1er Grand Cru Classe A 2015

From our sommelier team

A historic Saint-Émilion estate on the Pomerol border, unusual on the Right Bank for its Cabernet Franc-heavy vineyard (planted roughly 52% Cabernet Franc, 43% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon), though the finished blend's actual grape balance shifts by vintage, one of only two Premier Grand Cru Classé A estates named in the original 1955 classification.

Cheval Blanc sits at the edge of Saint-Émilion directly bordering Pomerol, on a distinctive gravelly-clay terroir that historically produces wines of unusual power and perfume for the appellation. Its defining feature is grape composition: where most Right Bank estates lean heavily on Merlot, Cheval Blanc's vineyard is planted with an unusually high share of Cabernet Franc (around 52% to Merlot's 43% and a small share of Cabernet Sauvignon) — though the finished wine's actual blend varies by vintage and is not always Cabernet Franc-majority in the bottle (the 2022, for instance, was Merlot-majority) — giving the wine a more perfumed, structured, and age-worthy profile than a typical Pomerol-style Merlot wine. The estate was one of only two properties (alongside Château Ausone) awarded Premier Grand Cru Classé A status when the Saint-Émilion classification was first published in 1955, a distinction it held through the 2022 vintage before withdrawing from the 2022 reclassification process rather than being reclassified alongside newly promoted estates. Under estate manager Pierre Lurton since the late 1990s, the wine has continued in its historic style: dense fruit, tobacco and graphite complexity, and firm but polished tannins built for long cellaring.