Domaine de Chevalier Rouge, Grand Cru Classé, 2023
Olivier Bernard's wonderful Domaine de Chevalier 2023 is drop dead gorgeous. As ever, Olivier favours a genteel, natural style with a calm delivery. Beautiful aromatics of spiced berried, creme de mûre, violets, cigar wrappers and loamy earth emanate from the glass. There's plenty of volume to the core of creamy, dark, mulberry fruit with hints of dried raspberry that leads to charming, creamy tannins, which give the impression of a gentle hand on the tiller. This is a really lovely, fluid and cohesive Domaine de Chevalier. Glorious. 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 5% Cabernet Franc
critic reviews
The 2023 Domaine de Chevalier has turned out beautifully in bottle, offering aromas of sweet cherries, dark wild berries, licorice, mulberries and peony. Medium- to full-bodied, it is rich yet supple, layered and textured, framed by powdery tannins and concluding with a long, precise and perfumed finish. A blend of 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc, it should gain an additional dimension of depth and complexity with time in the cellar.
The 2023 Domaine de Chevalier has a very refined and focused bouquet with blackberry, black olive and light tobacco scents that discreetly unfold in the glass. Wonderful delineation and sense of classicism. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit. Good body and grip, a symmetry here that is almost unique among the Pessac-Léognan '23s tasted. Beautiful. NB: A second bottle at the château was tighter and more backward, suggesting a long-term Domaine de Chevalier.
The 2023 Domaine de Chevalier has a deep garnet-purple color. It is a little broody and oaky to start, needing coaxing to bring out a gorgeous core of black cherries, redcurrants, and cassis, with underlying hints of violets and forest floor. The medium to full-bodied palate has a solid frame of firm, grainy tannins and bright acidity supporting the muscular fruit, finishing long and minerally. The blend is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot, and 5% Cabernet Franc.
Always one of the benchmark wines of a vintage, and here showcasing the quality of Cabernet Sauvignon in 2023 (as well as the potential for varying yields, as they are down at 30hl/h here). Well balanced, great depth of ink, cassis, bilberry and damson fruits, rises through the palate, with tannic grip and plenty of grilled but carefully judged oak. A great Chevalier, not perhaps at the very top of recent vintages here, but one that will give huge amounts of pleasure, and captures the great classicsm of the year. 35% new oak for ageing, Bernard family owners.