James Suckling
- Domaine de Chevalier Rouge Primeur 2014
Score 93-94 - Very dense and beautiful with chocolate, currants and spices. Walnut and hazelnut character too. Full body, silky tannins and a long finish. Balanced and fine.
Jancis Robinson
Dom de Chevalier 2014 Pessac-Léognan 17,5
Particularly dark crimson. Intense nose. Quite thick and dense. Then soft and beguiling on the palate. Unusually low in acidity! Quite luscious. And a cool finish. Complete.
Drink 2022-2036
Wine Advocate –Neal Martin
April 2015. The Domaine de Chevalier 2014 is a blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot and 30% Merlot. It has a fragrant bouquet with blackberry, black plum, cigar ash and woodland scents, complex though not as intense as its white counterpart. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy, quite firm tannin that underpin a classic Domaine de Chevalier that has just the right amount of austerity at this stage. Reserved perhaps, but it is beautifully knitted together with a lovely bay leaf tinged finish. Quintessential Domaine de Chevalier...which is what we all want. Drink 2020-2040. 92-94
Revue du Vin de France - Ph. Maurange
17-18/20 Sans forcer, la trame tannique s’impose dans un registre ultra-fin, laissant la place à un coeur de bouche profond et concentré. La pureté du fruit relance une finale délicate et juteuse. Un très beau Chevalier !
Wine Spectator James Molesworth
DOMAINE DE CHEVALIER Pessac-Léognan 2014 Score: 90–93
Tightly focused, with red currant, bergamot, Campari and sandalwood notes woven together and carrying through the well-polished finish. Has a noticeable twinge of singed wood and sweet earth at the end. A touch more backward than most of the Pessac pack right now.—J.M.
Decanter – Jane Anson
Domaine de Chevalier 2014 -Pessac-Léognan Red
18.25/20pts ( 94/100pts )
Rich and silky in texture and great sense of controlled power on the attack. Love the balance here, they have extracted more than some, but with great control and this gives very promising hints of how it will develop over the next decade. The restraint that comes with the tannins is apparent, this is an excellent wine from a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 5% perit verdot, 13.5%abv. Harvested up to October 17 and only started on October 1, so really made the most of the fine late autumn weather.
Drink: 2023-2040
Vinifera – Jacques Perrin
Domaine de Chevalier * * * *
Très beau profil aromatique sur les baies, avec une touche balsamique d’une grande noblesse. C’est un jus dense, parfumé, superbement équilibré. Grande réussite !
Berry Bros
2014 Domaine de Chevalier Rouge “The yield was 40 hectolitres per hectare this year: that doesn't represent a great yield, but it is much better than recent years, in particular 2013. I always buy this wine for my own cellar and will be doing so again. Soft and really approachable, this is a gentle wine. Shy, but pretty on the nose, it is decadent and could be enjoyed very early; but that's not to say it won't age well, all the component parts are singing in harmony: ripe, fleshy fruit, freshness, attractive acidity and silky, fine tannins. The finish is soft too. This is so silky and enjoyable, even when tasting a barrel sample.”
65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot
Gault - Millau _ Eric Riewer
Domaine de Chevalier - Pessac-Léognan Rouge 17 / 18
Très beau nez de fruits noirs, d'épices, boisé/grillé avec de la tension, une belle structure et une réelle densité. Fraîcheur, densité tout en délicatesse et en finesse de grain et de tanins. Frais et suave. Très grande réussite.
Antonio Galloni – Vinous
2014 Domaine de Chevalier Domaine de Chevalier
The 2014 Domaine de Chevalier is stunningly beautiful. Dark red cherry, plum, smoke, spice and leather are all supported by veins of underlying acidity and minerality. Sweet floral and spice notes continue to open up over time, but it is the wine's imposing structure that stands out most. Readers will need to be especially patient here, as the domaine's wines are typically very slow to mature. That is especially like to be the case with the 2014, as the tannins are quite imposing at this stage. The 2014 is going to need a considerable amount of time. The only question is how much. I expect the 2014 will still be magnificent at age thirty and likely beyond. The 2014 is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot that spent approximately 35 days on the skins. Olivier Bernard adds that the Merlots were brought in between October 10 and 17, which is quite late by the domaine's standards. Tasted three times. -- Antonio Galloni (92-95)
Jacques Dupont – Le Point
- Domaine de Chevalier Rouge 17
Fruits rouges, framboise, bouche délicate, fine, tanins soyeux, frais, élégant, long, tendre mais avec de la tenue. En longueur.
Panos Kakaviatos
Domaine de Chevalier (red): One of the most successful red Graves. If the price is right, buy it. I will. “You had to harvest later to get the necessary ripeness to deal with the high acidities,” both Olivier Bernard and partner Remy Edange explained, for both red and white. This was a lovely expression of ripe red and black fruit from the lively attack with a medium plus body, marked by vivacity and high intensity flavors. A medium plus flavor intensity yet refined and elegant, with a long finish marked by lift. 92-94
Jeff Leve – The Wine Cellar Insider
2014 Domaine de Chevalier Rouge – A sexy vintage with chocolate, plums, earth and freshly rolled cigars on the nose. This wine is medium-bodied, soft, and silky and did I mention sexy? There is a distinctly forward, polished, blackberry and chocolate finish. The wine was produced from a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot and reached 13.5% alcohol. 92-94 Pts
Chris Kissack – The Wine Doctor
Domaine de Chevalier 2014: A very impressive, inky-dark core here, with a deep crimson rim. The nose is beautifully expressive, dripping with bright black cherry fruit, black plums too, with a perfumed, vanilla flower freshness to it. The palate is polished, showing a lovely texture from the start, with exuberant fruit substance like the nose, super confidence in both the ripeness and integration of the tannins, and there is super balance to it as well. This is a superb result, brimming with structure but it is ripe and well composed. It is so captivating I think I came back to this sample three times during the course of my tasting. Impressive, and candidate for top wine of the appellation in this vintage. 17-18/20
Jean-Marc Quarin : 16 // 90
Izak Litwar : 94
René Gabriel : 17 /20
Jeannie Cho Lee : 90 - 92
Bettane & Desseauve : 94 * 17,5 /20
Tim Atkin : 93
Roger Voss : 93
My colleague Nick Stock and I posted more than 10,000 tasting notes on JamesSuckling.com in the past year; with all the great wines among them, it was difficult to pick the best.
Then, of course, there was the pinot noir of Peter Michael Winery of California. Some people probably think that PM only makes great cabernets, but its pinots are equally compelling.