Chateau Cheval Blanc 1982

JAMES SUCKLING: "I have tasted this wine at least four or five times in the last two months and it is clearly classic. Some can be a little austere and thin though. This bottle was gorgeous with such pure and bright fruit. It showed aromas of dried cherries and mushrooms that turn to sliced ripe plums. It’s full with round and ripe tannins, and a long, long finish."

WINE SPECTATOR: "All in harmony. Deserves its reputation. Dark ruby. Smoke, black truffle, berry and cherry. Full-bodied, velvety and fine.--Bordeaux retrospective. Best after 2005."

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "Here is another great bottle of Cheval Blanc to follow last year´s one, although now the 1990 looks to be exiting its slipstream to become the Cheval de choix. The bouquet is vibrant and animated with scents of kirsch, macerated red cherries, a smear of boot polish and sloes. It is hedonistic yet controlled. The palate is medium-bodied with a slight viscosity on the entry, retaining the lavishness and opulence that distinguishes it from the rest. There is plenty of glycerin towards the finish and you can see it cruising along for the next decade or two without losing its glow. Tasted February 2014." - Neal Martin.

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: 95 THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Fully mature, elegant, graceful, silky and refined, with polished, soft, sweet, dark red fruits, truffle, flowers, earth and tobacco, the wine truly feels great on your palate. The problem comes in with how the wine is aging. The wine has lost some of its exotic, opulent, flamboyant quality with time, and those traits were what made this really stand out."

WEINWISSER: 18 RENÈ GABRIEL´S BX TOTAL: "Mattes, dunkles Weinrot, bräunlicher Unterton. Geniales Bouquet, dunkles Caramel, Malz, noch feine Rösttöne, reife Pflaumen, weit ausladend und absolut berauschend. Im zweiten Ansatz laktische Töne und zulegend mit Luftzutritt. Im Gaumen weich, samtig, elegant und schon fast milde Gerbstoffe zeigend, alles ist harmonisch und rund. Eine absolut geniale Flasche. Es gibt da leider auch andere. Ein remarkables, wie schier reinkarniertes 1982er-Cheval-Erlebnis. Eine legendäre 19-Punkte-Flasche, so supergut wie schon lange nicht mehr. Er kam auch in der Runde sehr, sehr gut an."

JANCIS ROBINSON: "Bright ruby with lots of development at the rim - really quite pale. Only lightly scented. Then very warm and rich on the front palate with a slight lack of focus. A bit smudgy and velvety. The finish is drying out a little. Definitely on the way down. Did it get a bit hot? Or was there a shortage of vat space? Clean minty finish. Fresh - it would be a lovely drink in isolation.... Pleasant without being a standout and certainly not robust."