Wine Advisor
Le Petit Cheval 2019
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: William Kelley
Exhibiting aromas of plums, sweet wild berries, rose petals, spices and cigar wrapper, the 2019 Le Petit Cheval is medium to full-bodied, velvety and seamless, with supple tannins and succulent acids. Pierre-Olivier Clouet explains that his aspiration is to produce 100% Cheval Blanc and that, as a result, this cuvée simply represents anything that doesn't belong in the grand vin's blend. Of course, however, it shares some of the latter's DNA.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2019 Petit Cheval is a stunning second wine - if it can even be called that. In 2019, Petit Cheval is a blend of four parcels that were in the Grand Vin in 2018. Dark, supple and expressive, the 2019 offers up an exotic mélange of black cherry, spice, new leather and graphite, all of which build effortlessly in the glass. The Petit represents 5.5% of the château's production in 2019, but it is more of a second selection, as 12% of the wine that year was sold in bulk.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2019 Petit Cheval has a very attractive cedar and tobacco infused bouquet that seems precise and supremely well focused. The oak is neatly assimilated. The palate is medium-bodied with a bolder presence than intimated by the aromatics, sweet and layered black fruit, quite plush, satin texture with a persistent and seductive, modern style finish. Lovely. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2019 Le Petit Cheval has a vivid bouquet of raspberry, wild strawberry, black currant, and hints of fresh raisin and fig. The palate is medium-bodied with a granular texture and fine weight and depth, delivering dark red berry fruit laced with brown spice and cracked black pepper. Enjoy this over the next 10 years. Just 10,000 bottles made this year.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2019 Petit Cheval has a very attractive cedar and tobacco infused bouquet that seems precise and supremely well focused. The oak is neatly assimilated. The palate is medium-bodied with a bolder presence than intimated by the aromatics, sweet and layered black fruit, quite plush, satin texture with a persistent and seductive, modern style finish. Lovely. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
This is so floral and beautiful with roses, violets and some lavender. Spices and stems, too. Medium-bodied, firm and bright with compact density to the wine. Beautiful tannins. This is extremely structured. Second wine of Cheval Blanc. 56% merlot and 44% cabernet franc. Try after 2027.
About the Producer
This wine comes from the Saint-Emilion region on the right bank of Bordeaux, France. It is worth mentioning that, in view of the excellent quality and uniformity of the grapes, Château Cheval Blanc did not brew the second-brand wine in 2015. Except for a small part of wine for internal use that is not for sale, the remaining grapes are all used for wine production. Brew the real wine. The winery implements a rigorous and meticulous brewing process to minimize the use of chemicals to produce fresh, elegant, delicate and balanced wines. After the grapes are crushed, they are placed in small tanks with a capacity of 450 kg, after which the must flows into the fermenters by gravity flow (Gravity Flow). Depending on the weight of the must after crushing and the plot of origin, the winemaker will choose a different fermenter and only fill 3/4 of it. After 12 hours of alcoholic fermentation, the workers perform skinning three times a day. According to the daily tasting by the technical team and the cellar supervisor and the measurement data of the liquid hydrometer, the workers will gradually reduce the number of skins in the late fermentation period. After the alcoholic fermentation is complete, the wine is soaked in the skins for several days in temperature-controlled fermenters at 28-30°C to make the tannins more supple and the structure smoother. Afterwards, the wine liquid is transferred to a fermenter at 20°C for 3 weeks to several months of malolactic fermentation (Malolactic Fermentation) to soften the acidity and stabilize the structure. After all the fermentation processes are completed, the wine is transferred to new oak barrels and aged in an underground cellar with a constant temperature of 14°C for 16-18 months. The winemaker will change barrels at this stage, using inert gas to transfer the 210 liters of wine to adjacent oak barrels to minimize oxidation and maintain the balance of the wine. After aging in barrels for three months, the winemaker tastes the wine in each oak barrel, and then mixes the wine to prepare the current year's Cheval Blanc red wine.
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