2005 DOMAINE DE CHEVALIER Blanc Cru Classé Pessac-Léognan, Lea & Sandeman

DOMAINE DE CHEVALIER

2005 Blanc Cru Classé Pessac-Léognan

Grapes Sauv, Sémillon
Colour White
Origin France, Bordeaux
Village Pessac-Léognan
Classification Cru Classé

Bright and defined balance, with an attractively round grapefruity quality which lingers in the fresh acidity on the finish. Rating: 92 L&S (Apr 2006)


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Firm plum in colour, this grabs you straight off the bat. A beautifully rich nose, still young with a relatively closed tannic frame, will open further over the next few years, but the silky depths to the texture are clear. Packed with liqourice, black cherry, cassis, cooling mint freshness that reallly draws out the palate, this is pure class, up there with the all time greatest Chevaliers. A clear buy - and if you already own it, get ready to enjoy. Harvest September 26 to October 12. Drinking range: 2022 - 2045 Rating: 97 Jane Anson, Decanter (Sept 2022)

The 2005 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc is fabulous. That’s the good news. The not so good news, if we can call it that, is that is still very young! That won’t surprise readers who are familiar with the Blanc, which happens to be one of the greatest whites made anywhere in the world. The warm, dry vintage has given the 2005 a good deal of body and richness, with pretty tropical accents that lend a real sense of exoticism. Readers lucky enough to own the 2005 will want to cellar it for a few years, as it is in adolescent stage where it is not young, but also not mature. All I can say is: What a wine! Drinking range: 2025 - 2045 Rating: 96 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Apr 2021)

(85% sauvignon and 15% semillon) Bright, pale yellow. Musky aromas of mirabelle, lemon, coconut, flint and resin. Large-scaled, rich and dry, with a sappy quality and lovely aromatic perfume to the flavors of pineapple, lemon and minerals. Boasts terrific viscosity for DDC blanc but is rather closed today. In contrast to the 2006, this rather massive wine is showing its semillon side. The long finish stains the palate with flavors of citrus fruit, minerals, flowers and coconutty oak. This is actually lower in alcohol than the 2006 (13.3%, vs. 13.5%) and considerably lower in acidity at 4.2 grams. Rating: 92-93 Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar (May 2007)

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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