 48% Cabernet Franc, has a crisp, tightly wound bouquet with blackberry, black olive (as per its primeur sample) and a subtle estuarine undercurrent that becomes more conspicuous with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy red berry fruit intermingling with white pepper, clove and a pinch of Chinese five spice. It has moderate depth, a sense of approachability in that the tannins do not really grip the mouth, and the latter half appears appealingly smooth and harmonious. There are no rough edges here, just a touch of frisson on the saline finish. Very fine, a Saint Emilion Deuxime Vin to drink over the next decade.
Neal Martin - 31/03/2017 Read more
Jancis Robinson MW16.5/20
Not fleshy but very pure and very Cheval. Just a little bit stringy on the end but classic imprint. A little chewy but light.
Jancis Robinson MW - jancisrobinson.com - Apr 2015 Read more
Wine Spectator
Very charming, with bright red currant and damson plum fruit, laced with a lively minerality and a lilting bergamot note. Long and silky, this is almost approachable now, but the acidity is so fine that this could be sneakily long-lived in the cellar. Tasted non-blind.
James Molesworth – Wine Spectator – April 2015 Read more
Decanter17.25/20
52% Merlot, 48% Cabernet Franc. 25% of the production. Almost the same blend as the grand vin and very much in little brother mould. Perfumed and floral with a menthol note. Long and linear. Tannins finely woven. Elegant and harmonious. Read more

About this WINE

Chateau Cheval Blanc

Chateau Cheval Blanc

Château Cheval Blanc, a 1er Grand Cru Classé (A) is unquestionably the leading estate in St. Emilion. It is located in the north-west of the St. Emilion appellation, bordering Pomerol.

Cheval Blanc's vineyards (Merlot 39%, Cabernet Franc 57%, Malbec 3%, Cabernet Sauvignon 1%) enjoy a variety of soils: gravel, clay and sand, all underpinned by an impermeable sedimentary rock (`crasse de fer'). Fermentation and maceration last 4 weeks in stainless steel vats, followed by 18 months' maturation in new oak barrels.

Cheval Blanc produces the most famous Cabernet Franc-based wine in the world and present régisseur Pierre Lurton is amongst the most talented winemakers working in Bordeaux today. Cheval Blanc requires a minimum 10 years of bottle age and the best vintages can last for 50 years or more.

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St Émilion

St Émilion

St Émilion is one of Bordeaux's largest producing appellations, producing more wine than Listrac, Moulis, St Estèphe, Pauillac, St Julien and Margaux put together. St Emilion has been producing wine for longer than the Médoc but its lack of accessibility to Bordeaux's port and market-restricted exports to mainland Europe meant the region initially did not enjoy the commercial success that funded the great châteaux of the Left Bank. 

St Émilion itself is the prettiest of Bordeaux's wine towns, perched on top of the steep limestone slopes upon which many of the region's finest vineyards are situated. However, more than half of the appellation's vineyards lie on the plain between the town and the Dordogne River on sandy, alluvial soils with a sprinkling of gravel. 

Further diversity is added by a small, complex gravel bed to the north-east of the region on the border with Pomerol.  Atypically for St Émilion, this allows Cabernet Franc and, to a lesser extent, Cabernet Sauvignon to prosper and defines the personality of the great wines such as Ch. Cheval Blanc.  

In the early 1990s there was an explosion of experimentation and evolution, leading to the rise of the garagistes, producers of deeply-concentrated wines made in very small quantities and offered at high prices.  The appellation is also surrounded by four satellite appellations, Montagne, Lussac, Puisseguin and St. Georges, which enjoy a family similarity but not the complexity of the best wines.

St Émilion was first officially classified in 1954, and is the most meritocratic classification system in Bordeaux, as it is regularly amended. The most recent revision of the classification was in 2012

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Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc is widely planted in Bordeaux and is the most important black grape grown in the Loire. In the Médoc it may constitute up to 15% of a typical vineyard - it is always blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and is used to add bouquet and complexity to the wines. It is more widely used in St.Emilion where it adapts well to the cooler and moister clay soils - Cheval Blanc is the most famous Cabernet Franc wine in the world, with the final blend consisting of up to 65% of the grape.

Cabernet Franc thrives in the Loire where the cooler growing conditions serve to accentuate the grape's herbaceous, grassy, lead pencil aromas. The best wines come from the tuffeaux limestone slopes of Chinon and Bourgeil where growers such as Jacky Blot produce intense well-structured wines that possess excellent cellaring potential.

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