Domaine de Chevalier 1994

Delicate and alluring, showing lovely aromas of berries, toasted oak and minerals. Light, fine tannins and a fresh finish. Drink now. 12,000 cases made.

Soy, umami, mushroom, fragrant leather and cigar box. High on the acidity front, bright and lively, juicy and almost sharp, but with mineral reflections that bring a salty, flinty tang to the expression. Tannins are well integrated and on the filling side, dense but covered by the acidity, aside from the lingering chalky sensation on the tongue. This has definitely lost some of its fat, but it’s still quite tannic and filling, the tannins doing more of the talking than the fruit at this point. I like it, and I like the coolness on the finish too. It’s just that the acidity doesn’t quite match the hefty tannins—or rather, it’s super sharp and then the tannins come in—so it’s not entirely harmonious, but there’s good potential here.

95: Barrel sample (16/20): red-berried bouquet; raspberries, cherries, perhaps a touch lacking in complexity. Fuzzy extract, unripe acidity, green notes, a light wine at about 87-point level. 02: You simply have to know the still somewhat too young Domaine de Chevalier: the color here is rather light, perhaps even too pale for a ’94. The nose is strongly marked by red cherries and slightly unripe redcurrants. On the palate there is still a somewhat firm acidity, embedded in a rough-edged extract. And yet—perhaps wait ten years and then, like so many other vintages, it will prove that a Domaine de Chevalier always needs a bit more time than one allows. 03: The nose is quite elegant with plum tones and a red-berry touch. The palate is the exact opposite; rather hard, with bourgeois tannin contours; the finish is floral, cool, with a spicy tobacco aroma. The wine has power in itself, but for a Domaine de Chevalier too little finesse. Decant for two hours. 16/20 drink – 2020

Bright red color. Medium intensity. Brilliant. Nose of medium intensity. Slightly alcoholic. Balsamic. With swirling, very balsamic. Fruit in the background. The intensity remains set back. Soft attack. Medium-intensity structure, evolving straight, fairly integrated. Suave character. Finishes on well-balanced, firm tannins that linger quite long. Tasting it twice reinforces the impression of the vintage’s natural austerity. Lacks a bit of substance.

A disturbing pattern appears to be emerging with recent offerings from this chateau. After bottling, the wines are fruitless, ferociously tannic, and completely out of balance. Even the white Domaine de Chevalier seems to be missing the great intensity of flavor and ripeness that one expects from this renowned estate in Pessac-Leognan. A medium to dark ruby color is deceptive in view of the charmless, hollow, aggressively tannic wine that has emerged since bottling. The sweet, ripe fruit present in cask has turned into a charmless wine of dubious balance. I cannot see it ever turning itself around. It reminds me of the 1975. Given the number of marvelous Domaine de Chevaliers I have tasted as well as purchased over the years, I hope my tasting notes for the 1993-95 prove to be terribly inaccurate.