2020 Pavie Macquin
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Tasting Notes
Pavie Macquin, as is typical, is not afraid to push the ripeness here. Nor does it need to be, as it has the underpinning firmness of quality tannins to provide a balancing structure and freshness to the palate. The wine shows excellent high-quality oak influence with lovely toasted, dry spice character alongside perfumed scents of lavender, violets, incense and peppery spice. It is an amazingly complex nose. The palate is full of baked blueberry and sweet black plum fruit. It is so juicy on the palate, while the tannins provide a great counterpoint – very fine, detailed and layered. The wine finishes with a lovely energy and focus, despite the high levels of ripeness and concentration.
Critic Scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
There is a richness here, a powerful spread of black fruits, that grabs you from the start. Perhaps less razor precision than the Larcis Ducasse (also part of the Nicolas Thienpont stable) but more width and depth of flavour. This has texture and brambled power, sappy saline on the finish, touches of austerity, graphite laced through with grilled cassis and aniseed. Some reduction at this point, will clear over barrel ageing. Tasted several times, and each time the pumice stone and chalk of limestone grips on and will not let go. A yield of 31hl/ha.
The 2020 Pavie Macquin has an opaque purple-black color, exploding from the glass with an intoxicating perfume of violets, Ceylon tea, forest floor and eucalyptus over a core of blackberry preserves, Morello cherries and stewed plum, plus wafts of crushed rocks and unsmoked cigars. The medium to full-bodied palate shimmers with energetic red and black fruit layers and loads of floral and earthy sparks, framed by exquisitely ripe, finely grained tannins and amazing tension, finishing with a long-lingering perfume of black fruits. A real head-turner!
The 2020 Pavie Macquin is one of the most exotic Saint-Émilions of the year. Inky red fruit, lavender, rose petal, mint, plum and kirsch all open in the glass. Succulent and racy to the core, the 2020 possesses mind-blowing intensity yet remains fresh, vibrant and full of energy. It is one of the most alluring and complete recent vintages I can remember tasting. In a word: dazzling.
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About the producer
Next time you drink a great glass of Saint-Émilion, you have Château Pavie Macquin to thank. In the late nineteenth century, Albert Macquin introduced the vine growers of Bordeaux to grafting American rootstocks.