1990 Château Cheval Blanc St. Émilion Grand Cru Bordeaux France Wine Tasting Note

You could not ask for more in a bottle. The perfume with its blend of spices, espresso, flowers, smoke, cocoa, tobacco, wild cherries, plums, and ash instantly grabs your focus. On the palate, the wine is pure silk and velvet, which caresses you with its layers of vibrant, earthy, pure, red, and black fruits. The concentrated finish is long, deep, intense, and sensuous, gaining in opulence in the glass. Drink from 2023-2040.

4,117 Views   Tasted Jan 20, 2023

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It is the texture of Cheval Blanc that gets me. There is a sensuality here that no other wine offers and with the 1990, it is there in spades. Earthy, with truffles, tobacco wrapper, mint-leaf, red plums and cherries, flowers and spice, the silky, sexy, velvet-textured wine lingers on your palate for close to 60 seconds in its seamless finish. This is drinking at maturity, but well-stored bottles are going to age and evolve for at least another 20-30 years.

Purity, hedonism, silk and velvet textures produced a wine that is best described as bottled sex. Long, pure, rich and intense, the wine doesn’t know how to quit. And you never want it to. I am sure Calligulus drenched his nights in this nectar. The finish sticks with you in an expanding show of ostentatious characteristics. Yes, I could have written a bunch of adjectives and descriptors here, but you can read those in previous notes I've posted. It is the overall impression you should focus on, as that is what matters most. This bottle was remarkable. Bought on release, stored in a cold, dark cellar and never moved showed provenance counts.

Every bottle at some point in its aging curve is different, and this bottle, while very good, was not quite at the level of the best examples. Still, the floral dominated nose loaded you up with sweet, fresh cherries, garden herbs, tobacco, plums and cherry blossoms. Medium-bodied, lacking the weight and density of better bottles, the texture was all silkiness. Elegant, delicate and fresh, with lots of lift on the palate, considering that for all intents and purposes the wine is 30 years of age, this is fully ready to go.

It was love at the first whiff of that gorgeous perfume. And if that did not seal the deal, the sensuous, sexed up, palate presence with a finish that hung in there for more than 60 seconds sealed the deal. This is a future legend!

Close to full maturity, but with no hurry to drink it, this is the quintessential, opulent wine. Lush, but not fat. It's elegant and hedonistic at the same time. Floral, smoky, licorice, coconut and plum notes make an impression. But it is the silky, sexy palate presence that seals the deal.

This is a consistent stunner. With its, sexy, lush, opulent and exotic textures, the lavender, licorice, sweet plum and cherry, smoke, dark chocolate and earthy nose really grabs you. But at least for me, it is the incredibly sensuous mouth feel from start to finish that makes this a ride worth taking.

This is the perfect blend of purity, elegance, refinement, opulence and complexity and character. It's more than flawless, it's stunning in every sense of the word. There is such a beauty and purity of fruit in this wine, it's hard to believe. Even better, it's pure hedonism as well. With an hour or 2 of decanting, this is drinking right where it needs to be. For the 1%'s, this is a wine they should be buying.

This was a very good, but not great bottle of what can often be a 100 Pt wine. Not that I'm complaining. The nose was off the hook with its earthy, floral, tobacco, sweet cherry and fresh herb profile. But on the palate, the wine fell a bit shorter than it can deliver at its best.

1990 Cheval Blanc is so sexy, it should be illegal. Pure decadence in the glass does not do this justice. Luscious, velvety, pure, fresh and ostentatious, this is a stunning bottle of wine that can leave a talkative taster speechless.

A stunning wine in every sense. The explosive nose serves up black and blue fruits, truffle, tobacco, blackberries, flowers and forest scents. The texture is silk and velvet. If that does not grab you, the finish lingers and expands. Bottled decadence.

This is an orgasm in a glass. There is no better way to express how sexy, sensuous, silky and decadent this wine is. Perfect in every way from the start, through to the long, expansive, lingering finish, this is what pure hedonism is all about.

Licorice, flowers, dark chocolate covered, black raspberries and plums with over ripe black cherry scents is the first thing you notice. What keeps your attention riveted to your glass is the pure silk and polished velvet, opulent and even decadent textures. The finish must last for at least 60 seconds! Served at one of those marathon tastings with so many great bottles, stunning wines are often lost in the mix. The 1990 Cheval Blanc stood out from the pack, grabbed my interest and never let go. Insanely expensive, but with good reason. This is about as good as a wine gets. I do not have the funds to go out and buy more, but I would never sell my bottles. This wine was so good, just writing up the tasting note brings a smile to face remembering the wine.

Explosive aromas find their way from the glass with an array of scents ranging from truffle, coconut, spice box, cherry blossom and earth, to tobacco and sweet, plums. Silky tannins give the wine an incredibly sensuous texture, as the wine glides effortlessly across the palate. The wine has depth, concentration and the structure to age and develop for decades.

Explosive aromas find their way from the glass with an array of scents ranging from truffle, coconut, spice box, cherry blossom and earth, to tobacco and sweet, plums. Silky tannins give the wine an incredibly sensuous texture, as the wine glides effortlessly across the palate. The wine has depth, concentration and the structure to age and develop for decades.

Powerful, rich, dense, exotic and sensuous in texture, the wine opens with a compelling blast of licorice, smoke, leather, blackberry, forest floor, earth and black cherry jam. This is about as good as a wine gets. Tasted blind, with only 15-20 minutes to spend with the glass, I image the wine would score even higher if it were allowed to develop in the glass during the night. Drink it now, of age or cellar it for another 10-15 or 20 years, this is a rock start bottle of Cheval Blanc.

Deep, dark and filled with fresh plums, flowers, truffles, chocolate and coconut, that reminded me of an almond joy candy bar with hints of black cherries. Luscious, soft, sexy, refined elegance with a sense of purity. This intense, decadent wine coats your palate with plush, ripe, black and red fruits. The long finish is seamless. Along with the perfect 2000, this remains my favorite current of Cheval Blanc.

With an intoxicating perfume of fresh truffles, tobacco, ripe plums, smoke, coconut and kirsch, this wine grabs your attention. Full bodied and concentrated with exotic, velvety, decadent textures, the wine finishes with a sensuous, kinky black cherry and kirsch component. As good as it is, this will only get better wine more time!

Exotic was the first descriptor that came to mind. The aromatics exploded from the glass in every direction. Spices and herbs blend with exotic, very ripe red fruit notes to produce a perfume demanding to be bottled. The next sensation is the stunning voluptuously and layered palate presence that offers a seamless finish. This is better than the more expensive 82 which seems to fade a little bit every time I taste it.

Roasted coconut is the first smell greeting your nose followed by a mélange of red and black fruit with herbs. In this flight, the Cheval seemed lighter and slightly more developed than the other wines. Cheval’s opulent, voluptuous, accessible style can be enjoyed now, but based on where this wine’s at, and previous older bottles of Cheval, I’m willing to bet this wine evolves for decades.

This is so opulent, complex, rich, sensual and seamless. Can wine get any better than this? The fruit glides across your palate and awakens all your senses. This is what elegance in a wine is all about.