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Pavie 2020

RegionBordeaux
Subregion France > Bordeaux > Right Bank > St Emilion
ColourRed
TypeStill
Grape VarietyMerlot/Cabernet Franc/Cabernet Sauvignon

Gérard Perse has created a magnificent modern winery of marble, stainless steel and new oak barrels and, with very low yields, has been making wines of enormous concentration and power. Since 1998 Pavie has been rewarded with a string of high scores from the critics and has now attained Premier Grand Cru Classé 'A' status. The 37 hectare vineyard contains vines of an average age of 48 years.

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Label

Tasting Notes

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. Better after 2029 but a joy to taste.

100
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, May 2023

Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2020 Pavie sashays out with flamboyant notes of black and red cherries, black raspberries, and juicy plums opening out to fragrant underlying scents of forest floor, Sichuan pepper, and rose oil plus a hint of lavender. The medium to full-bodied palate is tightly wound and super-intense, delivering very fine-grained tannins and beautiful tension, finishing long and minerally. This is gorgeous!

100
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Independent, December 2023

Pure perfection in red wine, the 2020 Château Pavie checks in as 50% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Franc and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon, all raised in 75% new French oak. 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. Hats off to the Perse team for not following trends and for continuing to make a truly Grand Vin that offers a rare mix of power and elegance. Give bottles just 4-5 years and enjoy over the following three decades.

100
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com, March 2023

The 2020 Pavie was picked September 21–30 at 31hl/ha and matured in 75% new oak, the rest one year old. It continues to see greater emphasis on Cabernets – 34% Franc and 16% Sauvignon, the Merlot reduced to half the blend. This gradual rejigging of the blend is borne out on the nose, which features hints of damp loamy soil and bell pepper infusing vivid blackberry and wild strawberry fruit, becoming more and more citrusy with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with sautéed tannins that gently grip. Powerful, but the 14.82° alcohol is neatly disguised on the finish (at least in tasting measure) with fine delineation. Cohesive and focused. I would like to see a little more personality develop during élevage, but this remains an impressive Saint-Émilion and a Pavie with a long future ahead. Drink: 2030 - 2060

95/97
Neal Martin, vinous.com, May 2021

The Cabernets dominate the blend on the aromatics, and you can really see they are moving the needle on the architecture and sculpting of this wine. A ton of concentration on the nose and upfront, but it is well balanced by damson and blackberry, and has a sense of energy, uplift and clear minerality. This shows the limestone terroir in a way that, with the best will in the world, the more concentrated style of Pavie just didn't do. There is density and glamour, with layers of black chocolate, graphite and liquorice. It is pretty disarming overall, and will age extremely well. 3.61pH. A yield of 31hl/ha, average age of vine 49 years. 75% new oak.

Drinking Window 2027 - 2044

97
Jane Anson, Decanter.com, May 2021

50% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Franc, 16% Cabernet Sauvignon. Cask sample.
Power and elegance combined. Deep purple-black colour. Intensity and complexity on the nose with dark fruit, cassis, mint and floral notes. Beautifully poised on the palate with smooth attack and persistent fruit and freshness. Powerful tannic frame but tannins really fine and no extraction. Long, persistent finish. Absolute precision. More than highlights the change in style. One of the best yet. (JL) 14.8%
Drink 2030 – 2050

18
James Lawther MW, JancisRobinson.com, April 2021

Inky, dense blackberry and vanilla; rich, full, vital in acidity, firm tannin; the typical core finesse, 1er cru complexity and length within the still slightly wood-dry tannins, but pure and linear and fine and, as always, you taste the vineyard’s finesse at the heart of the firm frame; here is a fine rich fruit core, with considerable scope, plenty of long-term promise, and fine, scented length. Still clinging to the old “house style” texture a bit, meaning that, at a similar quality level, it doesn’t have the sheer class of the Clos Fourtet, for example. 2032–50+.

93/94
Michael Schuster, The World of Fine Wine, May 2021
Read more tasting notes...

A blend of 50% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Franc, and 16% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2020 Pavie has a deep garnet-purple color. After a swirl or two, the nose erupts with powerful notions of baked plums and blueberry preserves, giving way to fragrant notes of molten licorice, lilacs, crushed rocks, and chocolate box, with just a touch of black olives. The medium to full-bodied palate is dense and muscular, charged with amazing tension and textured with super fine-grained tannins, finishing very long with multi-layered exotic spices, mineral and floral notes. Shimmery!

99
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Independent, March 2023

The aromas are already exceptional, showing crushed-stone, limestone and salt character to the dark fruit and bark. It’s full-bodied, yet agile. Floats on the palate, then kicks in with loads of ultra fine tannins. The intensity and verve of this wine promises true greatness.

99/100
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, May 2021

Composed of 50% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Franc and 16% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2020 Pavie weighs in with an alcohol of 14.82% and a pH of 3.61. It is aging in French oak barriques, 75% new. Opaque purple-black colored, 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. As hedonic as it is cerebral this year, it is a beautiful paradox.

97/99
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate, May 2021
Please note that these tasting notes/scores are not intended to be exhaustive and in some cases they may not be the most recently published figures. However, we always do our best to add latest scores and reviews when these come to our attention. We advise customers who wish to purchase wines based simply on critical reviews to carry out further research into the latest reports.