Château Cheval Blanc, Grand Cru Classé, St. Emilion, Bordeaux, France, 1989

Overview of the Wine
The present-day Cheval Blanc vineyards had vines at least as far back as the 18th century, as shown by Belleyme's map of the region dated 1764. Nearly a century later, the estate was acquired by the Fourcaud-Laussac family who owned it until 1998, when it was sold to Mr Bernard Arnault and Baron Albert Frère.

The vineyard is in a single block, and borders on the Pomerol appellation. An outstanding terror and unusual proportions of Cabernet Franc and Merlot give this great wine an absolutely unique flavor. Chateau Cheval Blanc has had a greater number of outstanding vintages than any other classified great growth over the past century.

Another unusual characteristic of Cheval Blanc is that once it reaches its peak, it maintains it for a very long time. This admirable wine is powerful, soft, rich, round and silky. It has tremendous fruit and elegance as well as exceptional quality from year to year.

Winemaker
Jacques Hébrard

Grape / Blend
Merlot and Cabernet Franc

Origin
St. Emilion, Bordeaux, France

Winemaker's Tasting Notes
This is a concentrated, complex vintage at Cheval Blanc, with remarkable freshness. The colour is beautiful and deep, with a just a touch of brown on the rim. The nose takes time to open up. Both complex and concentrated, it expresses blackcurrant and prune compote aromas. The bouquet goes on to display slightly spicy, peppery overtones, as well as suggestions of forest floor, leather, and herbes de Provence. 1989 Cheval Blanc is round and fresh on the palate. Well-structured, it has good body and ethereal tannin, as well as opulent, elegant flavours of blackberry, blackcurrant, macerated cherries, and a soupçon of musk. The remarkably long and complex aftertaste has smoky and Russian leather notes. The 1989 vintage has come of age, but its remarkable freshness implies that it will hold at its peak for years to come.

98 Points - Decanter 
The 1989 Cheval Blanc is a vintage that I have not encountered since 2010. One bottle opened was rustic and fatigued, and Pierre-Olivier Clouet opened a second that was much better. It has a gorgeous bouquet of ample red fruit, morels, black truffle, cigar box and hints of brown sugar, all very well defined and charming. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannin and approaching full maturity; brown spices, bay leaf and clove infuse the red berry fruit. At 30 years of age, I suspect this 1989 will not improve further, but its robustness suggests that any decline will be graceful. Tasted from an ex-cellar bottle at the château.

98 Points - Jane Anson
A legendary year where Cheval was among wines of the vintage Still full of life even if the tertiary notes are domiant, with truffled spice, tobacco, cocoa and cinammon, touches of saffron and raspberry puree but with an incredible freshness on the finish for a wine that is now 32 years old. The tannins are so finely spun at this point that you barely get any resistance from them, and yet a gentle power and sense of confidence is still unmissable. Generous and so moreish. Overall it was a great Pomerol year and Cheval is famously located right next door to this appellation and on similar soils - you can look to Trotanoy and Petrus for other wines from this vintage that are knocking it out of the park right now. Rainfall was 25% below average for the region, but the yield was up at an extremely generous 50hl/h.

95 Points - Vinous
The 1989 Cheval Blanc is a vintage that I have not encountered since 2010. One bottle opened was rustic and fatigued, and Pierre-Olivier Clouet opened a second that was much better. It has a gorgeous bouquet of ample red fruit, morels, black truffle, cigar box and hints of brown sugar, all very well defined and charming. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannin and approaching full maturity; brown spices, bay leaf and clove infuse the red berry fruit. At 30 years of age, I suspect this 1989 will not improve further, but its robustness suggests that any decline will be graceful. Tasted from an ex-cellar bottle at the château. (NM)

94 Points - John Gilman
The 1989 Cheval Blanc is a beautiful example of the vintage, offering a deep, complex and utterly classic nose of dark berries, black cherries, menthol, cigar ash, gravelly soil tones, woodsmoke and a base of toasty new wood. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very pure on the attack, with a rock solid core of sappy fruit, outstanding soil inflection, superb complexity and a very, very long, youthful and ripely tannic finish. While this wine is not particularly far away from fully blossoming and will be quite drinkable with another four or five years of cellaring, I would be very strongly inclined to not touch a bottle for at least another decade, as I would love to see this wine in the same magical spot as the 1983 Cheval is today. 

93 Points - Int'l Wine Cellar
Garnet-tinged red. Leafy aromas of green and red bell pepper, bay leaf and sweeter milk chocolate and superripe plum. Then sweeter and smoother in the mouth than the nose suggests, showing very ripe red cherry, blackberry, milk chocolate and mineral flavors. This boasts a lovely creamy texture and a nice spicy finish, with chewy tannins. A lovely wine, with a sexy personality that grew on me as it opened in the glass, but it's much inferior to the stellar 1990. Make sure you decant this at least a couple hours ahead. A precocious year, 1989 registered only 450 millimeters of rainfall (or half the normal amount) during the growth cycle, with the flowering taking place in the last week of May and veraison during the first week of August. Harvest was from September 7 to 27, the earliest start ever at Cheval Blanc. 

93 Points - Wine Spectator
Ripe, almost cooked fruit, with nuts, raisin and spices. Full-bodied, with a dense palate of ripe fruit and a leathery, spicy, dried berry character. So long and powerful. Chewy. This is big and very juicy, with loads of powerful fruit. A little alcoholic, even rustic, but I like it. 

Product size: 750ml