Veritas Cheval Blanc Event

[cabrales]

Veritas offers the following for $1,235/person:

"Chateau Cheval Blanc -- Thursday October 24th, on this evening, come and discover why Cheval Blanc is not only one of the greatest properties in St. Émilion, but in all of Bordeaux. Located in the Right Bank section of Bordeaux, this famed Chateau sits on the border of Pomerol. This fact helps to contribute to its rich, lusty character that so many connoisseurs have come to expect. Cheval Blanc’s Managing Director Pierre Lurton will guide us through many vintages, including the soon to be released and critically acclaimed 2000 vintage, as well as the *legendary 1947*! Other vintages being served this evening include:

2000 1999

1998 1995

1990 1989

1986 1985

1983 1982

1964 1947"

In particular, I'd appreciate members' input on how this event compares (in terms of difficulty of finding comparable events in the future) to the Montrachet tasting at Montrachet.

[marcus]

There are many wine tasting organizations around NYC and you can pretty much find anything that you're willing to pay for.

However, this is certainly a fine vertical when it comes to Cheval Blanc and covers most of this wines most important vintages. 1947 Cheval Blanc more than any other single wine is proposed as the wine of the 20th century. Cheval Blanc however, whose main grape is the cabernet franc, is not the longest lived wine and there is debate as to whether the 1947 may be slightly over the hill. It probably varies on a bottle to bottle basis. 1945 and 1949 Cheval were also great, but the next great year was 1964. Other candidates among others for wine of the century are Mouton 1945 and Margaux 1900 which are still within their plateau's of maturity.

In evaluating the $1235 price, you need to know exactly how much wine you will receive in a pour, I would assume 1.5 or 2 ozs, but you need to check.

Here are the rough current auction prices for these wines that I am aware of:

1947 $2500

1964 350

1982 650

1983 250

1985 225

1986 150

1990 375

I would think that considering the opportunity to experience a large variety of these wines without having to buy bottles or cases would justify a 3X price.

[MartyL]

Cabrales,

As to your question about the relative uniqueness of the Cheval and Montrachet tastings, I'd venture that the Montrachet event will be more unique, due to the tiny case productions of many of the Montrachet producers.

I wouldn't be surprised if Cheval Blanc's annual production exceeds that of all the Montrachet producers combined, but I hope somebody with reference material handy chimes in with better information.

The one really unique thing about the Cheval Blanc tasting is the 1947. There are reasonable quantities of the other vintages around and I suspect you'll see verticals involving them in an around NYC every few years. But the 47, as Marcus says, is sort of a holy grail for wine-lovers, and I'm not sure you'll get many (if any) chances to try that again.

If you go, better hope its not corked