2016 Domaine de Chevalier, Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
The 2016 Domaine de Chevalier is a classy affair on the nose: nothing ambitious or self-aggrandizing, just beautifully defined black fruit laced with pine needles and wilted irises. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy red fruit, filigreed tannin, pitch-perfect acidity and a captivating sense of mineralité toward the persistent finish. This is an outstanding Domaine de Chevalier, possessing a surfeit of pedigree and breeding.
Drink 2022 - 2055
Neal Martin, Vinous.com (December 2018)
The 2016 Domaine de Chevalier is a thrilling wine. Dense and beautifully layered, the 2016 is also quite a bit richer than it usually is. Cabernet Sauvignon aromatics and structure pulse through the wine. The red-toned fruit is incredibly primary at this stage. Readers should be prepared to cellar the 2016 for at least a handful of years. It has been nothing short of magnificent on the three occasions I have tasted it so far.
Drink 2026 - 2066
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (December 2018)
The 2016 Domaine de Chevalier Rouge is deep garnet-purple in color. It is a little closed to begin, soon unfurling to offer profound notes of baked plums, boysenberry preserves, and blueberry compote, plus touches of garrigue, smoked meats, and oolong tea. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is laden with rich black fruits, framed by plush tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and fragrant.
Drink 2024 - 2040
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Independent (December 2022)
The 2016 Domaine de Chevalier is a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 5% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-purple colored, it rocks up with expressive warm plums, blueberry compote and cassis scents with suggestions of sandalwood, baking spices and potpourri. Medium-bodied and delicately styled yet with a rock-solid frame of grainy tannins, it sports restrained earth-laced fruit and a long finish.
Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wien Advocate (November 2018)
55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot, 5% Cabernet Franc. Harvested 4 to 21 October.
Absolutely spot on. Crimson hue. The usual restrained nose with a stony-mineral edge. Lovely purity and freshness on the palate. Tannins plentiful but extremely refined. Graves character but harmonious and elegant. Great depth. Long life ahead.
Drink 2026 - 2045
James Lawther MW, JancisRobinson.com (September 2023)
James Molesworth - Wine Spectator, April 2017
Aromas of blackberries, red and dark plums, cedar and gravel, as well as red flowers and brown-leaf tea. It offers a very sleek and powerful array of ripe dark fruit and a very plush, focused and elegant bed of fresh, fine and powerful tannins. Plenty of aging potential, this is still quite tight. A blend of 55 per cent cabernet sauvignon, 35 per cent merlot, five per cent cabernet franc and five per cent petit verdot.
Drink 2024+
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (January 2019)
Ripe and seriously fragranced on the nose, heady and inviting. A bit more strict and tight than the 2015, plenty of juice, but this has tension and is constricted a little bit by the frame and the saltiness. 2015 is more expressive, this is quiet and still hiding a little. Lovely form and structure, you can feel the sinew and the construction, graceful and shining. It's absolutely gorgeous, the clarity and the purity really transport you, beautiful, impressive, charming and characterful. Needs more time but with a good airing you could enjoy this today. I like the delicacy to the tannins, the integration with the fruit and the edges of sweet and savoury spice as well as the estate minerality underneath. Feels compelling. A fabulous wine. 5% Petit Verdot completes the blend.
Drink 2024 - 2046
Georgina Hindle, Decanter.com (September 2023)
As to the reds, the 2016 Domaine de Chevalier is a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, and the balance Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc that saw an extended maceration, malo in barrel, and 18 months in just 35% new French oak. This deep purple-hued beauty boasts a powerful bouquet of tobacco smoke, damp earth, gravelly, rocky minerality, wood smoke, and loads of dark fruits. Full-bodied, deep, concentrated yet incredibly elegant and seamless on the palate, it’s a legendary Chevalier in the making. While I rated this as high as 99 points on one of the four separate occasions I was able to taste it, I’m being conservative with the score. it has some upfront charm but needs 4-5 years of cellaring and will keep for 3-4 decades.
Drink 2023 - 2063
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (February 2019)
About this WINE
Domaine de Chevalier
Domaine de Chevalier is one of the few Graves estates to produce both first class reds and whites. The property was purchased by the Ricard family in 1865 and remained in their hands until it was bought by the Bernard distilling company in 1983. Domaine De Chevalier has 35 hectares of vines and red wine accounts for 80% of the production. Made from a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Franc, the wine is fermented in temperature-controlled, stainless steel vats and then matured in oak barriques (50% new) for 18 months.
Domaine de Chevalier is fortunate to have such a fine team to run its affairs. Olivier, whose family business owns the estate, is the outgoing but canny administrator whilst Rémi Edange is hands-on, knowing every vine and every barrel. Whilst their white wines have always been amongst the very finest, the reds were simpler affairs. But from the 1995 vintage onwards greater flair and concentration was in evidence. The quality curve is now further accentuated by the team's bold move to appoint Stéphane Derenoncourt, of La Mondotte fame, as consultant winemaker. Domaine De Chevalier is classified as a Graves Cru Classé.
Pessac-Léognan
In 1986 a new communal district was created within Graves, in Bordeaux, based on the districts of Pessac and Léognan, the first of which lies within the suburbs of the city. Essentially this came about through pressure from Pessac-Léognan vignerons, who wished to disassociate themselves from growers with predominately sandy soils further south in Graves.
Pessac-Léognan has the best soils of the region, very similar to those of the Médoc, although the depth of gravel is more variable, and contains all the classed growths of the region. Some of its great names, including Ch. Haut-Brion, even sit serenely and resolutely in Bordeaux's southern urban sprawl.
The climate is milder than to the north of the city and the harvest can occur up to two weeks earlier. This gives the best wines a heady, rich and almost savoury character, laced with notes of tobacco, spice and leather. Further south, the soil is sandier with more clay, and the wines are lighter, fruity and suitable for earlier drinking.
Recommended Châteaux: Ch. Haut-Brion, Ch. la Mission Haut-Brion, Ch. Pape Clément, Ch Haut-Bailly, Domaine de Chevalier, Ch. Larrivet-Haut-Brion, Ch. Carmes Haut-Brion, Ch. La Garde, Villa Bel-Air.
Cabernet Sauvignon blend
Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.
In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.
In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and Australia.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
Buying options
Add to wishlist
Description
Blend: Cabernet Sauvignon 65%, Merlot 30%, Petit Verdot 5%
Olivier Bernard has come up trumps again in 2016 with a sensational wine. It sits in the glass with a dark purple hue and attractive aromas of blackcurrant, cassis, bramble and dark fruit. On the palate there is an explosion of concentrated red fruit with suave acidity. This is a very compact and precise wine, the tannins are there but they take an age to come through, enveloped by a coating of fruit. Oustanding!
Berry Bros. & Rudd
wine at a glance
Delivery and quality guarantee