Château Cheval Blanc 1er grand cru classé (A), St-Èmilion

One of only two wines — alongside Pétrus — to be designated separately from the St-Émilion classification, Cheval Blanc is among the most distinctive and historically significant wines in Bordeaux. Its unusual blend of cabernet franc and merlot — the former comprising around half the assemblage in most vintages — produces a wine of extraordinary aromatic complexity and silky, almost Burgundian texture. The 1947 is considered, by many, the finest wine of the twentieth century. The current vintages are unimpeachable.