2015 Cheval Blanc 2015 1500ml

100 POINTS

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW - Wine Advocate

Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the 2015 Cheval Blanc is still incredibly primary at this very youthful stage. With coaxing, it unfurls to reveal beguiling notions of ripe black cherries, mulberries, licorice, baking spices and smoked meats with touches of incense and potpourri plus wafts of cast iron pan and crushed rocks. Full-bodied, very rich, very firm/taut and with very ripe, fine-grained tannins, it allows a glimpse at its incredible depth of flavors with a very long multi-layered finish. Wow. Drink 2027 - 2067.

99 POINTS

Jeff Leve - The Wine Cellar Insider

The nose pops with spice, flowers, smoke, plums and cherries. Open your mind to beauty, desire and a bite-your-bottom-lip eroticism. This is what elegant hedonism is all about. This wine is sensuous beyond belief, fresh and vibrant. The fruits feel like French velour on your palate. The wine is incredibly rich, yet light on its feet, which is almost impossible to achieve. Trust me, I drank every last drop of this barrel sample. When the coast was clear, I poured a little more into my glass and drank that too! From a blend of 55% Merlot and 45% Cabernet Franc, the wine reached 14.35% alcohol with a pH of 3.6. According to Pierre Lurton, there was no Petit Cheval produced in 2015, because the quality of the harvest was so good, making a second wine, did not improve the Grand Vin, regardless of the blend. The harvest took place from September 3 to October 10.

99 POINTS

James Suckling

Phenomenal aromas of cherries, flowers, blackberries and sandalwood. Pure fruit. Full-bodied, dense and polished with incredible tannin quality like the finest, densest silk ball. In perfect proportions. Compact. Seamless and endless. Gorgeous to taste now but give it six or seven years to understand it better.

99 POINTS

Antonio Galloni MW - Vinous

Totally seamless in the glass, with no beginning and no end, the 2015 Cheval Blanc is simply extraordinary. It's hard to describe the 2015, because all of its elements are so perfectly in place. Beautifully delineated aromatics make a strong opening statement. Vibrant and wonderfully nuanced on the palate, the wine exudes energy and vitality through to the persistent, silky finish. Many other 2015s speak with more assertiveness and volume, but Cheval Blanc is more understsated. In 2015, Cheval Blanc created quite a stir in announcing that a whopping 91% of their crop would be bottled as Grand Vin. There will be no Petit Cheval, while the rest of the wine was sold internally.

98 POINTS

Steven Spurrier - Decanter

My Right Bank wine of the vintage and close to perfection. 55% Merlot and 45% Cabernet Franc, representing 90.5% of this year’s production (no Petit Cheval this year). Exudes elegance, class and precision. Dense, fresh, perfumed nose and the most velvety of textures. Remarkable quality of tannin allows a gentle attack then prodigious length and persistence. Nothing out of place.2025-2050

98 POINTS

Neal Martin - Wine Advocate

The 2015 Cheval Blanc represents the entire vineyard this year, since there is no Le Petit Cheval (two plots that did not meet requirements were not included in any blend). A blend of 45% Cabernet Franc/Cabernet Sauvignon and 55% Merlot, matured in 100% new oak, it has a very complex bouquet, subtle and tightly wound, very precise with dark berry fruit, hints of graphite, minerals and a hint of black pepper, perhaps a little spicier than recent vintages. The palate is medium-bodied with extraordinarily fine tannin. Beautifully balanced, perfectly controlled, this Cheval Blanc gently builds in the mouth, but remains strict and precise. The Cabernet Franc here is very expressive (though apparently the Merlot was showier prior to malolactic). This is an intellectual Cheval Blanc, thoroughly enjoyable, but it will need 10-12 years to really show its pedigree. A profound wine in the making, it will rank with the great wines of the past.

98 POINTS

Jeb Dunnuck

One of the wines of this stellar vintage is undeniably the 2015 Cheval Blanc from Pierre Lurton, and it’s going to be interesting to compare this beauty up against the 2005, 2009 and 2010 over the coming three to four decades. Made from a mix of 55% Merlot and 45% Cabernet Franc brought up in new barrels, it’s a wine compared to the 1998 by Lurton, which is a perfect wine today. The 2015s deep purple color is followed by a sensational perfume of violets, spring flowers, Asian spices, and graphite and the wine has an incredible core of raspberry and currant fruit. With full-bodied richness, thrilling purity of fruit, ultra-fine tannin, and a beautiful finish, hide bottle for 5-6 years, count yourself lucky, and enjoy over the following three decades or more. It’s also worth noting that this is the first vintage since 1988 where this estate has opted to not produce their second wine, the Petit Cheval.

98 POINTS

James Molesworth - Wine Spectator

A lovely sanguine hint leads off, followed by racy, elegant juniper, tobacco, red currant and damson plum notes that move in unison. Broadens and deepens, adding notes of currant preserves, warm ganache and smoldering tobacco, with a swath of loamy structure. Yet even as the bass line increases in volume through the finish, this maintains purity and poise. Should deliver some stunning aromatics at peak, which will take awhile to achieve. Best from 2025 through 2045. 8,250 cases made.  –JM