| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | France > Bordeaux > Right Bank > St Emilion |
| Colour | Red |
| Type | Still |
Planted in pure limestone above Gerard Perse's other famous vineyard/terroir, Chateau Pavie, this 10-acre site's vines average 47 years of age. Fashioned from remarkably low yields, this blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc is a powerful, dense, tannic wine that will require considerable time to round into shape. It exhibits a dense purple color along with sweet aromas of mulberries, black currants, minerals, cold steel, graphite, and background spice. Full-bodied, highly-extracted, dense, and made in an unfashionably tannic, broodingly backward style, this is a wine for the ages. It requires 8-10 years of cellaring, and should last for 25-30+.
My favourite of Gérard Perse's wines. A sumptuous, quite compelling nose of super-ripe black cherries, rose petals and Morello cherry. Good definition. The palate is loaded with voluptuous sweet red-berried fruits enmeshed with firm, succulent, chewy tannins. Moderate acidity. Leads nicely towards a graceful, elegant finish. Smooth and seductive, this is irresistible. Tasted April 2007.
Shows very floral, almost exotic fruit on the nose and palate. Full-bodied, with racy tannins and a long, silky finish. Pretty and focused. Best after 2012.
Blackish crimson. Slightly less exaggerated burnt notes on the nose. Just the merest hint of green on the nose. Then quite cool and sleek on the mid palate. Very fine tannins -lots of effort here. Slightly dry tannins on the finish but an awful lot of work and very healthy mid palate. Some freshness. Not that long but with a very neat finish. Another Perse wine that was not offered blind.
Bright, saturated ruby. Perfumed nose combines kirsch, blackberry, licorice and violet with a pungent rocky minerality. Supple and silky on entry, then densely packed and powerful in the middle, with superb calcaire energy. For all its sweetness and intensity, this shows a brooding medicinal character and great solidity, like sucking a mouthful of rocks. A tightly coiled spring gives this wine brilliant verve and definition. The tannins saturate the entire mouth without coming off as hard or dry on the very long, rising finish. I'd forget about this beauty for a decade.
A tiny production of 1,200 cases ensures that not much of this wine is available, but it is one of the top dozen or so St.-Emilions produced since proprietors Chantal and Gerard Perse took over the estate. Cropped at 30 hectoliters per hectare, the wine enjoyed a 32-day maceration, malolactic in barrel, and aging on its lees. The result is an impressive inky/purple-hued 2006 offering up notes of crushed rocks, black raspberry jam, cold steel, flowers, and spice, and a terrific, full-bodied mouthfeel with no heaviness. Having already absorbed much of its new oak, it is rich and pure with excellent precision, length, and aging potential. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2030.
Solid core of fruit , with silky tannins. Full-bodied and chewy. Slightly hollow midpalate, but stylish and long. Very clean. Almost 92-94.
Good full ruby-red. Black cherry, minerals, licorice and an element of oaky torrefaction on the nose. Suave and firmly built, with complex, soil-driven flavors of dark fruits and minerals. Finishes long and aromatic, with tooth-coating tannins and more apparent structure than the young 2007. This is also much easier to taste today. Perse notes that this wine is aging in 70% new oak in both '06 and '07, whereas in 2005 it was aged in all new barrels and received a longer elevage His intention to bottle the '06 and '07 earlier is a function of the density of those vintages, rather than a general change in philosophy, he added.
