Chateau Pavie (6 Bottes in OWC) 2019

Professional Ratings

• 100 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  The 2019 Pavie is a blend of 50% Merlot, 32% Cabernet Franc and 18% Cabernet Sauvignon, harvested from the 30th of September to the 11th of October. The yields this year were 35 hectoliters per hectare, and the alcohol came in at 14.73%, while the pH was 3.55 (remarkably low!). Very deep garnet-purple in color, the nose opens with a beguiling array of intertwined earth and black fruit scents: baked plums, black cherry preserves, tilled soil, black truffles, mossy tree bark and mulberries with nuances of allspice, clove oil, espresso and cedar chest. Full-bodied, densely packed and with a rock-solid structure, the constrained flavor layers are just waiting to explode; it's framed by firm, exquisitely ripe, rounded tannins and this vineyard's signature freshness, finishing with epic length and depth. Quaking with latent power and shimmering with a kaleidoscope of electric flavors, this could only be Pavie.
  Barrel Sample: 97-100
• 99 Jeb Dunnuck
  The grand vin, the 2019 Château Pavie is based on 50% Merlot, 32% Cabernet Franc, and 18% Cabernet Sauvignon, continuing the trend toward less Merlot in the final blend. Brought up in 80% new French oak (this has also decreased over the past handful of years), it reveals an inky purple/blue hue as well as a fresh, vivid bouquet creme de cassis, toasted spice, violets, chocolate, and graphite. Just a rich, sexy, full-bodied wine, it stays straight and focused on the palate, with silky tannins, perfectly integrated acidity, and flawless balance. It's going to be drinkable with just short-term cellaring yet still evolve beautifully for 30 years.
  Barrel Sample: 97-99
• 99 Wine Enthusiast
  This wine has an aristocratic air. The tannins and fruit flavors are rich but not showy, indicating how this estate has found its stride. With its firm structure and bold black fruit tones, it is going to be a wine for long-term aging.
  Barrel Sample: 97-99
• 98 James Suckling

  A perfumed nose of cherries, blueberries, cedar, toast, cloves and walnuts. Full-bodied with a firm, beautiful frame of fine-grained tannins. Layered and elegant. Intense, powerful and spicy. Dark and intriguing, with wonderful presence in the glass. Keeps going. Only 2 hectares in production because 1.5 hectare replanted.Best from 2027.

• 97 Wine Spectator

  Dreamy right from the start, with a seductive mouthfeel to its mix of raspberry puree, cassis and creamed plum flavors infused with rooibos tea, black licorice and alder accents. Long and extremely fine-grained through the finish, with subtle floral lift and a lingering hint of chalky minerality. Gorgeous. Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.

• 96 Decanter
  Excellent quality Pavie, rippling with black fruits. Notably more subdued than in some vintages as the team looks to reframe just slightly the bulging muscles of the past, and as the high levels of Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc make an impact. It takes a moment to adjust to, but when you sit with it, you feel a rippling frame to the wine, and a juicy central core. Fleshy cassis and blackberry fruits, slate walls and black truffle overlay. Is going to age extremely well.