Pessac-Léognan 1998, 1999

The 1998 Pessac-Léognan harvest was highly selective, producing wines of genuine structure and tobacco-inflected complexity for estates that picked carefully across a difficult season. Domaine de Chevalier’s 1998 rouge earned 16.5/20 from James Lawther MW, who tasted it at 25 years of age and found it a harmonious, digeste expression of Graves character at its most classical, stony and mineral on the nose, vibrant with freshness on the palate and, in his words, the epitome of Graves character. Domaine de Chevalier is one of the most consistently refined estates in Pessac-Léognan, its vineyard encircled by pine forest in Léognan under the meticulous stewardship of Olivier Bernard. The blend is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc.