Domaine de Chevalier Rouge, Grand Cru Classé, 2009
Olivier Bernard's 2009 Domaine de Chevalier Rouge was the highlight of the Pessac Leognan UGC tasting. Olivier is one of a select group of proprietors including Bernard Magrez, Daniel and Florence Cathiard and Veronique Saunders who are raising the profile of Graves. The 2009 is a fabulously lifted, vibrant wine, which oozes class and sophistication. The bouquet is packed with ripe exotic notes, wild summer berries, fruits of the forest and freshly cut herbs. It possesses splendid texture and a wonderful fruit core with long, pure flavours of gloriously ripe fruit. This is an utterly delicious, regal Domaine de Chevalier that bucks the trend for massive tasting wines and charms with a brightness, intensity and charm rather than dropping a fruit bomb on one's palate. A most refined and elegant Pessac.
critic reviews
Some of the best quality tannins on display among all the 2009s are found here at Domaine de Chevalier. Delineated, precise, still young and flexible, cradling blackberry and cassis fruits along with incense, crayon and rosebud. Less generous than many from this vintage right now with decades ahead of it. Balanced, finessed but concentrated and intense. Gorgeous. 33% new oak for ageing.
The 2009 Domaine de Chevalier has a vivacious, almost exotic bouquet with lavish black fruit, mint, oregano and cedar that all gain intensity with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, a fine bead of acidity, ripe black fruit laced with white pepper and even a faint touch of Szechuan pepper. This displays exquisite balance and the finish feels deep and satisfying, clearly born in a great vintage. Tasted blind at the Domaine de Chevalier vertical at the property.
In late 2011, I had the last bottle in my cellar of the 1970 Domaine de Chevalier. Much to my surprise, it was still holding on to life and remained gorgeously complex in that ethereal Graves style. The 2009, one of the finest Domaine de Chevaliers yet produced, reveals a striking bouquet of burning embers, sweet cherry, black and red currant fruit, spice box, cedar and lead pencil shavings. The tannins are sweet in this fleshy, full-bodied offering. It is built on the notion of extraordinary harmony, elegance and complexity. While not the most concentrated or flamboyant 2009, its intense aromas are already reasonably evolved and its lusciousness and balance are terrific. Made from an interesting blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 6% Petit Verdot, its yields of 45 hectoliters per hectare were slightly higher than many of its neighbors achieved. Drink it over the next 25 years.