Domaine de Chevalier 2023

The 2023 vintage in Pessac-Léognan

Vintage benchmark: 91/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: July mildew followed by a hot September demanded strict selection: fleshy, aromatic wines, more approachable than 2022.

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

Complex and spicy nose of great finesse. The expression of this blend, pure and vibrant, is characterised by a ripeness achieved in freshness. Notes of humus and forest envelop the fruit. On the palate, immediate and silky fullness. Concentrated, elegant structure of great refinement. Flavourful and intense radiance, from fruit to mineral. This wine, with its racy bearing, is of high class. Very long, precise, pure and fresh. Impeccable balance. A silky and charming style that will be appreciated in its youth (7-10 years), but whose ageing will make it shine (12-20 years).

The vintage

We knew the warm vintages, sometimes dry, and the cold and/or humid vintages; in 2023 we discover the tropical vintage! The spring's climatic difficulties required a relentless viticultural battle, made necessary by our organic commitment and the strong downy mildew pressure. We nevertheless managed to showcase our terroir, with a very beautiful Domaine de Chevalier red and an exceptional Domaine de Chevalier white. Spring was early, very mild and abundantly rainy. A big budburst and a rapid flowering around 25 May, followed by a very good fruit set, suggested a fine harvest. The daily storms of the second half of June increased the virulence of the mildew and the promise of a good yield vanished, mainly on the Merlot. Seen from another angle, these stormy rains at the end of June and in July fortunately made the spared bunches swell and allowed some volume to be recovered. The second part of the vintage was of a different quality: the beautiful warm weather at the end of August and the dry winds of a magnificent sunny September, with large thermal amplitudes, ripened and concentrated all the varieties. At the reception of the harvest, vibrating tables, optical sorting and a density bath made it possible to make choices within the choices. In the cellar, new vats complemented an already wide range, in which each red variety is showcased according to its age, its origin and the year's viticultural observations. The results are superb, with white wines of very high level, powerful, elegant and fresh, and red wines that are rich, ripe and full-bodied, with velvety and tasty tannins; the quality of the well-preserved acidity highlights both wines.

Red harvest: 7 to 30 September. From 7 September, well-ripened Merlots were brought in; the Cabernet Sauvignons finished on 30 September.

Blend of the 2023 vintage

Figures from the 2023 sheet

• 13 % vol.Alcohol
• 30 hl/haYield

Winemaking

Hand-picked into small crates, with careful sorting in the vineyard, then manual bunch sorting in the cellar and optical berry sorting after destemming. Four vat rooms (steel, 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

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.