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  • Country ranking ?

    615
  • Producer ranking ?

    30
  • Decanting time

    5h
  • When to drink

    from 2018
  • Food Pairing

    lamb in mild spices cooked at low temperature

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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The Story

Whether by design or by pure chance, there are in the world exceptional places. Cheval Blanc is one of these. Combining a unique soil with a symbiotic mix of grape varieties, Cabernet Franc and Merlot, Cheval Blanc produces a wine, which has the rare quality of being good at any age. It is without doubt one of the most consistent wines in the world. Cheval Blanc's unique identity is due to its varied soils, early-ripening microclimate, the per...

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Wine Information

2011 Cheval Blanc – From 52% Cabernet Franc and 48% Merlot, the wine will be aged in 100% new oak. The wine reached 13% alcohol and represents 65% of the harvest. This is a fresh, refined, elegant style of Cheval Blanc that offers soft, ripe, pure, fresh black and white cherries, floral, spice, truffle, smoke and earthy aromas along with supple textures. While refined and polished, 2011 Cheval Blanc lacks the depth of 2009 and 2010.

The veg...

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Vintage 2011

The 2011 vintage is not easy to handle.

Smith Haut Lafitte not only makes great white and red wine from Bordeaux in Pessac Léognan, they are also at the cutting edge of technology. They were one of the first Bordeaux wine producers to begin using optical sorting, which came in handy with the difficult 2011 Bordeaux harvest. Fabien Teitgen, long-time general manager, joined us for a long detailed conversation about what happened at Smith Hau...

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Latest Pro-tasting notes

14 tasting notes

Tasting note

color

Deep, Ruby red and Bright

ending

Long, Extensive and Flavorful

flavors

Pepper, Cherry, Smoky, Earthy, Mineral and Truffles

nose

Intense, Fresh and Round

taste

Balanced, Good texture, Focused, Elegant, Refined and Silky tannins

Verdict

Transparent and Well made

Written Notes

The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, quite gentle as it sashays across the mouth. The acidity is very well judged and leads to an elegant tobacco tinged finish

  • 94p

Ruby. Dark fruits, spices, blackberries, touch of liquorice, with air, floral notes, exotic spices, intense and rich. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, fruity, dark berries, juicy, blackberries, spices, firm backbone, long and intense. 96

  • 96p
2011 Cheval Blanc had excellent purity, finesse and great complexity. Rich wine with long aftertaste. 96p.
  • 96p
From 52% Cabernet Franc and 48% Merlot, the wine will be aged in 100% new oak and reached 13% alcohol. The Grand Vin represents 65% of the harvest. This is a fresh, elegant style of Cheval Blanc that offers soft, ripe, pure, fresh black and white cherries, floral, spice, truffle, smoke and earthy aromas along with supple textures. While refined and polished, 2011 Cheval Blanc lacks the depth found in 2009 and 2010, but the beautiful sense of purity in the fruit is something to behold. 95-96 Pts
  • 95p
Good looking normal size bottle, is in a perfect condition and has by the neck level. Colour is ruby red, and looking bright and deep. On the nose it is intense, fresh and round. The taste is focused, elegant, refined, with silky tannins, with balanced and good texture structure. On the palate it is layered and has truffles, spice, smoky, earthy, cherry, mineral, dried-fruit and pepper flavours. The finish is long, extensive, flavorful and spicy. This wine is transparent and fine. Perfectly stored bottles are still very worthy and will last well for another 20-30 years and decant at least 2h before tasting.
- (Tasting note created by Tb's AI)
  • 95p
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Information

Origin

St. Emilion, Bordeaux

Vintage Quality

Above Average

Investment potential

Good

Fake factory

None

Glass time

2h

Inside Information

Tb:What was the key for you in making 2011 Cheval Blanc?
Pierre Olivier Clouet “It was to wait to harvest the Cabernet Franc so we could gain the maximum level of ripeness to allow us to produce the best 2011 Cheval Blanc possible.”

Tb:How did you approach harvesting your Merlot to produce the 2011 Cheval Blanc?
Pierre Olivier Clouet “The goal is to pick the Merlot when it is al dente. The fruit is best when it is almost ripe.”

Tb:Why do you prefer to pick Merlot when it’s as you say, al dente, and not fully ripe?
Pierre Olivier Clouet “When the Merlot grape is too ripe, it delivers flavors we are not looking for in Cheval Blanc wine. In the 2011 Bordeaux vintage, the Cabernet Franc was harvested later, after the Merlot. The fruit obtained better development due to the warm days and cool nights. This allowed the aromatics to obtain fruit and floral characteristics.”

Tb:In this difficult and dry vintage, how did your manage your vineyards to produce the 2011 Cheval Blanc?
Pierre Olivier Clouet “In the sandy terroir of Cheval Blanc, some of the berries did not ripen as we would have liked. That fruit was not used in the final blend. But the fruit grown in clay soils of Cheval Blanc obtained good ripeness. Clay is exceptional in every type of vintage.”

Tb:How was it for you to work the first vintage in your new cellars?
Pierre Olivier Clouet “It was perfect. We have 44 different plots in the vineyards. In the cellars, we now have 52 vats ranging in size from 20 hectoliters to 110 hectoliters. We were truly able to harvest on a parcel-by-parcel basis. With all the different-sized vats, we could control the vinification on a parcel-by-parcel basis”.

Tb:After fermentation, what other choices did you make in the cellars for the production of the 2011 Cheval Blanc?
Pierre Olivier Clouet “At the end of alcoholic fermentation, we continued to macerate the grapes at low temperatures ranging from 29-30 Celsius. We did no pumping over for the following 10-14 days, depending on the vats. This leads to more supple characteristics in the wine.”

Tb:Do you feel there is any difference in aromatic complexity in the wines being made in the new cellars?
Pierre Olivier Clouet “No. There is no difference. We perform extensive sanitation in the cement vats and they are perfectly clean.”

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