($450-$745) Good medium ruby. Blackberry jam, tobacco leaf, minerals, violet and shoe polish on the nose. Then very concentrated but painfully tight and closed in on itself, with its cool blackberry and chocolate flavors dominated by its tannic structure. Showing the slightly green, medicinal quality that often characterizes young cabernet franc. Today there's little evidence of the velvety texture or sappy ripeness this wine showed from barrel a year ago, but Cheval's track record suggests that this very intensely flavored wine simply needs time. Finishes very long and gripping, with rather tough tannins. I would expect this to merit a score in the mid-90s with 10 or 12 years of additional bottle aging.

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Mid crimson. Toasty nose that is very definitely Cheval. Well balanced and quite advanced and very subtle and racy. Very long. Bit of a striptease in terms of the slowness with which it reveals itself - and most of the pleasure is on the finish. Wonderful complexity on the finish. SO long... Bravo!

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Coming out of a relatively dormant state, this 2000 is a spectacular Cheval Blanc. Of recent vintages, I think only the 2009 can give it a run for its money. A blend of 53% Merlot and 47% Cabernet Franc, the wine has a sweet nose of menthol, melted licorice, boysenberry, blueberry, and cassis. A broad wine with compelling purity, a layered texture, and sweet tannin, with hints of coffee and earth in the background, this is by far the best Cheval Blanc since 1990 and before 2009. It is a legend in the making and can actually be drunk now, as the tannins have nearly melted away. This is a beauty with incredibly complex aromatics.

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Fresh mineral, berry and earth aromas. Decadent. Full-bodied, yet refined and silky, with a lovely, long finish that goes on and on, with tobacco, berry, cherry and spices. It's not the 1998, but it's very good indeed.

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