DOMAINE DE CHEVALIER

2008 Cru Classé Pessac-Léognan

Colour Red
Origin France, Bordeaux
Village Pessac-Léognan
Classification Cru Classé
ABV 12.5%

Outside the Haut Brion stable this confirms its place and the next best Graves. 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 9% Petit Verdot. Good deep ruby-purple colour, nose of damsons and minerals with a lifted almost floral component. Starts suave and cool, with volume but also clarity and transparency. The tread is light but the power and follow-though are there. Lovely wine. Aromatically closed but there seems to be more to come. Very elegant. Rating: 92+ L&S (Apr 2009)


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The 2008 Domaine de Chevalier is a vintage that I have tasted several times. Now at a decade old, it has retained a surprisingly deep colour. The bouquet is divine: pure blackberry and pomegranate aromas, cedar and cigar box, its floral element seeming to have receded in recent years. The palate is medium-bodied and appears to have softened since I last tasted it, the tannins now more melted (though not fully), delivering a mixture of red and black fruit tinged with burnt toast, tobacco and a touch of sous-bois and smoke towards the cohesive finish. You could begin opening bottles now although knowing the track record of this estate, I would leave them for another few years. Drinking range: 2018 - 2040 Rating: 91 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Feb 2018)

The nose is fresh fruited with an attractive vibrancy. Redcurrant and wild strawberry on the palate are backed by black fruits blackcurrant and blackberry the ripeness of the fruit giving more richness and weight of flavour towards the back. 2015-2025 Rating: 92 Derek Smedley MW, www.dereksmedleymw.co.uk (Dec 2013)

(a blend of 66% cabernet sauvignon, 25% merlot and 9% petit verdot; 3.55 pH; 13.5% alcohol): Deep purple-ruby. Slightly reticent, medicinal aromas of cassis, ink, minerals and fresh herbs. Pure, fresh and clean, with a straightforward delivery but sneaky concentration to the blackberry and graphite flavors. Juicy acidity keeps the flavors light and lively and makes for a classic, precise Bordeaux experience. Finishes firmly tannic and long. Very typical of the undervalued, cooler 2008 vintage, this lacks only a bit more flesh for a higher score, but it's a classic Pessac-Léognan. Rating: 92 Ian d'Agata, www.vinousmedia.com (Apr 2013)

Domaine de Chevalier

Domaine de Chevalier, located in Léognan and surrounded by forest, enjoys a particular microclimate. Unlike some of the Pessacs which are surrounded by urban development which raises the average temperature, Chevalier is quite a cool terroir.

Olivier Bernard has owned and run the estate since 1983, and has done much to improve the quality of the wines. The white has always been one of Bordeaux's finest, and is even better now, and Bernard has dramatically increased the quality of the red, especially in the last ten years.

Domaine de Chevalier has a soil of dark sand and fine white gravel. It is planted at 10,000 vines per hectare averaging 35 years old.
There are 7 Hectares planted for white with 70% Sauvignon and 30% Sémillon.
There are 60 Hectares planted for red, comprising 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc.

At the harvest the white grapes are picked in baskets with successive picking through the vines.
The red grapes are also picked in baskets, with triple sorting: first in the vines, then the complete bunch on the sorting table and third by optical sorting machine, berry by berry.
The white is pressed slowly, and settlement (débourbage) and alcoholic fermentation occur in the barrel, with 35% new wood. The wine is aged on the lees in barrel with stirring (batonnage), for 18 months.
The red grapes are vatted by gravity without pumping. The alcoholic fermentation in stainless steel and coated steel temperature-controlled vats. Maceration for 2 to 3 weeks with a maximum fermentation temperature of 30° C and manual pigeage. The wine is aged for 18 months (four months on the lees), with 35% new wood.

This wine isn't currently part of a mixed case, but you can always browse our full selection of mixed cases here.
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