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Pavie 2004

St Emilion, Premier Grand Cru Classé A

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Tasting Notes

Black in color, inky, with treacle tart, tar and intense berry on the nose. Full-bodied, with chewy yet caressing tannins and lots of ripe, almost raisiny fruit character. Mouthpuckering. Needs time. Best after 2016. 7,500 cases made.

Score: 93

James Suckling, Wine Spectator Maturity: 2016+ 01 January 2008

A brilliant effort from proprietors Chantal and Gerard Perse, Pavie’s 2004 (7,050 cases) exhibits an inky/ruby/purple color, a surprisingly soft, forward style for this hallowed terroir, full-bodied, and concentrated creme de cassis flavors intermixed with cherries, truffles, and subtle smoky wood notes. Beautifully-textured as well as expansive, this may be the most developed and forward Pavie made by Perse since his acquisition of the property in 1998. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2025+. (95+ points)

Score: 95

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2009-2025 01 June 2007

The 2004 Pavie (7,050 cases) tips the scales at 13.5% alcohol. One of the stars of the vintage, it boasts a dense purple color as well as a penetrating, fragrant perfume of creme de cassis, black cherry liqueur, licorice, Asian spices, and incense. Full-bodied and powerful with silky tannin, a multi-layered attack as well as mid-palate, and a fabulously long finish that lasts for nearly a minute, this beauty needs 5-7 years of cellaring, and should age for 40-50 years.

Score: 95 - 97

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2011-2056 01 June 2006

Good deep fresh ruby. Vibrant, complex aromas of blackberry, violet, licorice, espresso and minerals. Concentrated, spicy and fresh, with lovely clarity and lift to its penetrating dark fruit and mineral flavors. Densely packed and downright palate-staining for 2004 without any impression of heaviness. This has plenty of fat for the year and finishes impressively dense, with ripe, building tannins. Owner Gerard Perse notes that Pavie has the benefit of three different soil types, while Pavie-Decesse is a single block of old vines on calcaire Thus Pavie is always more complex, he adds, and the portion of younger vines at Pavie brings a fruity quality that's sometimes missing in Pavie-Decesse.

Score: 93

Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar 01 May 2007

[For obvious (to many of you) reasons, I am falling over myself to see the good points in this year’s Pavie - but am sad that I was robbed of the chance of tasting it blind with its peers, as I was able to with the infamous 2003, because the proprietor Gérard Perse has decided this year not to show his wines in the UGC tasting (see Visiting Ch Pavie).] Very dark purple with a certain rich smokiness on the nose. Quite a spread of inky fruit across the palate (less rasping than Pavie Decesse) but then those tannins start to insist. The evolution of this wine is going to be a tricky balancing act between the very marked, dry tannins and that slightly fragile fruit quality. At the moment the wine is extremely severe, as though the fruit has been sucked out of the middle. It is certainly fresher than the 2003, without any porty hints, but if Pavie 2003 is like an exaggerated version of the characteristics of the 2003 vintage, this is certainly its 2004 counterpart.

Score: 16 - 17

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2018-2028 18 August 2005

A rounded, ripe sweet black cherry, cassis nose. Liquorice. Good definition. Very tannic, massive grip, massive structure. Dominated by immense tannins. With the controversy surrounding this wine, I do not want to resort to pejorative adjectives, but concentrate on the wine, which for me lacks the lingering sweetness that would signal some fruit under that tannin. The only thing that Pavie lacks in restraint.

Score: 90 - 92

Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 01 January 2005