Top 200 wines in 2024, #4, 99 points

Chateau Cheval Blanc 1985

If I remember correctly, this wine won the now defunct Wine magazine’s red wine Trophy around 1990 – as did Ch. Lynch Bages 1985 at about the same time, give or take a year – a testament to how early the 1985 clarets started to drink well. As a result, at the time, it was thought that they would not make old bones; but the vintage is now approaching its 40^th birthday, and many of the top wines show no sign of flagging and a few even go from strength to strength. None more so than Cheval Blanc. While one still encounters some outstanding bottles of Lynch '85, it is variable, while Cheval Blanc is consistently brilliant and frankly head and shoulders above the many other great wines in this vintage. 

As indicated it is a 99 point wine, nothing else goes above 95-6 in my experience, much as I love the 1985s from Mouton, Lafite and Leoville Lascases - the standout, and a stalwart, among the 'super seconds' - and a few of the other right bankers. But, let's be clear: in 1985 Cheval Blanc is in a league of its own. I drank my last bottle about five years ago, and at the time it was the best I had encountered. I have had it four times since then, and it has been even better on each occasion, and I was fortunate enough to drink it twice in 2024.

Chateau Cheval Blanc 1985 has a stunning and divine bouquet of earth, truffle, smoke and soft red fruits, plums and damsons; it has an entrancing mellowness and a casual, polite decadence, which is a huge turn on.  Over time, rich tobacco notes emerge...imagine twiddling and smelling a Cuban cigar through thumb and forefinger. But it is on the palate where it really dazzles...it is full-bodied, dense and seamless and comes at you in dizzying waves and waves. It transports you into a utopian parallel universe. It is so perfectly resolved and mellow on the palate, with tilled earth, cool fruit, and a weightlessness...and a cashmere texture and luxurious finish. After time in the glass it pivots and becomes more intense, and richer, revealing a late twist and Machiavellian side to its personality. This wine is a timeless legend…seemingly unassailable…it can't get any better than this, surely? So why isn’t this the wine of the year? Watch this space…