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Wine Description
The Story
The winemaker’s role is to reflect the best the terroir has to offer and to reproduce the intrinsic taste parameters that correspond to Domaine de Chevalier.
Olivier Bernard describes Domaine de Chevalier’s white wines: “Our aim is not to make the wine as fruity as possible at all costs. Measured extraction and barrel ageing create very complex wines – beautifully fresh, never heavy, and with an incredibly long aftertaste that “unfolds like a peacock’s tail”... We target the long term and make a great wine that needs time to reveal its full potential.”
Thomas Stonestreet confirms that “Domaine de Chevalier blanc is an incredibly complex wine, that can age for many years ... It features much more than just fruitiness. It also very velvety, rich, and concentrated...”
Rémi Edange has much to say about the wine’s bouquet: “An incredibly complex nose... Above and beyond the varietal aromas there are empyreumatic overtones of resin, smoke, liquorice, coffee, and even, in certain vintages, cedar and Havana cigars... With regard to the fruit, Domaine de Chevalier often shows quince as well as peach, apricot, pineapple, tropical fruit (lychees), and citrus. In older vintages, the bouquet is reminiscent of a fine Sauternes. As if this were not enough, there are also floral overtones of vine flowers, herb teas (lime-blossom, verbena), etc...”
Olivier Bernard has this to say about his red wines: “Domaine de Chevalier rouge has good structure and a great deal of finesse, complexity, and ageing potential – which does not exclude a smooth, fruity quality that makes it enjoyable in its youth. Always balanced, never aggressive, power is by no means the priority...”
Rémi Edange adds: “Chevalier’s red wines are well-structured with round, very fine, tight-knit tannin... They are tremendously elegant and distinguished with a very long aftertaste and more delicacy than power...”
Wine Information
Domaine de Chevalier
Grand Cru Classé de Graves
The Domaine de Chevalier, located in Léognan, the capital town of the Graves region, has a long history. It appears on the map drawn in 1763 under the name of “Chibaley” (meaning knight, in the Gascon language).
The very notion of domain, that has been deliberately kept by the successive owners who never sought to replace it by the more recent appellation of “château”, is the heritage of long and rich pages of history, highlighting the sense of balance that the current master of the house is so anxious to maintain.
In 1983, the estate was purchased by the Bernard family, and it has been run ever since by Olivier Bernard. In line with the history of Chevalier, he perpetuates that spirit of balance and the constant drive for perfection which, over the last 130 years, have been the hallmark of this outstanding wine.
Today, from the secret garden protected by the vast, surrounding forest, the estate has become a remarkably open haven where visitors, keen to imbue themselves with the spirit of the Graves region, can benefit from its longstanding tradition of hospitality.
The red Domaine de Chevalier, the flagship of the Pessac Léognan appellation, belongs to the elite of the great classified growths of Bordeaux.
”The philpsophy that I have instilled here, with the help of my team, all revolves around quality and balance. Cost has never been the foremost consideration. Furthermore, all the profits have been reinvested in thr property... The quest for quality os an ongoing priority here.” -Olivier Bernard
Soil: dark sand and fine white gravel, with a subsoil of well drained sandstone
Production area: 35 ha
Grape varieties: 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 2,5% Cabernet Franc, 2,5% Petit Verdot
Average age of vines: 25 years
Harvest method: hand picked, triple sorting
Winemaking: vatting gravity without pumping, alcoholic fermentation in stainless steel and coated steel temperature controlled vats. Maceration for 2 to 3 weeks at 30-32°C
Ageing: 18 months in 50% new barrels
Domaine de Chevalier
33850 Léognan
Tel. +33 5 5664 1616
Fax. +33 5 5664 1818
olivierbernard@domainedechevalier.com
www.domainedechevalier.com
