Chevalier, the white knight and the red

Possibly the finest white wine of all France, Chevalier Blanc is remarkable for having a little known cousin, a red Chevalier that stands up to many of the fine wines of the Médoc

Claude Ricard inherited the celebrated Graves estate Domaine de Chevalier in 1948, at the age of 21, and abandoned a potential career as a classical pianist to take over the reins. But music still pervaded the domaine when Ricard was in charge. On my first visit to Chevalier in the 1980s, the other guests were two flamenco guitarists. There was music – and there was astonishing wine. Over lunch the wines were served blind, a mixture of acclaimed and despised vintages, but there was often little in terms of quality to divide them.

Yet, by this time, Ricard was no longer the owner. In 1983, that perennial French problem of squabbling heirs made the sale of Chevalier inevitable. The purchaser was the Bernard family, better known for the brandy they produced than for wine. Olivier Bernard, at the age of 23, was installed as new co-director of the domaine. Remarkably, Claude Ricard stayed in place, and the two men worked amicably together until Ricard gracefully bowed out in 1988. In the 20-odd years that have passed since Olivier Bernard’s arrival, he has enhanced the reputation of Chevalier even further but done nothing to change the wine’s character. Chevalier remains Chevalier.

The estate itself is physically unremarkable. Located just northwest of Léognan in the corner of what is today the Pessac-Léognan appellation, the vines stretch in a barely undulating mass from the road to the modest château and less modest winery.