Vinification

The specific characteristics of the soil, the identity of the grape variety, the age of the vines: each of the Cheval Blanc plots has its own individual melody to create when it comes to vinification. Each parcel goes into its own specific vat, as part of a precise and exact management process.

After three months of ageing, the wines from the different parcels come together for the first time. During this blending, between fifteen and thirty-five parcels are involved in making the grand vin, and the number of ‘chosen’ parcels changes from year to year.

Vinification

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Selection of the grapes and vatting

During the harvest, the work in the winery begins after the sorting tables. The destemmed berries are placed in small 450 kg funnel vats and then transported to their designated vat which will have been selected according to the tonnage of the harvested plot. Each vat is filled by gravity to two-thirds capacity to avoid pumping. The juice and the skins are mixed; vinification may now begin.

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Fermentation and pumping over

Alcoholic fermentation is triggered on the second day by the addition of pre-prepared yeasts (a homemade sourdough using indigenous yeasts). This process releases CO2 which causes the skins to float to the top of the vat: a cap of ‘marc’ is formed after about twelve hours of fermentation.

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Three times a day, some of the juice, which is still clear, is pumped from the bottom of the vat over the top to infuse the cap. The pumping over is carried out gently and delicately to ensure the quality of the tannins being extracted. This is done manually: a technician manages the jet making sure that the whole surface of the cap is soaked with the juice. The juice is pumped over with less and less frequency as the days pass and the process stops once fermentation is finished. Other activities are guided by daily tastings with the technical team and the cellar master who takes samples from each vat every day.

Samples from each of the 56 plots on the domain are tasted every day for one and a half months so that the team can follow and assess the evolution of the extraction and the structure of the juice. It is also the opportunity for the team to familiarise themselves with the personality and behaviour of each plot. The knowledge gained during these sessions will help to define the work in the vineyards in the long term.

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Vinification

The juice is left in contact with the pomace for several days without pumping over. It sits in the thermo-regulated vats at 28-30°C. This post-fermentation stage helps the tannic structure to soften and become silky; the juice becomes more refined, rounded.

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Once the team judges the juice to be at its best, the skins are separated from the juice; the juice is run-off. The free-run juice is put in a separate vat whilst the pomace is pressed; the press wine is about 10% of the total.  At Cheval Blanc, the press wines are considered to be rustic and lacking in aromatic purity so they are separated from the ‘first’ and ‘second’ wines.

Malolactic fermentation takes place in the vats at 20°C to preserve the aromatic identity of each plot. This process can take from three weeks to several months. It softens the sensation of acidity and stabilises the wine. After this fermentation, a small quantity of sulphur is added for hygienic purposes and to prevent oxidisation. The château practices minimum intervention during vinification to keep the wines as pure as possible.

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Barrel ageing

At the end of autumn, after vinification, the wine will remain for sixteen to eighteen months in the basement of the winery in this vast, dark room with its rows of barrels. It is kept at a constant 14°C. Each vintage, 300-450 barrels will be filled for ageing.

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Château Cheval Blanc has its own particular vision in relation to this crucial stage; the barrel should be at the service of the wine rather than the other way round. It should sustain, clarify and cleanse the wine so that it achieves a coherent expression. A great wine finds its harmony and perfect balance during its time in oak.

At Cheval Blanc, all the barrels are numbered and replaced each year. They are made from 180, 200 and 350-year-old French oak which originates from internationally recognised forests: Tronçais in Allier or Bercé in Sarthe. The coopers select the best parts of the trees to craft the barrels. The wood is split rather than sawn to preserve its exceptional quality.

Each barrel should help the wine to develop whilst respecting its tannic structure.

It should complement its aromas rather than mask them. For the same reason, our teams never try to adapt the barrels to the vintage. Château Cheval Blanc works with six different coopers who compete for selection. This diversity stops the wine being baked with dominant oaky aromas. It also means we can play with the selection of oak as well as the level of toasting of the barrels.

Twice a year, the château’s technical team organises a blind tasting for the coopers to take notes on each barrel and to help them in the search for the best possible aromatic precision. These meetings are useful to evaluate the barrels, test their homogeneity and also to help the suppliers understand better the high standards required by Cheval Blanc.

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The delicate "process of racking"

Barrel ageing begins at the end of November, or during December. A few weeks later, in January or February, the wine is racked for the first time. This delicate operation helps to clarify the wine, separating it from the lees by decanting.

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The size of the barrels (225 litres) is perfect for optimal decanting. Cheval Blanc purifies quickly to obtain clear juice separated from the lees which are too concentrated with coarse deposits. The process takes place every three months. During the barrel ageing of each vintage, the wine will be racked five to seven times. At Cheval Blanc, the wine is racked manually through the bung hole to obtain perfect clarification and control exposure to the air. This is an age-old practice requiring specialised expertise which is extremely hard to come by. The fact that this tradition is maintained as part of the winemaking process is a further example of the château’s attachment to a simple but fundamental value: precision in each gesture.

During the racking process, 210 of the 225 litres in the barrel are transferred to a neighbouring barrel using an inert gas (nitrogen) which allows the wine to be moved from the barrel without the risk of oxidisation. Pumps and filters are avoided during the process to safeguard the balance of the wine. A three-leg derrick helps to tip the barrel in the last phase of racking. At the end of the process, the clarity of the wine is checked by eye: a sample is poured in a glass, lit up with a lamp and examined by a technician. It is up to the technician alone to judge the degree of limpidity and decide whether to stop the racking process or not.

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The secrets of blending

It is only at the end of winter, after three months in the barrel and before the ‘en primeur’ tastings, that the wines from each plot will meet for the first time. This is the moment of blending.

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Blending is much more than a simple step in the long process leading to the birth of a vintage. For the technical team at the château, this is when a new page is written in the story of Cheval Blanc. The objective isn’t to reproduce the same wine each year, but to create the most wonderful Cheval Blanc respecting both the unique personality of the vintage as well as the Cheval Blanc style:  freshness, elegance, finesse, length, balance. The team must bring to the fore the qualities of the year’s harvest to produce the best and the most appropriate blend possible. In this way, each vintage is an incarnation of a fresh interpretation of the terroir.

During the blending process, the team tastes the wines from each barrel, the personality of each plot expressed within. At this moment, all the complexity of Cheval Blanc’s terroir reveals itself as does the perfect harmony between Cabernet Franc and Merlot.

Each year, between fifteen and forty-five plots, maybe more, will be part of the final wine. Each plot is selected or put aside in its entirety. The choice of the plots which make up each vintage’s wine is made entirely and only through the meticulous tasting process. In the same way, the proportion of Cabernet Franc and Merlot isn’t prescriptive. There are no guidelines in terms of production: excellence is the be all and end all. A true work of art, blending in the life of the château is a particularly heavy and intense period with moments of inspiration and concentration as well as doubt and uncertainty.

After a short period of alchemy when the selected plots come together in stainless steel vats, the blended wine returns to the barrel room. It will rest there for a year in the semi-darkness ventilated by the moucharaby, a lattice screen which allows natural ventilation.

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