2023 Domaine de Chevalier, Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux

65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 5% Cabernet Franc. Cask sample.

Crimson hue. It has a pretty redberry nose with a touch of vanilla oak. Tannins are supple and refined. Length on the finish. It is elegant in style but not quite at the top of its game.

Drink 2028 - 2038

This blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot, and 5% Cabernet Franc is maturing in 40% new barrels.

The 2023 Domaine de Chevalier reveals a perfumed, incipiently complex bouquet of dark wild berries, cassis, rose petals, spices and liquorice. Medium to full-bodied, concentrated and rich, with a fleshy core of fruit framed by powdery tannins and bright acids, it concludes with a long, saline, gently oak-inflected finish.

Drink 2025 - 2045

The 2023 Domaine de Chevalier is beautifully resonant in the glass. Deep, layered, and quite persistent, it has so much to offer. In many vintages, this red needs time to be at its best, but this edition has enough forward fruit to make me think it will drink well with minimal cellaring, even if the acids remain brisk. Graphite, dried herbs, menthol, liquorice, and rose petal build into the tense, saline-infused finish. The 2023 is all finesse.

Drink 2030 - 2063

Cassis, spring flowers, graphite, black cherries, and some smoky nuances emerge from the 2023 Domaine De Chevalier, another medium- to full-bodied, concentrated, incredibly impressive Pessac with ripe tannins and an excellent finish. The blend is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, and 5% each of Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc, and it’s ageing in one-third new oak, mostly in barrels, but there’s a small portion in foudre.

The 2023 Domaine de Chevalier was picked from September 7 to 30 and contains 13% alcohol. This is quintessential “DdC” on the nose: black fruit, sous-bois and hints of black olive at first, subtle marine notes emerging with time in the glass. There’s wonderful focus and delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with pencil-shaving-tinged black fruit on the entry. Perhaps a bit grippier with more spine than one would expect especially following the more sensual 2022), this is very traditional in style, with a tremendously long and satisfying saline finish. Superb.

Drink 2029 - 2060

Cool blue fruit and tobacco leaf denote this wine, which packs almost Pauillac-like power in 2023 but is not as overtly charming as it can be. The mid-palate depth seems a bit coiled in with some standoffish tannins, but overall, it is brisk and true to the style of the estate, if not a ‘sunny vintage’ on the palate. In short, a serious Domaine de Chevalier red needs at least five years of cellaring to fully reward you.

Drink 2028 - 2058

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.

Drink 2029 - 2046

63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc.

There are plenty of blackberry, blackcurrant, chocolate, and flint aromas that follow through to a full body, yet it’s in check and focused, with a beautiful framing of fine tannins. The purity of ripe fruit is impressive, with Cabernet really showing through.