Chateau Pavie (Futures Pre-Sale) 2021
- Vinous
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Suckling
James -
Dunnuck
Jeb - Decanter
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2021 Pavie is a wine of tremendous potential. Naturally, it shows the more mid-weight style of the year and yet there is plenty of depth as well as energy that starts to emerge with a bit of time in the glass. Bright saline notes shape the wine while extending the finish and adding so much drive. The 2021 is shaping up to be a very special wine. All it needs is time. –Antonio Galloni
Barrel Sample: 95-97 -
James Suckling
Deep black and blue fruit with cocoa and tar character. Compact and full-bodied with firm, ripe tannins that are very textured and interwoven into the wine. This has a lot of structure to go a long way. Yet it remains in balance with finesse. 52% merlot, 30% cabernet franc and 18% cabernet sauvignon.
Barrel Sample: 95-96 -
Jeb Dunnuck
As to the Grand Vin, the saturated ruby/purple-hued 2021 Château Pavie defies the vintage with its ripe, powerful aromatics of cassis, toasted spice, chalky minerality, graphite, and hints of truffly earth. A rich, medium to full-bodied, concentrated, incredibly textured 2021, it has velvety tannins, no hard edges, and a gorgeous finish. It's a testament to the talent and work of this incredible team and is up with the crème de la crème of the vintage. The 2021 is based on 52% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, and 18% Cabernet Sauvignon, brought up in a mix of new and used barrels, hitting 14.14% alcohol and a pH of 3.67. It’s going to age for 20-25 years if well stored.
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Decanter
Lovely aromas, ripe blackcurrants, damsons and plums, milk chocolate, cinnamon and vanilla. Round and mouthfilling, this has energy and vibrancy with good acidity lifting the fruit up, tannins providing chew and texture, and the minerality/austerity showing the terroir in the glass. A spiced liquorice and clove element gives the backbone of the wine, adding structure and nuance, while the fruit gives the seduction but it’s a little tight still, linear and straight - staying just the right side of full extraction. Doesn't feel so immediately approachable but this has an excellent youthful character, still with depth and layers, that will round out over ageing. A more classic, immensely enjoyable and paired-back Pavie. All the wines in the range really do show a sense of place, which at the end of the day is what you want if you're a terroir purist!
Barrel Sample: 94
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Wine
Established on the splendid “Côte Pavie”, the vineyard of Château Pavie was planted by the roman in the 4th century who first saw the incredible potential of this terroir. The history of the property goes back to 1850 when the Pimpinelle estate was owned by Mr Fayard and Mr Chapus who, thanks to their work, managed to obtain a gold medal at the Paris World Fair.
Less than ten years later, it was bequeathed to Ferdinand Bouffard, a Bordeaux merchant who, in twenty years, managed to build up a 50-hectare estate by buying up several properties. Just after the war, it was bought by Albert Porte when Ferdinand Bouffard passed away. By unifying the properties of Mr. Bouffard, he created Château Pavie (The name comes from a particularly sweet and juicy peach variety that was growing on the slope).
Alexandre Valette took over in 1943 and succeeded in raising it to the rank of Premier Grand Cru Classé B in 1955. His grandson, who had taken over in 1957, sold it to Gérard Perse in 1998 who is still the owner today. Thanks to major investments in both the vineyard and the cellar and to additional work towards maturity and precision, the latter managed to raise his estate to the rank of Premier Grand Cru Classé “A” during the revision of the classification of Saint-Emilion wines in 2012.
The magnificence of Château Pavie comes from its exceptional terroir (37 hectares planted in one block) made of limestone, clay and sand-clay, with over 80 meters of altitude variation offering a multitude of micro-terroir, with mostly south exposure, where the typical grape varieties of the right bank (Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon) achieve perfect maturity.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Marked by its historic fortified village—perhaps the prettiest in all of Bordeaux, the St-Émilion appellation, along with its neighboring village of Pomerol, are leaders in quality on the Right Bank of Bordeaux. These Merlot-dominant red wines (complemented by various amounts of Cabernet Franc and/or Cabernet Sauvignon) remain some of the most admired and collected wines of the world.
St-Émilion has the longest history in wine production in Bordeaux—longer than the Left Bank—dating back to an 8th century monk named Saint Émilion who became a hermit in one of the many limestone caves scattered throughout the area.
Today St-Émilion is made up of hundreds of independent farmers dedicated to the same thing: growing Merlot and Cabernet Franc (and tiny amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon). While always roughly the same blend, the wines of St-Émilion vary considerably depending on the soil upon which they are grown—and the soils do vary considerably throughout the region.
The chateaux with the highest classification (Premier Grand Cru Classés) are on gravel-rich soils or steep, clay-limestone hillsides. There are only four given the highest rank, called Premier Grand Cru Classés A (Chateau Cheval Blanc, Ausone, Angélus, Pavie) and 14 are Premier Grand Cru Classés B. Much of the rest of the vineyards in the appellation are on flatter land where the soils are a mix of gravel, sand and alluvial matter.
Great wines from St-Émilion will be deep in color, and might have characteristics of blackberry liqueur, black raspberry, licorice, chocolate, grilled meat, earth or truffles. They will be bold, layered and lush.