Pavie 2015

St Emilion, Premier Grand Cru Classé A

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Tasting Notes
Pure perfection in a glass and unquestionably one of the great vintages for this cuvée, the 2015 Pavie is a blend of 60% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon that was brought up in 80% new French oak. Sharing some similarities with the 2009, this tour de force sports a saturated purple color as well as a sweet bouquet of crème de cassis, crushed rocks, white truffle, and licorice. Its oak is perfectly integrated and balanced by this wine’s massive fruit and structure. Full-bodied, deep, and superbly concentrated, with building tannins, it’s a massive wine by any measure, but what sets it apart is that it still glides across the palate and retains an incredible sense of purity, balance, and elegance. It’s drinking well today due to the vintage’s opulence, yet won’t hit prime time for another 5-10 years and I suspect will keep for upward of 50 years. Score: 100 Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com Maturity: 2022-2073 15 October 2018
The 2015 Château Pavie is going to be a candidate for the wine of the vintage, both from the right and left banks, it’s that good. Made from 60% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon, this truly great wine sports an inky purple color and to-die-for notes of crème de cassis, toasted bread, liquid flowers, and a building, gravely, liquid rock-like minerality. Possessing full-bodied richness, ultra-fine tannin, and integrated acidity, with perfect ripeness and balance, it will need at least 4-5 years of bottle age to be drinkable but is going to keep for decades. I wrote 'Wow' more than once in my notes. Score: 98 - 100 Jeb Dunnuck, - Maturity: 2022-2052 30 November 2017
The 2015 Pavie has an intense bouquet with layers of blackberry, crème de cassis, melted tar and and light graphite notes, opulent in style although nicely defined. The palate is medium-bodied with silky smooth tannin, a fine line of acidity and interestingly, as this Pavie goes along, it develops more finesse. There are touches of dark chocolate and spices, good depth on the finish with a persistent aftertaste. It will require several years in bottle but there is great potential here. Score: 96 Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2025-2050 01 March 2018
The 2015 Pavie is a blend of 60% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc and 18% Cabernet Sauvignon that is matured in 80% new oak and 20% one-year-old barrels. It has a really quite glorious bouquet that is sensual and very well defined and pure. In my opinion, just dialing down the new oak even by 15% is allowing more personality and more terroir-expression to filter through. The palate is medium-bodied with supple, ripe, lace-like tannins and a fine bead of acidity. It feels caressing and sensual in the mouth with superb mineralité and purity on the vivacious and sustained finish. This is unquestionably the best wine from Gérard Perse in 2015: a great Pavie with a very long life ahead, though I would cellar it for at least a decade to witness it in full flight. Score: 96 - 98 Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2025-2060 01 April 2016
In 2015, the blend is 60% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc and 18% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the wine was matured 80% in new French oak. Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2015 Pavie is still sporting a bit of its oak to begin, giving way to a glorious nose of crushed black cherries, blackberries and mulberries plus hints of dried roses, stewed tea, unsmoked cigars and garrigue. The rich, concentrated, full-bodied palate delivers an incredible structure of very firm, very ripe tannins and a racy line of freshness cutting through the dense layers of perfumed black fruits and savory notions, finishing with epic length. Score: 98 Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2024-2045 21 February 2018
This is really something. Sort of speechless when I taste it. It shows evocative aromas of wet earth, oyster shell, dust, tile, blackberries and blueberries. Full body, ultra-fine tannins and a length and intensity that is so, so fine. A wine in perfect harmony. Complete. Hard not not to drink. Energetic and balanced. Better to wait for 10 years. Try in 2028. Score: 100 James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com 02 February 2018
For me, this redefines Pavie. The depth and intensity and more important, the clarity, is really something. Full and ultra-fine tannins. It shows such great tannins and finesse. It is the essences of Pavie. Score: 100 James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com 01 April 2016
Heady, exotic and absolutely compelling, the 2015 Pavie is one of the standouts of the vintage. Soaring aromatics meld into a core of super-ripe red plum, cherry jam, rose petal, mint and lavender in this sensual, voluptuous Saint-Émilion. Even with all of its flamboyance, the 2015 possesses remarkable nuance and delineation. This is an overwhelmingly beautiful wine that seduces both the intellectual and hedonistic senses. Don't miss it. Tasted two times. Score: 98 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2022-2050 01 February 2018
One of the wines of the vintage, the 2015 Pavie is dense, powerful and seamless. A huge, spherical wine, even for the year, the 2015 exudes depth. Even with all of its intensity, the 2015 retains striking freshness and nuance, with plenty of bright red stone fruit and floral notes taking center stage. The super-extracted, oak-driven style that was such a Pavie signature a decade ago seems to be giving way to a more refined approach that showcases fruit, richness and purity. This is a superb showing from Gerard Perse and consulting winemaker Michel Rolland. Score: 95 - 98 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com 01 April 2016
Owned by Gerard Perse, Chateau Pavie is superbly situated on the famed slope of St Emilion. Upgraded to St Emilion First Growth status in 2012 along with Angelus, joining Cheval Blanc and Ausone in the elite. Previously controversial for its super-contentrated, hugely extracted style, there has been a move away from density towards refinement. Deep colour. A lovely nose with ultra-ripe black fruit glowing perfume. Vibrant and refined with plenty of power. A very long term wine, the tannins are huge but silky and blended perfectly. Long and chiseled elegance. Score: 96 - 98 Albany Vintners, - 27 April 2016
60% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon. 37 ha. 36 hl/ha. No need for over-extraction because the grapes were naturally ripe. Picked until 9 October. Rich and silky. Blackish crimson. Massive build. Very sweet - but there is some freshness too. Very round tannins. More fluid and less astringent than many vintages. 14.55% (17+ Points) Score: 17 Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2028-2045 01 April 2016
This delivers some serious fruit firepower, with blueberry, blackberry and plum notes that pump along authoritatively, pulling the creamy tannins along with them. Echoes of tobacco and violet emerge through the finish, along with a buried mineral accent. A contender for wine of the vintage on the Right Bank. Score: 95 - 98 James Molesworth, Wine Spectator 01 April 2016

Tasting Notes

Pure perfection in a glass and unquestionably one of the great vintages for this cuvée, the 2015 Pavie is a blend of 60% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon that was brought up in 80% new French oak. Sharing some similarities with the 2009, this tour de force sports a saturated purple color as well as a sweet bouquet of crème de cassis, crushed rocks, white truffle, and licorice. Its oak is perfectly integrated and balanced by this wine’s massive fruit and structure. Full-bodied, deep, and superbly concentrated, with building tannins, it’s a massive wine by any measure, but what sets it apart is that it still glides across the palate and retains an incredible sense of purity, balance, and elegance. It’s drinking well today due to the vintage’s opulence, yet won’t hit prime time for another 5-10 years and I suspect will keep for upward of 50 years.

Score: 100

Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com Maturity: 2022-2073 15 October 2018

The 2015 Château Pavie is going to be a candidate for the wine of the vintage, both from the right and left banks, it’s that good. Made from 60% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon, this truly great wine sports an inky purple color and to-die-for notes of crème de cassis, toasted bread, liquid flowers, and a building, gravely, liquid rock-like minerality. Possessing full-bodied richness, ultra-fine tannin, and integrated acidity, with perfect ripeness and balance, it will need at least 4-5 years of bottle age to be drinkable but is going to keep for decades. I wrote 'Wow' more than once in my notes.

Score: 98 - 100

Jeb Dunnuck, - Maturity: 2022-2052 30 November 2017

The 2015 Pavie has an intense bouquet with layers of blackberry, crème de cassis, melted tar and and light graphite notes, opulent in style although nicely defined. The palate is medium-bodied with silky smooth tannin, a fine line of acidity and interestingly, as this Pavie goes along, it develops more finesse. There are touches of dark chocolate and spices, good depth on the finish with a persistent aftertaste. It will require several years in bottle but there is great potential here.

Score: 96

Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2025-2050 01 March 2018

The 2015 Pavie is a blend of 60% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc and 18% Cabernet Sauvignon that is matured in 80% new oak and 20% one-year-old barrels. It has a really quite glorious bouquet that is sensual and very well defined and pure. In my opinion, just dialing down the new oak even by 15% is allowing more personality and more terroir-expression to filter through. The palate is medium-bodied with supple, ripe, lace-like tannins and a fine bead of acidity. It feels caressing and sensual in the mouth with superb mineralité and purity on the vivacious and sustained finish. This is unquestionably the best wine from Gérard Perse in 2015: a great Pavie with a very long life ahead, though I would cellar it for at least a decade to witness it in full flight.

Score: 96 - 98

Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2025-2060 01 April 2016

In 2015, the blend is 60% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc and 18% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the wine was matured 80% in new French oak. Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2015 Pavie is still sporting a bit of its oak to begin, giving way to a glorious nose of crushed black cherries, blackberries and mulberries plus hints of dried roses, stewed tea, unsmoked cigars and garrigue. The rich, concentrated, full-bodied palate delivers an incredible structure of very firm, very ripe tannins and a racy line of freshness cutting through the dense layers of perfumed black fruits and savory notions, finishing with epic length.

Score: 98

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2024-2045 21 February 2018

This is really something. Sort of speechless when I taste it. It shows evocative aromas of wet earth, oyster shell, dust, tile, blackberries and blueberries. Full body, ultra-fine tannins and a length and intensity that is so, so fine. A wine in perfect harmony. Complete. Hard not not to drink. Energetic and balanced. Better to wait for 10 years. Try in 2028.

Score: 100

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com 02 February 2018

For me, this redefines Pavie. The depth and intensity and more important, the clarity, is really something. Full and ultra-fine tannins. It shows such great tannins and finesse. It is the essences of Pavie.

Score: 100

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com 01 April 2016

Heady, exotic and absolutely compelling, the 2015 Pavie is one of the standouts of the vintage. Soaring aromatics meld into a core of super-ripe red plum, cherry jam, rose petal, mint and lavender in this sensual, voluptuous Saint-Émilion. Even with all of its flamboyance, the 2015 possesses remarkable nuance and delineation. This is an overwhelmingly beautiful wine that seduces both the intellectual and hedonistic senses. Don't miss it. Tasted two times.

Score: 98

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2022-2050 01 February 2018

One of the wines of the vintage, the 2015 Pavie is dense, powerful and seamless. A huge, spherical wine, even for the year, the 2015 exudes depth. Even with all of its intensity, the 2015 retains striking freshness and nuance, with plenty of bright red stone fruit and floral notes taking center stage. The super-extracted, oak-driven style that was such a Pavie signature a decade ago seems to be giving way to a more refined approach that showcases fruit, richness and purity. This is a superb showing from Gerard Perse and consulting winemaker Michel Rolland.

Score: 95 - 98

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com 01 April 2016

Owned by Gerard Perse, Chateau Pavie is superbly situated on the famed slope of St Emilion. Upgraded to St Emilion First Growth status in 2012 along with Angelus, joining Cheval Blanc and Ausone in the elite. Previously controversial for its super-contentrated, hugely extracted style, there has been a move away from density towards refinement. Deep colour. A lovely nose with ultra-ripe black fruit glowing perfume. Vibrant and refined with plenty of power. A very long term wine, the tannins are huge but silky and blended perfectly. Long and chiseled elegance.

Score: 96 - 98

Albany Vintners, - 27 April 2016

60% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon. 37 ha. 36 hl/ha. No need for over-extraction because the grapes were naturally ripe. Picked until 9 October. Rich and silky. Blackish crimson. Massive build. Very sweet - but there is some freshness too. Very round tannins. More fluid and less astringent than many vintages. 14.55% (17+ Points)

Score: 17

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2028-2045 01 April 2016

This delivers some serious fruit firepower, with blueberry, blackberry and plum notes that pump along authoritatively, pulling the creamy tannins along with them. Echoes of tobacco and violet emerge through the finish, along with a buried mineral accent. A contender for wine of the vintage on the Right Bank.

Score: 95 - 98

James Molesworth, Wine Spectator 01 April 2016

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