Domaine de Chevalier is a haven of peace and beauty in a suburb of Bordeaux that has miraculously resisted urban sprawl. The vineyard was looking particularly beautiful last night laden with grapes and with the leaves just starting to change color.
The landscape was dotted with copses of trees.
I was invited with several other people to a wine dinner by Olivier Bernard. My friend Izak Litwar and I met Olivier outside the château and spent some time with him among the vines discussing the 2008 vintage. The white wine harvest is already under way, but has been taking place gradually. Things look promising. The red wine grapes still need time, and the Cabernet won't be picked until the 3rd week in October, which is quite late. An important point is that the vines were sprayed only once more than usual this growing season. And while the crop is small, there is absolutely no rot.
The modern winery at Domaine de Chevaler is very tasteful. In the time-honored local architectural style, it "hugs the ground" in a long enfilade.
We tasted 6 wines before dinner.
2007 white:
C: Not pale, light golden
N: Citrus (mostly lemon, but also some grapefruit). Hides its light under a bushel.
P: Classic. Starts off soft and then segues into good, vibrant acidity. Great future ahead.
2006 white
C: Absolutely brilliant, white gold
N: Slight medicinal touch at this stage, soft and understated
P: Acid thread from beginning to end. Long, piercing. Very much a "food wine". Needs plenty of time to soften.
2005 white
C: Once again, superbly brilliant pale gold
N: Stellar. Subtle, well integrated, and classy oak. Ethereal.
P: Great structure. Chewy. Lovely long, harmonious aftertaste. The finest young dry white Bordeaux I can ever remember having tasted (including Haut Brion). A wine to convince die-hard Burgundy lovers that Bordeaux also produces world-class white wines.
2007 red
C: Good, but a bit light. Purplish-red with a dark core.
N: Buttery with hints of raspberry. Sweet and seductive. Very feminine and sophisticated. Cosmetic nuance.
P: Very fluid and easy-going. Medium-light body. Captures fresh fruit marvellously. Moreish.
Will show well young. A success.
2006 red
C: Medium-deep with a dark core
N: Blackberry, brambly aromas
P: Starts off with plenty of character and then deflates somewhat. Does not evolve smoothly on the palate. Puckery finish. Probably going through a difficult phase.
2005 red
C: brilliant, dark, and fine
N: Sweet, with clear potential only just beginning to show. Roasted aromas (toasty oak).
G: Sleek, smooth, but also with some tartness, and a long mineral aftertaste. In style, seems like a meshing of the old and new worlds. Once again, puckery finish but also slightly gummy and resinous. Delicious, well-crafted wine.
What is significant about this tasting was the impressive performance of the 2007 vintage for both red and white Domaine de Chevalier (rather than then under-performance of the 2006 vintage).
As for dinner, seeing as the 2008 harvest was under way, Olivier Bernard orchestrated a fabulous dinner based on vintages ending with the number "8".
We started off with two vintage Champagnes: Pol Roger white and rosé, both from 1988. I love Champagne, but I must admit that I am unused to examples this old, more suitable to what the French call "le goût anglais". Of the two, I preferred the rosé, which had a very unusual, salmon-pink colour and a subtle nose (including hints of chocolate!). I saw this as being that rare thing, a Champagne best with food.
We went on to blind tasting at the meal.
All the wines, except the last, were from Domaine de Chevalier.
I don't write tasting notes at table, so here is the thumbnail version:
1998 white: Brilliant, sunny color, nutty nose, hints of lanolin on the palate. We guessed the vintage on this.
1978 white: We were off by a decade here. Vital, vibrant wine with engaging hints of gooseberry. Fresh and alive. Olivier Bernard said that Claude Ricard had told him this was the latest vintage he had ever picked. The wine was apparently tough and green when young. However, no longer. Bravo for a 30 year old white wine!
1958 white: We stumbled over this one, the only wine of the evening that was more of a curiosity than intrinsically good.
1968 red: Yes, everyone knows that this was meant to be a total disaster in Bordeaux. And yet… This was clearly a great wine from a poor year, so 1968 was the vintage correctly suggested. The nose was splendid, reminiscent to me of the earthy tones of La Mission Haut Brion. The wine was weak and diluted on the palate, but Domaine de Chevalier still deserves praise for doing so well in such a year.
1928 red: Gosh, we were way off here. Perhaps because one doesn’t have 80 year-old wines that often! Once again, the nose was better than the palate, but the latter was very much alive, if a bit deconstructed. The nose was sublime with subtle aromas of truffle, roses, etc.
1998 Château Guiraud: Olivier Bernard is part shareholder of this estate, along with Stéphane de Neipperg and the Peugeot family. I, for one was off here, because I found the wine fairly resolved and also because I clearly picked up botrytis on the bouquet – in a year in which there was said to be little. So, my guess of 1988 was logical in a way, but foolish, with retrospect, in light of the youthful acidity.
Many thanks to Olivier and Anne for a fantastic evening.
Best regards,
Alex R.