1971 Cheval Blanc

WINE TALK
1

Assuming good storage etc…do you think a 71 Cheval blanc is still kicking? Also, as far as serving it, what do you recommend re: air time, decant, etc. Thanks

2

i would like to hear about the 1969 as well…

thanks,
Scott

3

Zach, I’ve only had experience with the 1971 Sauternes (a number of which have been showing great). However, you just might get lucky with a well-stored 71 Cheval Blanc. While 1970 was the superior vintage, I think Cheval Blanc was one of the better dry 71’s, based solely on what I’ve read. It certainly won’t need any more cellar time, so give it a whirl! In a similar situation, Andy and I got lucky with some really well-stored bottles of 73 Pape Clement, which have shown great like 6 out of 7 times over the past 6 months or so.

As for opening and decant time, I would say just open it with no decant about an hour or two before I get there.

4

Not much help on Cheval Blanc. But I had a 71 Grand Puy Lacoste about a month ago. After 30 min of being open it was ready to drink. The bottle didn’t last longer than an hour but did well the whole time.

I usually like to pop and pour with older wines.

5

'71 Cheval is delish. You will need to decant for sediment and expect the wine to continue to get better from there.

6

Opened a '69 the other week. It was okay (I’ve found '69 bdx to be largely over the hill), drinkable but not memorable, noticeably better than Cos, Lafite and a few others I’ve had recently. The surprise of the vintage has been '69 Mouton, which was really nice…at least the one bottle I opened. YMMV.

Cheers!

7

Zach, from the same cellar, we found one bottle that had the capsule removed and a chunk taken out of the cork, like someone put the corkscrew in, and then had a change of mind. Figuring it was not saleable, my bud and I opened it up and found it to be an excellent bottle of wine. Certainly not brown, or over the hill, in direct opposition to the Emperor’s last tasting note. I might consider opening up the bottle ahead of time to let it get some slow oxygen, but I don’t think that I would push things by decanting it. I hope that you enjoy it.

8

Once you shake the Emperor’s vintage hierarchy from your mindset you’ve opened yourself up to a whole new world of wonderful Bordeaux… the '66, '71, and '81 vintages come to mind first.

9

Agreed Keith. I have tasted many nice elegant and balanced wines from these vintages. Funny, but it seems like I have more disappointments from more hyped vintages ('61, '70) than the ones you mentioned. Maybe it’s elevated expectations, maybe it’s that I can drink the better wines from the lesser vintages, and can only afford the the lesser wines from the greater vintages.
[scratch.gif]

10

Just as a follow-up, I served this yesterday at our monthly wine poker game in Boston…I opened it about 45 mins before serving (no decant) and I’d say people were drinking it within an hr. I thought it was a complete wine, everything was still present. I truly enjoyed it, as I think most of the group did. I also opened a 1970 Mouton Baron Phillipe which seemed thin and lacking in comparison.

11

I had a '71 CB about two years, and it was rocking, hard.

Wouldn’t decant, except to remove sediment (the bottle we had had surprisingly little). I remember lots of tobacco, cedar, cinnamon, and happiness.

Enjoy!

12

Do you plan to share this with me, Zach, your fellow '71’er?

13

I haven’t had the CB, but sounds great. I tend to like the 71s, though I’ve had mixed results, it seems maybe RB and Graves did better than Medoc. That’s on a limited sample, do others feel the same? Certainly I’ve loved the 71 Canon, Figeac, and DDC, all of which are pretty inexpensive if you can find.

14

I’m fond of 66 and am hoping to open a Mouton in the next few months!

15

Initially the 1970 had a more lipsmacking bouquet, but the 71 Cheval really came on strong. Definitely a great wine, thx for pouring it!

16

Fellow 71er…get outta here…I’m not as old as you! neener

17

Oh, gotcha! You just LOOK older!

18

Mouton is never what it seems to be around your place! [rofl.gif]

19

Zach, Thanks for opening it. It was definately my wine of the afternoon (and evening)