CRITIC REVIEWS
Jancis Robinson
65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc. 40 hl/ha. In conversion to organic management. Special label with a Chinese drawing of a horse to celebrate Olivier Bernard’s 40th vintage. Cask sample. Deep crimson. Intensely mineral, highly distinctive, nose. Very different from the sweet fruit-bombs elsewhere. Racy and likely to age well in the Dom de Chevalier tradition. Sinewy but by no means meagre. Very much its own style. Cool and fresh but with fruit that is quite ripe enough and massively mineral. Intense with lots tucked in there for future development. Clean, fresh, appetising finish.
Jane Anson
Showing how its done in 2022, Domaine de Chevalier comes in strong with a deep ruby red colour, a vibrant rim, smoked oak on the nose, edges of tar, red roses, liquorice root, and a confident delivery of full-on tannic architecture that frames the cassis and bilberry fruit. Delivers vintage signature in a carefully controlled way, with enough slate, pummice stone, mint and eucalyptus to balance things out and slow down delivery. The fruits are fully ripe, heading towards baked plum and fig, but met step by step with a corresponding cooling flavour. 40th harvest of Olivier Bernard (meaning a special label).