“Chevalier’s history is an integral part of its identity... The true birth of the estate dates back to the second half of the 19th century. Until not so long ago, the forest took up most of the western part of the Graves, where we are located. How things have changed since then!
Archives from the 17th century show us that the small Domaine de Chivaley included “houses, outbuildings, gardens, grounds, vines, woods, and meadows.” The name "Chivaley", (meaning "knight" in Gascon) is believed to be linked, for an unknown reason, to the presence of the very old pilgrim trail to Santiago de Compostela which still borders the estate.
The term domaine, later replaced by château, originally had a wider meaning that has since disappeared. It referred to an ensemble, as at Chivaley, formed by a family residence and agricultural estate in which viticulture coexisted with other crops and breeding...”