1998 - Cheval Blanc, Saint-Emilion

A legendary wine for a reason... this blew (nearly) everything else away around the table, with the only slight hesitation that it still doesn't feel like it is fully in its drinking window. Remains inky damson in colour. Silky tannins, tobacco, cigar box, crushed peonies, iris, stunning quality, a wine to sink into and think about long after it has left. 100% new oak. 32 hl/ha yield. Not bad for the first year with Bernard Arnault and Albert Frère as the new owners, with Pierre Lurton coming onboard from his former role at Clos Fourtet (we also had the 1989 Clos Fourtet in the same tasting, and he'd done a pretty great job with that one also). The change of ownership came after nearly 150 years with the Fourcaud-Laussac family.

The 1998 Cheval Blanc, a blend of 65% Merlot and 35% Cabernet Franc, is deep garnet-brick in color and absolutely explodes with scents of exotic spices, incense, dried roses, cigar box and licorice, with a core of crème de cassis and dried cherries plus touches of black tea and dusty earth. Medium to full-bodied, it fills the mouth with rich, plushly textured fruit and then POW—it hits the mid-palate with an explosion of Chinese five spice and floral perfume sparks, leading to an epically long finish. This cannot fail to impress and can easily cellar for another 30 years or more.

The 1998 Cheval Blanc has been a lauded wine ever since release. I have often, quite controversially felt that it never quite matched its startling performances in its first ten years, though it remains and excellent wine. Now at 20-years old it offers opulent, high-toned scents of maraschino cherry, iodine, crème de cassis, dried blood and a subtle, almost Provençal herb-like scent courtesy of the Cabernet Franc. The palate is medium-bodied with fine grip, showy compared to other vintages of Cheval Blanc with sappy red fruit and a fine structured that lends this 1998 focus. Perhaps this bottle did not quite deliver the intensity on the finish that I was expecting, jogging instead of sprinting over the finish line. That said, it is a very impressive wine, even if personally I would not put it amongst the very best wines that Pierre Lurton has overseen. Tasted at Cheval Blanc.

Very sweet and powerful – especially for this property – but with exceptionally well-polished tannins. Great density. (JR)