Chateau Cheval Blanc, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 1998

This structured and powerful red is finally coming out its sleep. It shows intense aromas of dried fruits, mushrooms, forest floor and berries. It's full-bodied, very dense and velvety, and has an outstanding, ripe and richly fruity finish. A wine that harkens back to the legendary 1947 Cheval-Blanc. Drink or hold.

Another perfect wine is the 1998 Chateau Cheval Blanc, which is the usual blend of 55/45 Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Possessing an utterly captivating bouquet of sweet red and black fruits, forest floor, spice and dried flowers, it packs plenty of muscle and depth on the palate, yet is also expansive, elegant and seamless, with no hard edges. Just singing, with everything you could want; complexity, richness, elegance, depth, and length, drink this sensational beauty any time over the coming two decades. I’m sure it will keep longer, but why in the world would you wait.

The 1998 Cheval Blanc, a blend of 65% Merlot and 35% Cabernet Franc, is deep garnet-brick in color and absolutely explodes with scents of exotic spices, incense, dried roses, cigar box and licorice, with a core of crème de cassis and dried cherries plus touches of black tea and dusty earth. Medium to full-bodied, it fills the mouth with rich, plushly textured fruit and then POW—it hits the mid-palate with an explosion of Chinese five spice and floral perfume sparks, leading to an epically long finish. This cannot fail to impress and can easily cellar for another 30 years or more.

(-) Full, bright medium ruby. Nose shows an almost liqueur-like ripeness, along with notes of bitter chocolate and menthol; a great expression of ripe but youthfully unevolved cabernet franc. Extremely dense and pure but still quite tight and showing a minty austerity. Wonderful acids give the wine superb clarity of flavor. This will require another decade to unfold. Finishes impressively persistent and juicy. Drink 2010 through 2030.