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Tasting Notes
Deep garnet with a touch of purple, the 2009 Pavie is quite closed to begin, needing a lot of shaking to bring out a powerful notes of blueberry pie, Black Forest cake, and cinnamon toast leading to a fragrant undercurrent of rose oil, licorice, and clove oil. The full-bodied palate is built like a brick house, with a firm frame of velvety tannins and fantastic tension framing the generous fruit, finishing with epic length and depth. It needs 5-7 years at least.
Critic Scores
Average Score
Wine Spectator
Neal Martin
More reviews and scores
Blackberry, black cherry, licorice and mineral. Full-bodied, with a big core of velvety tannins and rich fruit. Full throttle, and all there. Really massive. Blockbuster and more. Could be a tad overdone. But we will see in bottle
Tasted at Chateau Pavie and then at a negociant. Cropped between 5th and 15th October at 28hl/ha, a blend of 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. At the chateau: this has a very dense, introverted bouquet that opens up with aeration, to show some dense black fruit, boysenberry, kirsch and a touch of dried prune. Another bottle that had been open for 30 minutes is much fresher. The palate is full-bodied and well balanced, fine definition and brightness of fruit, not an elegant Pavie but it has panache. Firm grip on the finish with fine minerality. Excellent. The sample at the negociant had more forthright tannins that were very aggressive and dry on the finish. Difficult to pin down with so many different showings, hence the question mark for now. Tasted March 2010.
Blackish crimson. Minerals and lively and FRESH!! Juicy and gouleyant and eye- catching but with sufficient juice and not too dry on the end. Really tastes as though it comes from an interesting slope. Sun dried but not to excess. (This note was written when I tasted it blind while the other, made later that same day, was written at the property tasting sighted.) / Blackish purple. Suddenly interesting! Very distinctive. Very appetising and succulent. All pleasure but with a promise of future development. So much more satisfying and succulent than its stablemates. Jancis Robinson, jancisrobinson.com
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About the producer
The slopes of Château Pavie were planted as far back as the fourth century by the Ancient Romans and it has been a well-known producer in Saint-Émilion since the middle of the 19th century.