Château Cheval Blanc
Review of the Estate
Château Cheval Blanc (French for "White Horse Castle"), is a wine producer in Saint-Émilion in the Bordeaux wine region of France. As of 2012, its wine is one of only four to receive the highest rank of Premier Grand Cru Classè (A) status in the Classification of Saint-Émilion wine, along with Château Angèlus, Château Ausone, and Château Pavie.
The estate's second wine is named Le Petit Cheval.
The manager of Château Cheval Blanc, Jacques Hebrard, was outraged at the evaluation of his 1981 vintage barrel samples made by influential wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr. and asked him to re-taste. Upon arriving, Parker was attacked by Hebrard's dog as the manager stood idly by and watched. When Parker asked for a bandage to stop the bleeding from his leg, Parker says Hebrard instead gave him a copy of the offending newsletter. Hebrard denies that Parker was bleeding. However, Parker did retaste the wine and found it significantly changed from his previous evaluation; he therefore gave the wine an updated evaluation in a later issue of his publication The Wine Advocate.
Château Cheval Blanc is featured in the Mad Men Season 5 episode, "The Other Woman", when Peggy Olson transforms Michael Ginsberg's ad concept about a leather-jacketed bar patron in London (which the client dislikes) into a Paris-based "Lady Godiva"-like pitch (which the client likes) on the spot.
The movie "Sideways", which is famous for it's focus on Pinot noir feature the Cheval Blanc 1961 vintage as a plot element.
Vineyard
Surface area: 100 acres
Grape Varieties: 57% Cabernet Franc, 40% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Malbec
Average age of vines: 39 years
Density of plantation: 6,000 - 7,00 vines per hectare
Average yields: 35 - 40 hectoliters per hectare
Average cases produced: 6,000 per year
Plateau of maturity: 15 - 50 years