Tasting Notes and Scores
Tasted at Bordeaux Index annual 10-year on tasting from an ex-château bottle. The Cheval Blanc 2004 has a masculine, tertiary bouquet with dried herbs and leather infusing the red fruit profile, the Merlot more expressive than the Cabernet Franc at the moment. The palate is medium-bodied with a composed, generous opening, darker fruit than the nose suggest: mulberry and black plum infused with liquorice. It is well balanced and harmonious, daring to show more persistency than the Petrus '04 tasted alongside. This is a classic Cheval Blanc that should drink well over the next 20 years.
94 points – March 2014
Neal Martin
Intense aromas of tar, blackberry and wet earth, with just a hint of tobacco and flowers. Full-bodied, chewy and long. Extracted, yet turns caressing and velvety in texture. Broad-shouldered and muscular for this estate. This is better than the 2000. James Suckling
Wine Spectator
Quality 881 | Brand 995 | Economics 950 |
buzz brand
Quality: Predicted life of 14 years, one of the longest drinking windows in its peer group for the 2004 vintage, which averages 8 years
Brand: Strong restaurant presence, featuring on 40 of the world's top wine lists, including Garibaldi
Economics: More traded at auction than its peers, its top 5 vintages having seen 2,982 75cl equivalent bottles traded in the past year
Production: Lower yields than its peer group average of 33 hl/ha
- www.wine-lister.com June 2017
Wine Lister
Mature, brick-edged mahogany; mocha, caramel, merlot fruit-cake and mown hay maturity; elegantly balanced middleweight with a fresh acidity and fine tannin; gently caramel-sweet in flavor, supple and fresh, long across the palate, still with a lightly dry tannin texture, and long to finish. Not large scale, but complete and just about ready to drink, if better in a couple of years. Has perhaps not fulfilled its early promise, and now a very good, rather than a special Cheval. Drink 2015- 25+
– Bordeaux, March 2014
Michael Schuster
With signs of maturity in the color, the smoky bouquet of cherry pipe tobacco, fresh herbs, kirsch, truffle and cigar box, the medium bodied wine is ready for prime time drinking. Soft, refined and silky, the finesse textures and sweet cherries feels great on your palate. Like many 2004 Bordeaux wines, this is ready to drink. I just wish it had a more concentration. Tasted Nov 2014
Jeff Leve
Eighty thousand bottles of 2004 Cheval Blanc were produced from a blend of 55% Cabernet Franc and 45% Merlot. Subtle herb, menthol, cranberry, black currant, and licorice aromas emerge from this dark ruby/plum-colored wine. It is medium-bodied and elegant with plenty of sweet fruit, but not a lot of weight or intensity. The complexity and nobility of Cheval Blanc’s gravelly terroir is apparent in this delicate, subtle St.-Emilion. Give it a few years to develop additional aromatics, and drink it over the following 12-15. Drink 2010-2025.
90 points – Robert Parker (Wine Advocate #171, June 2007)
Wine Advocate
Deep, soft-edged garnet. Gorgeously complex and seductive aroma – perfumed, multilayered and even a little exotic in its spice, a touch of orange. Even with all that seduction, there's a breath of fresh air and energy. Soft, fresh and elegant. Fabulous harmony and delicacy on the palate – less intense than I expected from the nose but there is great persistence. Super smooth, gently fresh and finely aromatic. Julia Harding MW March 2014
Jancis Robinson
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