Château Cheval Blanc 1947

Having a 1947 Cheval Blanc served out of an impeccably stored magnum twice in three months during the summer of 1994, and on another occasion, from an extraordinary jerobaum, made me once again realise what a great job I have. The only recent Bordeaux vintage that comes even remotely close to the richness, texture, and viscosity of so many of these right bank 1947s is 1982. What can I say about this mammoth wine that is more like port than dry red table wine? The 1947 Cheval Blanc exhibits such a thick texture it could double as motor oil. The huge nose of fruitcake, chocolate, leather, coffee, and Asian spices is mind-boggling. The unctuous texture and richness of sweet fruit are amazing. Consider the fact that this wine is, technically, appallingly deficient in acidity and excessively high in alcohol. Moreover, its volatile acidity levels would be considered intolerable by modern day oenologists. Yet how can they explain that after 47 years the wine is still remarkably fresh, phenomenally concentrated, and profoundly complex? It has to make you wonder about the direction of modern day winemaking. Except for one dismal, murky, troubled, volatile double-magnum, this wine has been either perfect or nearly perfect every time I have had it 100/100 Points Robert Parker.

One of the 47 wine legends is Cheval Blanc. This wine has been fully drinkable since the early 1950s and has been causing a stir ever since with its lush, port-like character. Unfortunately, there are now not only too many over-travelled bottles and masses of counterfeits. Cheval Blanc is also beginning to weaken in all bottles that have not been stored in ONE cellar for a long time. My best bottles were a 1992 Vandermeulen bottling - incredibly deep, powerful colour, more reminiscent of an 82 than a 45-year-old wine. Thick, fleshy, reminiscent of port, very long and another class better than the already top-rated 47 Margaux 100/100 - and a perfect chateau bottling at our century tasting in 1993. After that came numerous magnums, for which I simply lack the faith, except for one in 1997 at a large tasting for the 50th birthday of a wine friend, restrained nose, like my VDM's porty on the palate, very strong colour, dense, concentrated, not the class of earlier Cheval 47s, but certainly more honest - 96/100. Even in the otherwise very reliable Vandermeulen versions, Cheval Blanc is no longer always what it used to be. So before you run after a myth for a lot of money in vain: Only buy Cheval Blanc in really very good condition from impeccable origins. How nice when the exception proves the rule, as was the case in 2006 at the big Cheval Blanc tasting at the Stromburg. a perfect Vandermeulen bottling that showed no weakness whatsoever. This was an incredible wine giant, perfectly matured and on point with pure coffee, infinite, silky elegance, powerful aromas and incredible length on the palate. No matter what superlatives you use to describe it, words can hardly do justice to this grandiose experience. Of course, easily 100/100, I would never have thought that I would be able to experience 47 Cheval Blanc in this form again. And then in 2007, a perfect chateau bottling went one better. It has been in Müller's cellar for over 25 years. Still an impenetrable killer colour. The finest port wine on the nose, some mint, tea, herbs, fullness, a crazy nose game, also on the palate porty without end, very sweet, unbelievably intense, powerful, never ending on the palate. It is difficult to find the right words to describe this monument. But in the form in which this chateau bottling presented itself here, this is one of, if not the highlight in the life of a wine drinker - 100/100 without ifs and buts. Then, in summer 2007, a Belgian retailer bottling that cannot be identified more closely. It could not compete with the chateau bottling that I had enjoyed 4 months earlier at Jörg Müller. This was a complete, great wine, but it was very Medoc-like and lacked the porty richness and hedonistic decadence of the Chateau bottling - 96/100. In autumn 2007, at a large tasting, there was unfortunately an obviously faked magnum and two rather dubious Vandermeulen bottles. Most recently in 2008 at René Gabriel's large Cheval tasting, an authentic, immortally beautiful bottle, 100/100 with no ifs or buts (source: wineterminator.com Dr Becker).