99/100
5 Stars
Huon Hooke
Very deep, dark and youthful for its age, younger colour than the 2006, with less brick-tawny tints. The bouquet is truly marvellous; tremendous complexity and power, but understated power as its texture is so smooth and supple, no aggression at all, very merlot and very ripe. Cedar cigarbox galore. A very big Cheval Blanc; a cuddly, ample bossomed wine with major concentration and endless persistence. An extraordinary wine.
Tasted: 16/11/2020
Drink: 2020 to 2030
100 Points Robert Parker
The 2005 from Cheval Blanc is a quintessentially elegant, beautiful, deep bluish/ruby-colored wine from St.-Emilion, with raspberry, blueberry, and floral notes, impressive density, great precision, freshness and purity. Full-bodied, but extremely light on its feet, I don’t mean to gush, but it is super-intense, rich and just so meticulously crafted! This is another fabulous wine and a perfect expression for this vintage. It is difficult to forget the gorgeous blueberry and raspberry fruit, full body, sweet tannin, a multi-layered texture, and purity and palate presence of this stunning wine. Drink it over the next 20 years. P.S. In 2005, this was 50% Cabernet Franc and 50% Merlot.
Source: Robert Parker (Robert Parker Wine Advocate) by Robert M. Parker, Jr. June, 2015