| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | France > Bordeaux > Left Bank > Pessac-Léognan |
| Colour | Red |
| Type | Still |
This much respected property in Pessac-Léognan is run with great care by Olivier Bernard whose family took it over from Claude Ricard in 1983. During the 1980s and 1990s there was a major programme of replanting here and it is only since the early 2000's, with the vines reaching maturity, that the quality here has returned to that of the great vintages of the 1960s and before. Without doubt, the best vintages of Chevalier are the most recent ones. Domaine de Chevalier performs brilliantly every year now and is a regular star of our blind tastings. However, prices have remained reasonable. This is always one of our best-selling wines en primeur.
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.
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. Try from 2024.
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.
Rich, round and beautiful, there really is distance between red and white this year. This has all the signature welcome and power of the very best vintages of Domaine de Chevalier, one of the 'clue' châteaux you should follow to track the quality of reds and whites in Bordeaux in any given vintage. Here you see that 2016 hits it out of the park with the reds. Rich damson, deep black cherry, slate, wet stones and curls of cold ash - this has beautiful complexity and texture. Stunning.
Drinking Window 2027 - 2050
asted blind. Toasty note and then creamy and fresh. Hardly distinctive but ticks the boxes! Slightly too sweet.
Drink 2025 – 2037
This much respected property in Pessac-Léognan is run with great care by Olivier Bernard whose family took it over from Claude Ricard in 1983. During the 1980s and 1990s there was a major programme of replanting here and it is only since the early 2000's, with the vines reaching maturity, that the quality here has returned to that of the great vintages of the 1960s and before. Without doubt, the best vintages of Chevalier are the most recent ones. Domaine de Chevalier performs brilliantly every year now and is a regular star of our blind tastings. However, prices have remained reasonable. This is always one of our best-selling wines en primeur. Olivier Bernard is rightly proud of his 2016, believing it could outshine both his 2015 and 2009, and may be his best ever. 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc make up the blend. Deep in colour with a wonderfully spicy, balck-fruited nose of cherry, plum and star anise. The palate is creamy and generous on entry with supply blackcurrant and damson lifted by refined, ripe tannins and refreshing acidity. The intensity builds through the mid palate with toasty oak, black chocolate, and vanilla pod providing further and further complexity with a flourish of breadth and length on the finish. A really superb 2016, one which we highly recommed both for value and absolute quality.
The nose has a mix of fragrances the palate starts with some fresh fruits but the fruit in the middle is rich and sweet supple the tannins ripe but discreet. Rich at the back depth fleshy but there is balance an underlying freshness the finish is stylish and long. 2025-42
Like the white Domaine de Chevalier, this is made to age and wasn’t showing at its most open and appealing during en primeur week. It’s a dense, firm, serious wine that needs quite a bit of time to digest its oak. But who’s in a hurry here? 2024-34
The 2016 Domaine de Chevalier is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot picked between 4-21 October at 45 hectoliters per hectare, and matured in 35% new oak. Oh yes! This is a perfumed bouquet that unfolds beautifully in the glass with blackberry, cedar, smoke and a light marine influence, not unlike Japanese nori. The palate is medium-bodied with such fine tannins that it bought to mind Burgundy rather than Bordeaux. There is a grainy texture here, quite saline in the mouth with an entrancing sense of symmetry, very classic but not austere on the finish, with a long and saline aftertaste. This is an outstanding Domaine de Chevalier from the busiest man in Bordeaux, Oliver Bernard. Tasted twice with consistent notes. Drink 2025-2060.
A dense and tight DC with mineral, crushed stone, cement and black currant. Full, tight and racy. Gorgeous. Leafs and tobacco undertones. Very tannic. Tight and so strucured. Complex.
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. 2021-2039.
Concentrated and luscious. Real life and savour on the (at the moment slightly inky) end. One of the most youthful samples I encountered. Dry sandpaper end but perhaps it's a more honest sample than most?
Drink 2028-2048
