The 2008 Cheval Blanc (55% Merlot and 45% Cabernet Franc) is a winner from this underrated, classic vintage. Notes of forest floor, Asian plum sauce, black currants, sweet cherries and spice are followed by a medium to full-bodied wine with deep fruit, admirable purity, and a long, textured finish. There is not a hard edge to this wine, and in all likelihood, it can be drunk now or cellared for two decades.

Score: 93 Robert Parker (RP), The Wine Advocate (WA), May 2011

I am really impressed with this. It is powerful and rich with so much blueberry, vanilla and spice on the nose and palate. It´s full and very spicy, and fruit on the palate, but remains refined and subtle. Rich and polished tannins. This needs at least five years of bottle age to come around.

Score: 95 James Suckling (JS), JamesSuckling.com, December 2010

The 2008 Cheval Blanc has a very precise, mineral-driven bouquet, a mixture of red and black fruit, energetic and incredibly focused, perhaps even more so than Ausone? The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin though I discerned a patina of oak dragging its heels, waiting to be subsumed. There is great concentration and yet conversely it feels bright and fresh; with aeration evermore nimble and sprightly. Towards the finish there are subtle hints of bay leaf and cedar, the Cabernet Franc taking over the steering wheel from the Merlot. There is a lot going on in this outstanding Cheval Blanc that does not deserve to be in the shadow of the feted 2009 or 2010. (Tasted at BI Wine & Spirit’s annual 10-Year On tasting.)

Score: 95 Neal Martin (NM), Vinous Media (VM), February 2018