Domaine de Chevalier, Blanc Cru Classe, Pessac-Leognan 2022

Very complex aromas of pears, persimmons, honey and cooked apples. Mineral undertones. Always subtle and multidimensional. Full-bodied with a tight and dense middle palate that gives a superb mouthfeel. It's lively and flavorful at the end but in a reserved way. Just a hint of bitter lemon and lilac. I really want to drink this, but give it three or four years to reach the right place.

Based on 70% Sauvignon Blanc and 30% Semillon that spent nine months in barrel, the 2022 Domaine De Chevalier Blanc is a brilliant white revealing a vivid gold hue as well as bright citrus, crushed stone, mint, and honeysuckle-driven nuances. Pure, focused, and elegant, it has remarkable balance, integrated acidity, medium to full body, and a beautifully layered texture. It should evolve beautifully for 20+ years.

The 2022 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc is quite dense on the palate. Pear, apricot, spice, white flowers and lightly honeyed notes build in the glass. Even in this brutally warm year, the Blanc retains a good bit of energy. As readers know, the Blanc is a rare white that demands cellaring to be at its very best. Its age-worthiness will be measured in decades. Tasted three times.

The 2022 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc has turned out brilliantly in bottle, wafting from the glass with aromas of pear, jasmine, white flowers, spring blossoms and spices. Medium to full-bodied, layered and enveloping, it's charming and sappy with a dense structure, bright acids, gastronomic bitterness and a long, saline and mouthwatering finish. Confirming my expectations, this blend of 70% Sauvignon Blanc and 30% Sémillon is one of the best white wines of the vintage. It should gain harmony with age.

Always a white wine made with an eye on ageing, even in exuberant vintages like 2022. You feel it in the structure which is intense and concentrated but also understated, with plenty of fresh acidities, white mango and pear alongside preserved lemons and cut grass. Great quality, a rare white in 2022 that feels fully on its game; 40hl/h yield, aged in 33% new oak oak. 40th harvest of Olivier Bernard.

Round, full, compelling, charming and confident, this has a width and density that is really well worked, calm, not super vibrant but really rich in terms of fruit expression with coolness, white stone fruit flavours and some subtle toasting.

Feels structured and well worked, serious but not as tense as many with more fruit persistence and depth than a lot of the whites this year. Perhaps missing a touch of acidity but this is very good indeed and ends with a zestiness that is really appealing. Tasted twice. Derenoncourt consultants.

Drink 2023-2030

The 2022 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc is made from 70% Sauvignon Blanc and 30% Semillon. It needs considerable swirling and coaxing to unlock notes of fresh pineapple, orange blossoms, lime cordial, and juicy pears, giving way to wafts of honeysuckle and cedar. The medium-bodied palate is electric with citrus and tropical fruit layers, framed by a racy backbone and satiny texture, finishing long and mineral-laced. This is nicely done! pH 3.32.

The 2022 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc offers more complexity on the nose than the L'Esprit, with scents of yellow fruit, melon and lime. The palate is well balanced with texture, notes of peach skin, pear and a dash of stem ginger, leading to a brisk harmonious finish. Although it does not rank among the best recent vintages due to the limitations of the growing season, this is still a capable Domaine de Chevalier Blanc.

"The 2022 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc offers up aromas of pear, nectarine, crushed mint, jasmine and lemon, followed by a medium to full-bodied, layered and concentrated palate with a mineral-driven profile. It's lively and bright, with a delicate, penetrating finish animated by racy acids. This blend of 70% Sauvignon Blanc and 30% Sémillon, matured entirely in large wooden foudres and 500-liter barrels instead of the traditional barriques, is one of the finest white wines of the vintage, and one of the few that transcends its limitations."