Domaine de Chevalier Rouge, Grand Cru Classé, 2009

Olivier Bernard describes 2020 as the “most powerful vintage” ever recorded at Domaine de Chevalier. It started early and finished early and due to the droughts in July and September, they harvested berries with very thick skins and little juice. The UGC sample was very lovely and ranked as one of the best wines on show, but we just yearned for a bit more intensity on the mid-palate, so we requested a fresh bottle, and boy was it good. Fragrant with cool leafy blackcurrant fruit, nice delineation, pencil lead, crushed stones, a tang of black raspberry, cracked spices, clay and heather. On the palate this has a cool ripeness, mid-weight flavours of mulberry and blackberry, seriously refined and intense fruit laced with cool mineral notes. As one would expect the attack is elegant and precise with good freshness and lift, packed with savoury cassis, sweet black cherry and layers of bramble and briar; there’s a gravelly exoticism to the dark core of fruit, complex and seductive. This harnesses the natural power and concentration of the vintage in such an effortless and refined way. There’s no sense of weight or warmth – it glides across the palate with verve and precision. The velvety tannins and supple laced with a salty, mineral complexity. Glorious.