Le Petit Cheval Bordeaux Blanc 2020 (750ML)

96 VM / 96 JS / 95 WI / 94 JA / 93 WCI / 92 WS / 17+ JR

The 2020 Le Petit Cheval (Blanc) is fabulous. Rich, creamy and wonderfully expansive, the 2020 is just gorgeous. Lemon confit, white flowers, passion fruit and a touch of oak all grace this wonderfully expressive dry white from Cheval Blanc. I especially like how the 2020 gains freshness with aeration, always a good sign with whites. There's tremendous precision and class here. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

Rather tropical fruit aromas like pineapple and mangoes, as well as white peaches and lemons with hints of stones and minerals. It’s full-bodied with plenty of fruit, yet it’s fresh and steely. Lots of white peaches at the end. Hints of lees too, like bread dough. 80% sauvignon blanc and 20% semillon. - James Suckling

Le Petit Cheval Blanc 2020 soars from the glass with notions of white peaches, green guava, and passion fruit, giving way to hints of orange blossom, beeswax, elderflower, and cedar. The medium-bodied palate is refreshing and elegantly weighted, with intense tropical flavors and a long zippy finish. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Independent

Sémillon was added to the blend of the Cheval Blanc white from 2018, and it was immediately clear that it added an extra layer of interest. This is a vintge that I’ve tried several times over the past few years, and it keeps getting better, showing white peaches riven with waxy lemon rind, sage and saffran that bring it in line with the complexity and finesse of the rest of the (red) Cheval stable. Aged for 18 months in larg-sized new oak barrels.-Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux

Bright, yellow and orange citrus with touches of pears and green apples along with a tint of honey that comes through on the nose and palate. This is already delicious and it should continue offering pleasure for up to a decade. Drink from 2023-2032.-Jeff Leve, Wine Cellar Insider

Fresh, with a mix of white asparagus, oyster shell, white peach and fleur de sel. Very pure, sneaky long finish. Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon. Drink now through 2025. 2,242 cases made. - James Molesworth, Wine Spectator

Lovely, lovely wax and cooked lemon fruit aromas. Excellent sweet-spice and white-chocolate complexity. Very expressive. Relatively soft but still has the crispness and precision of Sauvignon Blanc. Long, mulchy sort of length. - Richard Hemming MW, JancisRobinson .com

For more than 10 years, Château Cheval Blanc has challenged itself to produce a great white wine on this small 6.6 hectares vineyard nested in the parcels of its elder. A genuine variation, in white, of the identity of Cheval Blanc, this wine is a blend of some 12 different plots, on sandy and clay soils, where 80% sauvignon blanc and 20% sémillon fit perfectly.

2020 vintage
The first trimester saw above-normal temperatures, which led to the earliest budburst this young vineyard has ever seen, on March 19th for the Semillon and March 21st for the Sauvignon. Flowering and veraison were extremely rapid (1 week for flowering and 8 days for veraison) and very homogeneous. Water stress appeared in mid-July, remaining moderate until the harvest. The harvest, which was very early, took place from August 19th to 24th, with good health grapes

Tasting note
A particularly successful vintage for Le Petit Cheval blanc, with bergamot, citrus,
slightly grapefruit, fruity touches of pear, white flesh fruit. Freshness and a
mineral note that probably comes from the ageing in large vessels. The nose is
bright, fresh, precise and clean.
The palate is vibrant, with a beautiful attack, freshness, tension, a relatively strong acidity, salinity and nice bitters that lengthen the mouth, and which compose with a beautiful volume, wide, creamy. A very nice balance for a wine that is already accessible, from its youngest age.

Blend :

• 82% - Sauvignon blanc

• 18% - Sémillon