1998 Cheval Blanc: Pristine Triple 100-Pointer Bordeaux

Pristine bottles of 1998 Cheval Blanc up for grabs this afternoon – This triple 100 pointer will go quickly!

1998 is one of our favorite Right Bank vintages, and Cheval is one of our favorite Right Bank producers. For the lowest price in the country (next best is $1300) you have access to perfectly aged, perfectly stored, benchmark Bordeaux.

If you want a reference point for what great Merlot & Cab Franc should taste like, this is it. With a drink window through 2048, this wine will offer you monumental drinking experience after monumental drinking experience for years to come. Dunnuck said it’s “just singing, with everything you could want” and Parker said “this cannot fail to impress” – These wines are opulent, vibrant…. some may even say sensual.

These are a no brainer - Buy now, thank us later! 

The reference chateau of the vintage, this wine is showing its class here and then some. It was the first year with Bernard Arnault and Albert Frère as owners, with Pierre Lurton coming onboard from his former role at Clos Fourtet. 10% press wine was used, whereas today they use no press wine in the grand vin. It was aged in 100% new oak. The 36ha of vines yielded 32hl/ha, closer to their average than the relatively abundant 1989). The holdings have since expanded to 39ha with the addition of 3ha from Tour du Pin Figeac. 67% of production went in to the grand vin, the rest into Petit Cheval. This is seductive and rich but with a purity and precision. There's more Merlot in the blend than is typical because the clay soils produced the best quality grapes, and you can see its impact in the textural density - the proximity to Pomerol comes through. –DC100

Another perfect wine is the 1998 Cheval Blanc, which is the usual blend of 55/45 Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Possessing an utterly captivating bouquet of sweet red and black fruits, forest floor, spice and dried flowers, it packs plenty of muscle and depth on the palate, yet is also expansive, elegant and seamless, with no hard edges. Just singing, with everything you could want; complexity, richness, elegance, depth, and length, drink this sensational beauty anytime over the coming two decades. I’m sure it will keep longer, but why in the world would you wait. –JD100

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. –RP100