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

DOMAINE DE CHEVALIER

2023 Blanc Cru Classé Pessac-Léognan

Colour White
Origin France, Bordeaux
Village Pessac-Léognan
Classification Cru Classé
ABV 13.5%

Got to be the most consisent of all Pessac Léognan whites, sets out its stall immediately with fresh acidities and fennel spice, giving a kick and lift, classically nuanced and structured. White pear, sage, liqourice root, savoury as all hell, and so moriesh. Working with Stéphane Derenocourt since 2018 on the whites (longer on the reds). Drinking range: 2025 - 2040 Rating: 96 Jane Anson, www.janeanson.com (May 2024)


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The 2023 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc is one of the best dry whites of the year. Creamy and expansive, with terrific brightness, this exudes balance. Citrus confit, white pepper, mint, almond, pear and crushed rocks are some of the notes that build as the 2023 shows off its pedigree. I expect it will offer exceptional drinking for the next several decades. What else is new? Drinking range: 2030 - 2053 Rating: 94-96 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (May 2024)

The grand vin in white from Olivier Bernard and team is 70% Sauvignon Blanc and 30% Semillon, taking 64% of the crop this year, the fruit having been cropped at 45 hl/ha, a handsome yield although below the average for the appellation which was 50 hl/ha. An intense, beautifully focused nose, with powdered chalk, lemon peel, white peach, chamomile and mint, pure with a saline-mineral thread. The palate is hugely convincing, with rich phenolic veins underpinning layers of white peach, preserved lemon and mint, with a lovely grip to it, and fresh acidity too. It has supple integration and drive, and super potential. A wine of pure joy, and there is nothing wrong with that, but it also has the phenolic bite and acid freshness to develop with age. Excellent potential. Tasted three times. The alcohol is around 13.5%. Rating: 95-97 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2024)

The 2023 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc was picked from August 28 to September 6 at 45hL/ha. It’s a blend of 70% Sauvignon Blanc and 30% Sémillon. This has wonderful purity on the nose, revealing scents of lime, green apple and crushed stone—one of the most precise I have encountered at this early stage. The palate is well balanced with a fine bead of acidity that lends this white Pessac-Léognan superb focus. There’s real intensity here, building with a sense of nascent confidence toward the mineral, almost slate-like finish. Very long and tender, this is a white Domaine de Chevalier from the top drawer. Drinking range: 2028 - 2050 Rating: 94-96 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2024)

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.

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