Cheval Blanc 2003

Sorry, but this seems to be very strange. Maybe you might contact the chateau at ?

M.

] "Jean Balthazar" wrote: ] ] > It does not resemble that label at all.. It is very simple white ] > background and simple font. I was told it was a special lot of ] > 2500 liters, and wanted to know more about it. ] > ] > I paid 20 Euro a bottle. ] ] Sorry, but this seems to be very strange. Maybe you might contact ] the chateau at ? ] ] M.

Jean and Michael,

SC du Cheval Blanc is the company that makes "Cheval Blanc," the St Emilion 1ere grand cru of great repute. There is only one "SC du Cheval Blanc" (forcibly) in France, so if the label says they made the wine it is either so, or fraudulent.

None the less it is bizarre that they would do a bottling like this... Knock off frauds don't usually carry that high a price tag, either.

There is not much '03 Bordeaux on the market yet, even on the low end, that I've seen anyway.

-E

Hi Michael,

Have you tasted the 2003 La Tour Carnet?

I have some bottles of the 2001 that was quite highly recommended here in AFW and I like the wine (even though it will need quite a few years yet). Do you know whether the 2003 is comparable?

Cheers,

-Topi Kuusinen, Finland

This is clearly a very interesting question. I'm bound to say that I would be a little surprised if Cheval Blanc put a wine on the market which could be traced to them but was not even of Grand Cru quality. If they had produced a third wine - surprising in itself, especially in a low yielding and generally dificult year like 2003 - I would have thought they would have either submitted it for Grand Cru status or sold it in bulk as generic St. Emilion rather than bottling it at the chateau and under their company's own name so risking the sort of confusion which has arisen here with the OP presumably thinking he'd got a bargain.

GC status can, of course, be obtained in any year by any wine from anywhere in the Jurisdiction provided it is of of sufficient quality. In poor years some of the best and proudest growers just do not apply but sell their wine in bulk. Certain other chateaux sell young wines in bulk for generic Saint-Emilion. Some of the Grand Crus have a second wine which is AOC Saint-Emilion and not AOC Grand Cru Saint-Emilion - Ch de Ferrand and Ch Bernateau for example make Ch St-Poly and Ch. Tour Peyronneau for example. In the latter's case a Tertre de Lisse and Ch. Cotes Bernateau is made as well but they are very different operations from Cheval Blanc. The simple way to find out if this wine could be genuine is surely by a phone call by the OP to Cheval Blanc - 0033 5 57 55 55 55 - which should answer all the questions and then perhaps he would be kind enough to enlighten us all.

Tim Hartley

Yes, I quite liked it, although it was not as stunning (for me) as the 2001.

Very probable that I sung the praises of LTC '01. Just found my invoice: EUR 16.30/btl.

Well I guess I was slightly overexcited with the 2001 (94/100), while a littles underwhelmed by 2003 (88/100). The truth, I guess, is somewhere in the middle.

Anyhow: Given who is after La Tour Carnet since five years (Magrez, Rolland), I'd put a bank on any recent vintage.

M.

I have sent them an e-mail with the details of the label, asking them if they produced the wine, and if not, if they know where it comes from.

Michael,

Thanks for your reply.

Now, I will consider getting some on futures; actually, even the 2002 seems to be available as a future yet. Might be interesting to stock some vintages of La Tour Carnet and compare them later on.

The prices are not all that bad, either, with EUR 13,70 / btl for the

Cheers,

-Topi Kuusinen, Finland