Domaine de Chevalier 2016

The 2016 vintage in Pessac-Léognan

Vintage benchmark: 97/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: A very wet winter followed by a sun-drenched summer produced a rare balance, combining the depth of great years with genuine freshness.

Overall reading of the year’s season across Pessac-Léognan. An estate can depart from it sharply, in frost or hail years, where two neighbours did not make the same vintage. What this particular wine actually gave is on its technical sheet and in the scores above.

Tasting

Intense, dark purple-ruby colour, black at the core. Bright and clear. A clean nose of great freshness offers a concentrated, energetic cocktail of red and black fruits in a balsamic atmosphere reminiscent of a pine forest. Peppery spices and fresh notes of game are present. A mineral complexity joins this complete bouquet. The attack is ample, with a soft, silky and fruity texture. The sensation of a dense tannic structure is immediate. The weave is tight but refined and supple. Great tannins coated in fruity flesh give a texture that is both mellow and firm. Very approachable in appearance, this wine of great scale deserves time to develop its very great underlying potential. Great length, large format. Balance, freshness, elegance, refinement, authenticity and concentration define it perfectly.

The vintage

A historic and generous vintage. This undoubted success results from the conjunction of several key moments. A wet period from 1 January to 20 June, which provided potential quantity and water reserves. A quasi-miraculous flowering, guaranteeing a fine crop (4 to 11 June). An exceptionally dry period from 1 July to 13 September, which brought richness and power; rain finally came on 13 September, with a timely 40 mm. An Indian summer, from 15 September to the end of October, which brought completion, finesse and elegance.

Red harvest: 4 to 21 October.

Blend of the 2016 vintage

Figures from the 2016 sheet

• 13.5 % vol.Alcohol
• 100,000 bottlesProduction

Winemaking

Hand-picked into small crates, with careful sorting in the vineyard and then in the cellar before and after destemming. Three vat rooms (stainless steel, tulip-shaped concrete and wooden vats) to optimise plot selection, perfect extraction and refine the blend.

Ageing

Aged in barrels (grand vin), one third new oak, for 16 to 18 months, with lees stirring during the first 4 months.

Terroir

The overall structure of the Chevalier soils takes the form of a layer of black gravelly sand with an average thickness of 60 to 90 cm. Variations in the thickness and depth of the gravel vein create a mosaic of soils that calls for very fine plot-by-plot management, even though the whole shows an evident homogeneity. Overall, these soils are acidic, poor and very free-draining. The very rich subsoil is made up of a clay-gravel base mixed with alios (iron pan), into which the vine roots deeply, thus overcoming the water variations caused by the climate. Vine growth and grape ripening therefore proceed in a remarkably regular manner.