Reviews & Scores
The 1981 Cheval Blanc has long been one of the over-achieving wines of a patchy vintage, though I had not seen a bottle for some time. This has a refined bouquet with black fruit, briary and light forest floor scents. The Merlot is more expressive than the Cabernets. The palate has a sweet entry, gentle at first so that you almost fail to notice the grip and structure behind this Cheval Blanc. This suggests that perhaps it has faded a little in recent years, forgivable given its age. Still, it remains a delicious, lighter-styled Saint-Émilion undeservedly overshadowed by the following vintage. Tasted at 67 Pall Mall at Chelsea Vintners' The Complete Bordeaux Vintage Guide dinner. - VM
VM92December 2023
In my days as a wine merchant, I drank an awful lot of bottles of the 1981 Cheval Blanc, as I always found this to be one of the top wines of the vintage and its price back in the day (and I know I am really dating myself here) was often around forty dollars a bottle! It was pretty easy at that price to reach for this wine off of the shelf to take home and elevate a midweek dinner with its beauty and elegance! At age thirty-five, the wine continues to drink with great vibrancy and complexity, wafting from the glass in a constellation of red and black cherries, menthol, a beautifully complex base of gravelly soil tones, cigar ash and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and wide open, with a lovely core, fine balance and grip, melting tannins and a long, refined perfectly poised finish. A beautiful example of the vintage. - JG
JG94August 2016
Very dark ruby still and obviously very sweet and ripe. It was served blind and I thought it could be a Pomerol. Round and sweet with great density. Very clean. Clearly one of the finest 1981s. - JR
JR18June 2015
Tasted at Cheval Blanc dinner at The Ledbury. The Cheval Blanc 1981 is a beautiful wine, far more charming than the 1982 served at the same dinner. It has a very pure, nonchalant nose where the Cabernet Franc determines its peppery aroma, married with singed leather and hot roof tiles. There is something joyful and carefree about the palate with tensile tannins, crisp acidity and a lovely wild strawberry finish. It is an “airy” Cheval Blanc, so light on its feet. Delicious! (NM) - WA
WA92September 2011