Archives show vines on the site of Cheval Blanc going back to at least the 15th century, according to its website. A document from 1546 shows the owner at the time leasing the vineyard, and a contract dated 1587 specifies that a sharecropper "will live there when the sun goes down to keep an eye on the vines."

In 1832 Jean-Jacques Ducasse, president of the Libourne Trade Tribunal, bought what is the core of the current vineyard, and over the next 20 years acquired land from neighboring Chateau Figeac to create the 39-hectare estate that exists now. The marriage of his daughter Henriette to Jean Laussac-Fourcaud, a Libourne wine merchant, led to the further development of the property. 

Laussac-Fourcaud was one of the first people to understand the importance of water stress to produce fine wine, according to the Chateau's website, and he installed an efficient drainage system. He also replanted part of the vineyard in the 1860s with an unusual mix of half Merlot and half Cabernet Franc, finishing the operation in 1871. The wine was originally known as Vin de Figeac, and was first sold under the name Cheval Blanc in 1852.

It won a bronze medal at the 1862 Universal Exhibition in London, a gold medal at the 1878 Universal Exhibition in Paris and another gold at the Universal Exhibition in Antwerp. From the 1880s it began to be considered on a par with the first growths of the Medoc and was in the same price bracket as Margaux, Latour, Lafite and Haut-Brion in the auction houses of Paris and London, according to its website. 

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