Wine Advisor
Le Petit Cheval 2020
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: William Kelley
The 2020 Le Petit Cheval offers up aromas of minty cherries, plums, raw cocoa, mint and spices, followed by a medium to full-bodied, fleshy and voluptuous palate underpinned by a broad-shouldered chassis of tannin. A blend of 59% Cabernet Franc and 41% Merlot, it's a rather structured young Petit Cheval that will reward a bit of patience.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2020 Le Petit Cheval is stunning. Rich, deep and expansive, the Petit Cheval is outrageously good. In fact, it could easily be mistaken for a Cheval Blanc from anything less than a great vintage. The aromatics are alluring and the balance is sublime; all that really identifies this as a second wine is a bit of mid-palate depth. Sweet floral and spice accents extend the effortless, gracious finish.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2020 Le Petit Cheval was cropped at 35hl/ha and includes no Cabernet Sauvignon, which is in the Grand Vin. It represents only 12% of total production, as 17% is sold in bulk. It has an intense nose with blackberry, black olive compote and subtle estuarine scents. Fine delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins and a slight creaminess developing with aeration. There's modest depth, and a touch of dark chocolate appears towards the finish. This is a delicious Deuxième Vin that will need three to five years to give years to coalesce.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2020 Le Petit Cheval, which represents 12% of the total production this year, has a tightly wound bouquet of blackberry, raspberry, touches of wilted iris and just a dab of menthol. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit intermixed with sage and black pepper. Grippy and quite serious toward the finish, which feels a touch drier than usual. I feel this will need 5–7 years for the tannins to soften.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2020 Le Petit Cheval is a little simplistic compared to its peers in this flight, with black fruit and graphite notes, but it lacks nuance. The palate is medium-bodied with soft tannins; it's fleshy but needs more grip. This seems to be a wine predesigned to be approachable, and in that sense, it fulfills its purpose. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2020 Le Petit Cheval (Blanc) has a well-defined and quite floral bouquet with yellow fruit, beeswax and orange blossom, developing more complexity in the glass as it aerates. The palate is well balanced with a smooth entry and fine delineation, quite cohesive with an underrated and persistent finish. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
The quality of the tannin is impressive in this second wine, with lovely aromas and flavors of currants, berries and cherries with some chocolate and walnut. Medium body. Racy and fine. 59% cabernet franc and 41% merlot. Give it three to five years to come completely together, but already very beautiful.
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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