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2020 Château Pavie

Removed from a temperature and humidity controlled wine storage unit

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RATINGS

100James Suckling

This opens up on your palate like a butterfly. It takes your breath away. Purity of blackberry, raspberry and black cherry. Lavender. Very, very impressive. Full and chewy with tight and polished tannins that go on and on. Energetic and structured. Crisp and vivid. Superb finish.

100Jeb Dunnuck

Absolutely incredible in every way, it has a sensational bouquet of crème de cassis, smoked tobacco, chocolaty oak, graphite, white truffle, and hints of flowers. Pure, full-bodied, and concentrated, with perfect integration of its fruit, oak, and tannins, it's one of those wines that needs to be tasted to be believed.

97-99The Wine Advocate

...notes of plum pudding, blueberry pie and dark chocolate-covered cherries charge out of the gate, followed closely by hints of eucalyptus, star anise, unsmoked cigars and fertile loam with a hint of cedar chest. The full-bodied palate is built like a brick house, offering very firm yet wonderfully ripe, velvety tannins and seamless freshness to support the densely laden, muscular black and blue fruits, finishing very long and with loads of mineral-laced layers.

97-99Vinous / IWC

Rich, inky and wonderfully vibrant, it pulses with energy from start to finish. All the elements are well balanced. Soaring Cabernet Franc aromatics lead into a core of finely knit yet deep fruit in a wine that feels endless.

18+ Jancis Robinson

Dark and ripe-fruited with plenty of sweet oak spice. Powerful, deep, long and yet balanced between fruit and structure.

PRODUCER

Château Pavie

Since it was purchased by Gerard Perse in 1998, Château Pavie, one of four St.-Émilion Premier Grand Cru Classé A estates, has become one of the appellation’s most noted wines. A former cyclist who made his fortune with supermarket chains, Perse has modernized and updated the estate with a major replanting program. He also did a complete remodel of the cellars. Perse also owns Château Monbousquet and Château Pavie-Decesse. A sign of Pavie’s new prestige is that it was upgraded to a Premier Grand Cru Class A in 2012 after having been a Premier Cru Class B since 1954. At 103 acres it is significantly larger than such neighbors as Ausone. Pavie is notable for its three quite different terroirs, each with its own microclimate. The vineyards are planted to 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Some 100,000 bottles are produced each year. Robert M. Parker Jr. has written that “Pavie is one of the world’s great wines and, in St.-Émilion, exceeded only in price, not quality, by Cheval Blanc.”

REGION

France, Bordeaux, St.-Émilion

Saint-Émilion is on the east side of the Dordogne River. At 13,400 acres it is one of Bordeaux’s largest appellations, and perhaps its most picturesque. It is also home to what has been called “the garagiste” movement of upstart, tradition-defying winemakers who produce artisanal wines in styles that are unconventional for the appellation. The village of Saint-Émilion dates from the middle ages and it sits on low hills, surrounded by ancient walls. Like its neighbor Pomerol, Saint-Émilion was not included in the famous Bordeaux classification system of 1855. But a century later a ranking system was put in place, and unlike the classification system for the Medoc, the Saint-Émilion system is reviewed every ten years, meaning that estates can be upgraded or downgraded. There are three rankings: Grand Cru Classé, Premier Grand Cru Classé B and Premier Grand Cru Classé A, with the final ranking being the best. Such legendary Saint-Émilion estates as Châteaux Ausone and Cheval-Blanc are Premier Grand Cru Classé A, along with Châteaux Pavie and Angélus, both added to the classification in 2012. Wines in this appellation are primarily Merlot, mixed with Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.

VINTAGE

2020 Château Pavie

Promoted to Premier Grand Cru Classe A in Sept 2012