Independent Wine Centre

Le Petit Cheval 2006 The 2006 vintage was more difficult than 2005 for selecting the best grapes for the grand vin, but the deuxième vin was not neglected. Made with younger vines, it is lighter but charming and very aristocratic thanks to its refined tannins. It is ready to drink now, not for competition but for the pleasure and a better understanding of a style impossible to imitate in other places in Saint-Emilion.

Le Petit Cheval 2001 An excellent vintage and a perfect introduction to the Cheval Blanc touch. Not a great body but a perfectly balanced one, a very refined texture, a velvety cedary and softly spicy flavour, verging on the dry side as in most great Bordeaux terroirs. Great drinkability.

Cheval Blanc 2001 A great success and a great vintage, perhaps more harmonious than the better known and sought after 2000. It is a curiosity for the source because it is the marvellous harmony of the best merlots that gives the velvety texture and the complex and kaleidoscopic succession of flavours. The tannins are completely integrated and the wine ready to drink, even if it is capable of ageing for twenty more years, especially in magnums. No other right bank château is so easy to understand at ten years old.

Cheval Blanc 2000 A big body for Cheval, and a huge super merlot (plum and leather) perfume and taste, perhaps more Pomerol than Saint-Emilion. It has not yet reached its definitive harmony, and depending on the service temperature the high level of alcohol is more or less in evidence. The best way to love it is to drink it in winter with a great roast grouse!

Cheval Blanc 1998 An aristocratic wine with the perfect cabernet franc touch that wine lovers, especially in Bordeaux circles, admire. A delicate but full body, serious tannins, cedary undertones, and inimitable balanced tannins—for me this is the ideal Cheval Blanc character and definition.

Cheval Blanc 1990 A large and sunny vintage and a big wine in the 2000 style, dominated by the merlot grapes. The nose is fully developed with a beginning of evolved but savoury autumnal notes like dead leaves and delicate mushrooms that do not hide the classic leather, cedar and plum elements. But the most remarkable feature is the finish: wonderful suave tannins and great length. A wine for hedonistic consumption.

Cheval Blanc 1982 A classic of this mythical vintage. The most perfect weather conditions I can remember, never fully matched in the succeeding thirty years (the best of which were warmer and drier with a less perfect balance of sun and rain), and a super refined, delicate, bready, harmonious wine. If we are lucky with our samples (bottles of this age can vary) this will be an unforgettable experience.

Cheval Blanc 1975 The vintage, initially highly acclaimed, produced many disappointing bottles with dry austere tannins and unclean flavours, but the best wines, especially from the right bank, are very complex and elegant, confirming the cask tastings. Cheval Blanc belongs to this category and is a strong contender for 'the' wine of the vintage. Its refined nose and perfectly balanced tannins remind us of the ability of the team that created it.

Cheval Blanc 1967 An underestimated vintage and not so sought after at auction, but many right bank growths made delicious, merlot-oriented wines, ageing very well and not drying even at the venerable age of 40! Cheval Blanc has since its birth been one of the most complete of them, elegant and charming but with a surprising energy and reserve.

Dom Pérignon 2002 A perfectly balanced vintage, with equally ripe chardonnays and pinots noir and the same kind of balance in each of the three great grands crus sub regions: the côte des blancs (Avize, Mesnil sur Oger and others), the vallée de la Marne (Ay, Bouzy….) and montagne de Reims (Mailly, Verzenay….). An ideal combination for a large production and the perfect seamless Dom Pé style. Vinosity, refinement, and a more elegant use of reduction in the winemaking than in older vintages.

Dom Pérignon Rosé 2000 A stunning use of red wine added to a medium bodied vintage, giving more aromatic charm than in the classic 'white' 2000. Very long, elegant, aristocratic, with subtle flowery and red fruit undertones, and an archetypal purity.

Dom Pérignon 1996 Long awaiting maturity, this vintage has started to open up after several years in the bottle and now appears to be one of the greatest successes of the decade. The wine is long, very pure, with remarkable finesse and texture.

Dom Pérignon Oenothèque 1996 1996 was the most perfect vintage of the nineties, a 10/10 dream for all the chefs de cave: ten degrees of natural alcohol and ten grams of acid per litre—two perfect scores on the French notation scale! The oenothèque differs from the original 1996 because it was aged eight years more sur pointe in the perfect local cellars and has a lesser dosage, almost an extra-brut one. An incredibly vivid acidity gives the wine a sensation of eternal youth, and the bubbles are intense but at the same time refined. Wonderfully suited to use as an aperitif.

Dom Pérignon Oenothèque 1975 1996 was the most perfect vintage of the nineties, a 10/10 dream for all the chefs de cave: ten degrees of natural alcohol and ten grams of acid per litre—two perfect scores on the French notation scale! The oenothèque differs from the original 1996 because it was aged eight years more sur pointe in the perfect local cellars and has a lesser dosage, almost an extra-brut one. An incredibly vivid acidity gives the wine a sensation of eternal youth, and the bubbles are intense but at the same time refined. Wonderfully suited to use as an aperitif.

Dom Pérignon Oenothèque 1969 Not a big crop but a very interesting vintage thanks to a perfect pinot noir harvest, giving a lot of body to the assemblage. Many other 1969s are beginning to decline, perhaps because of a more oxidative kind of winemaking, but in the great, more reductive, Dom Pé style the wine still has all its pristine energy. Now in the delicious biscuity family of old champagnes.

Corton Charlemagne Domaine du Château de Beaune 2000 2000 is now at the peak of its ageing evolution, but only for the greatest Burgundian chardonnay origins. Every year, the very steep le Corton Bouchard vineyard gives a refined but full bodied Corton Charlemagne, with flinty undertones contrasting with a Montrachet-like honeyed texture and power.

Château Léoville-Las-Cases Saint-Julien 1989 This famous second classification Saint-Julien château produced a complete 1989 with all the features of that great sunny vintage. A full bodied wine with noble tobacco/cedary flavours linked to the perfectly ripe cabernet sauvignon grapes of the vintage, and superlative aristocratic dry tannins, which are the signature of the old vines from the grand clos next to Château Latour.

Château d’Yquem 1988 I remember 1988 as one of the most perfect sauternes harvests I ever experienced in my life. Ideal weather conditions allowed a very slow but steady development of noble rot: it was possible to go along each row six or seven times, harvesting berry by berry. The complete range of aromas was not only preserved but magnified by this evolution, and the wines are second to none in finesse and balance. Yquem as always was the undisputed leader, the best of the best!

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