Deep garnet in color and made of 54% Cabernet Franc and 46% Merlot, the nose of the 2010 Cheval Blanc is a bit subdued to begin, measuredly opening out to reveal achingly provocative notions of molten chocolate, preserved Morello cherries, baked blackberries, boysenberries and blueberry compote with wafts of underbrush, cigar box, cumin seed and sandalwood. Full-bodied, the palate is a full-on atomic bomb waiting to go off, with very tightly coiled, slowly maturing black fruits eking out glimpses of a vast array of nuances. Still very youthful, it finishes with an incredibly persistent, jaw-dropping display of earth and mineral fireworks. I’d leave this one for another 5 years and drink it over the next 50.

Drinking Window: 2025 - 2075

Reviewer Name: Lisa Perrotti-Brown

Review Date: 5th March 2020

Showing even better than a bottle a few years ago, the 2010 Chateau Cheval Blanc is perfection in a glass and wine doesn’t get any better. As with the 2009, it’s a powerful, concentrated Cheval Blanc, yet it has a slightly dark, cooler profile in its smoky black fruits, graphite, new leather, crushed rocks and cured meat aromas and flavors. Where the 2009 hits the palate with a sunny, sexy style, this stays more inward and masculine, yet it still has incredible sweetness of fruit, flawless integration of its fruit, tannins, and acidity, a great mid-palate, and a finish that goes on for over a minute. It opens up with time in the glass and offers incredible pleasure today, with an exotic masculine yet sexy style, but feel free to enjoy this legendary wine any time over the coming 3-4 decades.

Drinking Window: 2019 - 2064

Review Date: 14th June 2019

This is the finest Cheval Blanc for many years. It is, quite simply, magnificent. The wine shows the greatness of Cabernet Franc in the vintage, with 57% of the variety in the blend. It is beautifully structured and perfumed, with velvety tannins, balanced acidity and swathes of black-currant and black-cherry fruits. It's well on course to becoming a legendary wine.

Reviewer Name: Roger Voss

Review Date: 5th January 2013

The aromas here are crazy with flowers, mushroom, forest floor, and fruit. It seems like I am walking through a row of the vines in Cheval Blanc when I have my nose in the glass. It's full-bodied, with fabulous layers of ultra-fine tannins and milk chocolate, raspberries, and a phenomenal finish. Truly one of the greatest Chevals ever. Better than 2009. Try in 2020.

A second bottle of this sent directly from the château since they noticed that the bottle I tasted at BI Wines was TCA-affected.
Dense blackish garnet with only the lightest evolution at the rim. Exceedingly intense, opulent nose with the suggestion of a spice cabinet about it though definitely some Cabernet influence. Opulent texture - velvety - but far from heavy. Definitely refreshing and definitely Cheval. A classic. Reminds me of the great ripe vintages of old. Opulent but fragrant with the tannins nicely and effectively covered by the precise, ripe (by no means overripe), well-judged fruit. You could certainly start to drink this but I suspect it has a glorious future.

Drinking Window: 2020 - 2050

Review Date: 14th July 2020

This is stone-cold shut down right now, but why worry? You'll want to wait at least a decade before breaching a bottle as massively endowed as this, with loads of loamy bass notes thumping along underneath a riveting track of licorice snap, pastis-steeped black currant fruit, maduro tobacco and espresso. And then there's an echo of petrichor at the very end that hints at the aromatic fireworks to come with cellaring. Should compete for wine of the vintage. Best from 2020 through 2040. -JM

Drinking Window: 2018 - 2040

Review Date: 31st March 2013

(a 56/44 blend of cabernet franc and merlot; 3.8 pH; 84 IPT; 14.5% alcohol; a roughly 60% selection for the grand vin Deep ruby-purple. Brooding nose opens slowly with air to reveal concentrated, multifaceted aromas of cassis, violet, coffee, minerals and white pepper. Very rich and dense on entry, displaying concentrated flavors of black fruits, sweet spices and cocoa, with a complicating violet note. The finish is very long and lightly saline. This big, rich Cheval Blanc offers great palate presence and a wonderfully layered texture.

Reviewer Name: Ian d'Agata

Review Date: 1st May 2011

Good bright, deep red. Captivating scents of cassis, violet, minerals, bitter chocolate and wild herbs. Extremely fine-grained but also very dense and chewy for young Cheval Blanc, showing great cabernet franc lift and perfume and a downright velvety texture. This deep, multilayered wine was a bit dominated by its brooding tannins and big structure when first poured, but I found my score going steadily higher as the wine benefited from air. My rating may look too conservative a decade from now--or three or four decades hence.

The 2010 Cheval Blanc has another extravagant bouquet with ample red cherries, raspberry preserve, mulberry, fig and singed leather. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, quite dense and assertive, backward with a sinewy finish that just feels a little forced compared to some of the other wines in this flight. With time in the glass, the new oak seems to dominate the finish. I have definitely had far superior bottles, but that's the way it goes. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners 10-Year On Bordeaux horizontal.

Drinking Window: 2024 - 2050

Reviewer Name: Neal Martin

Review Date: 1st April 2020