2015 DOMAINE DE CHEVALIER Blanc Cru Classé Pessac-Léognan, Lea & Sandeman

DOMAINE DE CHEVALIER

2020 Blanc Cru Classé Pessac-Léognan

Colour White
Origin France, Bordeaux
Other Certified Organic
Village Pessac-Léognan
Classification Cru Classé
ABV 13%

Market insight: Another victim of its own back vintages, when you can buy the 2010 for £50 more than the 2019, it stifles the incentive. That said, we love the wine and it deserves to be selling for more - £50 per bottle really won't be much to ask for the 2020 and there's a lot of fun to be had owning verticals.

Tasting note: 70% Sauvignon Blanc, 30% Sémillon. Quite reserved on the nose. There's lots of texture and good weight on the palate. Lovely depth of fruit with notes of passionfruit & citrus. Good level of phenolics too and nice acidity. A very well poised wine that should be very approachable in a few years. L&S (May 2021)


Alternatively, we may well have some bottles in one of our shops - why not give us a call on 0207 244 0522 or send an email to: sales@leaandsandeman.co.uk.

Or, check the RELATED PRODUCTS below for different vintages or wines of a similar style.


The 2020 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc marries power and tension so well. Lemon confit marzipan, chamomile, dried orchard fruit and crushed flowers all build effortlessly into the expansive, beautifully resonant finish. Above all else, the Blanc is a wine of savory/mineral complexity and structure. I wouldn't dream of touching a bottle anytime soon. Tasted two times. Drinking range: 2026 - 2050 Rating: 95 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Feb 2023)

Domaine de Chevalier, under the careful ownership of Oliver Bernard, provides such consistent quality in red and white, and proves it again in 2020. Has a confident, sculpted feel, majoring on waves of white pear, citrus, elderflower, touches of saffron, lovely quality and real grip. A yield of 43hl/ha, with ageing potential, and weight through the mid palate. Diam cork closure. Drinking range: 2023 - 2032 Rating: 95 Jane Anson, Decanter (Feb 2023)

The 2020 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc, the only white that I tasted from a dispatched barrel sample, has a discrete but complex bouquet with honeysuckle, chamomile, citrus fruit and light waxy aromas. It's quite understated but it responds to aeration. The palate is fresh on the entry, lightly spiced with modest weight. It does not possess the nervosité of the previous vintage, but it has concentration and presence. This is more a textural dry white Pessac than one that simply doles out tons of fruit or relies on tension. Very fine. Drinking range: 2025 - 2050 Rating: 92 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Feb 2023)

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.
  • For full delivery details see our Delivery page.
  • We offer free nationwide* delivery for all orders over £150 with our own vans. We also offer an express delivery service for an additional charge.
  • Order & Collect from any of our 5 London shops. Order by Midnight for collection the next working day from 11am.
  • Private wine storage: we offer a full In Bond and Duty Paid private wine storage service - find out more here.

RELATED PRODUCTS

ORDER     COLLECT

ORDER ONLINE AND COLLECT FROM ONE OF OUR SHOPS