2019 Domaine de Chevalier, Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
This is just gorgeous, you see exactly where it is going, with waves of unfussy but powerful black fruit aromatics, a beautiful wine that is full of density and complexity, pared back with restrained cassis and bilberry at this point. Hints of cocoa bean, tobacco, slate, truffle and smoked earth coming through, that will no doubt build over the next few years in bottle. Tasted twice, two months apart, both times hugely successful, easy to recommend. In organic conversion.
Drink 2028 - 2044
Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux (October 2021)
The 2019 Domaine de Chevalier has a precise and complex bouquet with blackberry, cedar and tobacco scents, quite Médoc-like in style. This is thoroughly engaging. The palate is medium-bodied with pliant tannins, exquisitely integrated oak, fleshy and fine-boned with a precise finish. This is outstanding. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.
Drink 2025 - 2055
Neal Martin, Vinous (January 2023)
The 2019 Domaine de Chevalier is pure, silky and exceptionally beautiful. The 2019 is all in reserve today. Sweet red berry fruit, mint, spice and blood orange lend brilliance to this understated, super-classy Pessac-Léognan red. Lifted floral aromatics and silky tannins grace this exquisite, wonderfully polished wine. Tasted two times.
Drink 2027 - 2049
Antonio Galloni, Vinous (January 2022)
The Domaine de Chevalier 2019 has a deep garnet-purple color. It sashays out with gorgeous notions of stewed plums, warm cassis, and kirsch, followed by touches of potpourri, cedar, and fragrant earth. The medium-bodied palate delivers firm, fine-grained tannins and a racy backbone to frame the intense, bright, youthful fruit, finishing long and perfumed.
Drink 2026 - 2056
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Independent (May 2023)
60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot, 4% Cabernet Franc. Harvested 23 September to 13 October.
A mirror image of 2016 without quite the same depth. Crimson hue. Blueberry and dark-fruit notes. Pure, fresh and precise, even a touch ethereal. Tannins finely honed. Elegant and refined with no extremes. A lovely wine.
Drink 2028 - 2045
James Lawther MW, JancisRobinson.com (September 2023)
The 2019 Domaine de Chevalier is a magical wine in the making, wafting from the glass with aromas of wild plums, crushed blackcurrants and violets mingled with hints of pencil shavings, subtle spices and coniferous forest floor. Medium to full-bodied, deep and seamless, with a vibrant core of fruit, beautifully refined tannins and lively acids, it's exquisitely elegant and harmonious, concluding with a long, perfumed finish. Stylistically, this wine exhibits a much closer affinity with the great Domaine de Chevalier of yesteryear than much of what was produced here in the early 2000s. It's a masterclass in what contemporary Bordeaux can deliver, and worth a special effort to seek out.
Drink 2029 - 2060
William Kelley, RobertParker.com (April 2022)
Beautiful, ripe redcurrants, bay leaf, violets and raspberries on the nose. Full-bodied with firm and very tight tannins that are polished and layered. Crushed stones highlight the beautiful blue fruit. Poised and refined. 60% cabernet sauvignon, 30% merlot, 6% petit verdot and 4% cabernet franc. Try after 2026.
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (February 2022)
The chocolate, walnut, dark-fruit and stone character is attractive. It’s full-bodied and very tight and linear with chewy yet polished tannins and a long, flavorful finish. Lots of intensity and complexity here, as always.
96-97/100 - James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (May 2020)
I loved the 2019 Domaine De Chevalier, which is unquestionably up with the crème de la crème of the vintage. A blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and 5% Petit Verdot that saw just 35% new oak, it sports a dense purple hue as well as a killer, quintessential Graves bouquet of darker black fruits, scorched earth, truffle, cold fireplace, tobacco, and graphite. More medium to full-bodied on the palate, it has brilliant purity, ultra-fine tannins, flawless balance, and a great, great finish. It's not a blockbuster but has this incredible sense of class, balance, and finesse while being rich and concentrated. It's a gorgeous wine, and wine lovers will adore being able to compare this side by side with the 2015, 2016, and 2018 over the coming 3-4 decades.
Drink 2022 - 2062
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (April 2022)
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.
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Description
This is just gorgeous, you see exactly where it is going, with waves of unfussy but powerful black fruit aromatics, a beautiful wine that is full of density and complexity, pared back with restrained cassis and bilberry at this point. Hints of cocoa bean, tobacco, slate, truffle and smoked earth coming through, that will no doubt build over the next few years in bottle. Tasted twice, two months apart, both times hugely successful, easy to recommend. In organic conversion.
Drink 2028 - 2044
Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux (October 2021)
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