The 2009 Château Cheval Blanc continues to just blow me away every time I'm lucky enough to taste a bottle. It has that rare mix of elegance and power that can be hard to describe. Offering a massive bouquet of black cherry liqueur, flowery incense, crème de cassis, toasted spices, and forest floor, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a magical, seamless texture, and a great, great finish. Its tannins and structure are just now starting to emerge from under ample baby fat, but it still has incredible opulence and richness as well as flawless balance. Enjoy this masterpiece any time over the coming 20-30 years.

(a 60/40 blend of merlot and cabernet franc; pH 3.82; 13.7% alcohol; a 65% selection) Ruby-purple. Knockout nose offers deep aromas of cassis, minerals, cedar, cocoa and coffee. Then very rich and creamy in the mouth, with luscious, extremely concentrated flavors of blackcurrant, blueberry, raspberry liqueur and cedar. Finishes pure and extremely long, with velvety tannins and a delicate smoke and mineral notes. Though this is an amazingly refined wine, it also strikes me as a much bigger Cheval Blanc than usual, but it doesn't go over the top like many other wines do in '09. Not unlike the 1998 or the 2000, but with more power than the former wine and more grace than the latter. Director Pierre Lurton told me he worries that this wine may be underrated during the spring tastings, as is often the case with Cheval Blanc. This superlative wine should age splendidly for decades.

Deep garnet colored, the 2009 Cheval Blanc offers up profound notions of baked blueberries, blackberry compote and crème de cassis with suggestions of chocolate mint, new leather and cloves plus a waft of candied violets. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is an exercise in elegance with very classy, super fine-grained tannins, beautiful freshness and layer upon layer of mineral-laced blue and black fruits, finishing long and perfumed.