“It was Pierre-Olivier’s idea to apply some Cheval Blanc ideas to what we do,” said Gérald Gabillet. “So, we tried to go back to the roots of this project. Ultimately, we want to let the natural balance of the grapes come through in the wines.” 

Cheval des Andes has around 123 acres of vineyards in Mendoza, split between two sites. Las Compuertas is a warmer site with alluvial loams, while La Consulta, in the Uco Valley, is cooler, with soils composed of sand, clay, and limestone.

“These two terroirs are complementary,” Pierre-Olivier pointed out. “We get power plus fresh and floral. This gives us more balance while maintaining identity.”

Cheval des Andes is a blend of nearly equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and old vine Malbec with a splash of Petit Verdot.

“In recent years, we’ve been able to pick the Malbec earlier and earlier,” Gérald Gabillet pointed out. “This is partly because we are irrigating much less than in the past. This gives more intensity and better quality of the tannins. The same is true for the Cabernet.” 

“We don’t want an aromatic bomb,” added Pierre-Olivier. “We want real density and backbone—like in Saint-Émilion. But we also want people to recognize that this is a wine from Argentina. We do everything we can to bring our Cheval vision of blending and the winemaking precision to keep the roundness but with more floral aromas and purity. A lot of people think of Malbec as big and ripe, but for me, it is more like Pinot Noir with perfume and aromatics. All these facets of purity come through when you pick earlier. We try not to lose intensity but bring more facets to the Malbec.”

Cheval des Andes is currently made at LVMH’s winemaking facility—Terrazas de los Andes. However, a new winery for Cheval des Andes is in the pipeline.

“We have a dedicated section now at Terrazas de los Andes,” said Gérald Gabillet. “But 2025 will be the last vintage there because we are currently building our own cellar. Fingers crossed that we will use it for 2026.”

As for this current 2021 release, Gérald commented, “2020 was a warm vintage, yet 2021 was a cool vintage. We had a lot of rain in February 2021. This was good for us for maintaining freshness and elegance. We understood we had something more delicate coming into the winery, so we adapted a lot, using lower maceration temperatures and shorter macerations. We have also worked on the integration of the oak. Some foudres are being used now, and we age for less time—12 to 13 months. This is one of the most delicate wines we’ve made in 20 years.”

Gérald Gabillet now lives in Argentina full-time, but before that, he worked at Château Angélus. Lorenzo Pasquini, now the winemaker at Château d’Yquem, was at Cheval des Andes before Gérald and was the first dedicated winemaker at Cheval des Andes, making this something of a Bordeaux family affair.

“The energy of the winemakers in Argentina right now is phenomenal,” said Pierre-Olivier. “We learn a lot of things from Argentina about climate change and working in warmer vintages. I always come back to Cheval Blanc from Cheval des Andes with plenty of energy and ideas!”