Château Cheval Blanc

Château Cheval Blanc (French for "White Horse Castle"), is a wine estate in Saint-Émilion in the Bordeaux wine region of France. Its wine holds the highest rank of Premier Grand Cru Classé (A) status in the Classification of Saint-Émilion wine from 1955.

In 1832, Château Figeac sold 15 hectares (37 acres) to M. Laussac-Fourcaud, including part of the narrow gravel ridge that runs through Figeac and neighboring vineyards and reaches Château Pétrus just over the border in Pomerol. This became Château Cheval Blanc which, in the International London and Paris Exhibitions in 1862 and 1867, won medals still prominent on its labels.

The château remained in the family until 1998, when it was sold to Bernard Arnault, chairman of luxury goods group LVMH, and Belgian businessman Albert Frère, with Pierre Lurton installed as estate manager, a constellation similar to that of the group's other chief property Château d'Yquem. LVMH acquired Arnault's share in 2009.

The vineyard is considered to have three qualities: one third Pomerol as it is located on the boundary, one third Graves as the soil is gravelly, and the remaining third typical Saint-Émilion. The vineyard area is spread over 41 hectares (100 acres), with 37 hectares (91 acres) planted with a composition of grape varieties of 57% Cabernet Franc, 40% Merlot, and small parcels of Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon. The average annual production is 6000 cases of the Grand vin and 2500 cases of the second wine, Le Petit Cheval.

The manager of Château Cheval Blanc, Jacques Hebrard, was outraged at the evaluation of his 1981 vintage barrel samples made by influential wine critic Robert Parker and asked him to re-taste. Upon arriving, Parker was attacked by Hebrard's dog as the manager stood by and watched. When Parker asked for a bandage to stop the bleeding from his leg, Parker says Hebrard instead gave him a copy of the offending newsletter. Hebrard denies that Parker was bleeding.

However, Parker did retaste the wine and found it significantly changed from his previous evaluation; he therefore gave the wine an updated evaluation in a later issue of his publication The Wine Advocate.

Text adapted from “Château Cheval Blanc” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Château Cheval Blanc ranks #1,372 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #105 of the 469 mapped in France. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 6,502 times in the last 60 days, more than 88% of the atlas. 3 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how France compares in the castle statistics.

View on the interactive castle map →

Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗