2003 Château Pavie, St Emilion, Bordeaux

2003 Château Pavie, St Emilion, Bordeaux

Product: 20038123637
Prices start from £2,450.00 per case Buying options
2003 Château Pavie, St Emilion, Bordeaux

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Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
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12 x 75cl bottle
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Description

Certainly this was a wine born under considerable controversy, receiving accolades and kudos from me and several of my American colleagues, but generally excoriated by the British press. The French wine critics were very positive. This wine has calmed down considerably as it was a blockbuster, somewhat of a Bordeaux fruit bomb in its youth, and now has toned itself down to a serious candidate for one of the wines of this rather bizarre, but interesting, vintage. 2003 offered everything, from pathetically dilute and thin wines to some massive blockbusters. That was true especially in the Northern Mdoc and from the limestone hillsides of St.-Emilion (where Pavie is situated). The color is a dark garnet, with a touch of amber beginning to appear on the edge. The wine has a stunning nose of roasted herbs, grilled meats, charcoal, blackberry and blackcurrant fruit, with some oak still present. Dense, full-bodied and very succulent and lush, this wine seems to be in late adolescence, ready to enter a relatively mature stage. There is always a suspicion because of the extreme heat in July and August that these wines will crack up very quickly, and certainly that will always be a worry, but this one looks set for at least another 10-15 years of drinkability.
Robert M. Parker, Jr. - 28/08/2015

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate96/100
Certainly this was a wine born under considerable controversy, receiving accolades and kudos from me and several of my American colleagues, but generally excoriated by the British press. The French wine critics were very positive. This wine has calmed down considerably as it was a blockbuster, somewhat of a Bordeaux fruit bomb in its youth, and now has toned itself down to a serious candidate for one of the wines of this rather bizarre, but interesting, vintage. 2003 offered everything, from pathetically dilute and thin wines to some massive blockbusters. That was true especially in the Northern Mdoc and from the limestone hillsides of St.-Emilion (where Pavie is situated). The color is a dark garnet, with a touch of amber beginning to appear on the edge. The wine has a stunning nose of roasted herbs, grilled meats, charcoal, blackberry and blackcurrant fruit, with some oak still present. Dense, full-bodied and very succulent and lush, this wine seems to be in late adolescence, ready to enter a relatively mature stage. There is always a suspicion because of the extreme heat in July and August that these wines will crack up very quickly, and certainly that will always be a worry, but this one looks set for at least another 10-15 years of drinkability.
Robert M. Parker, Jr. - 28/08/2015 Read more
Robert Parker
"An off the chart effort from perfectionist proprietors Chantal and Gerard Perse... it is a wine of sublime richness, minerality, delineation, and nobleness... It traverses the palate with extraordinary richness as well as remarkable freshness and definition. The finish is tannic, but the wine's low acidity and higher than normal alcohol (13.5%) suggests it will be approachable in 4-5 years. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2040. A brilliant effort, it, along with Ausone and Petrus, is one of the three greatest offerings of the right bank in 2003."
96-100/100 pts. (Robert Parker - Wine Advocate - April 2004) Read more

About this WINE

Chateau Pavie

Chateau Pavie

Château Pavie is the largest St.Emilion 1er Grand Cru Classé, with over 35 hectares of vineyards located exclusively on the St-Emilion Côtes. Pavie is situated south-east of the village of St-Emilion and its vineyards lie on a south-facing slope of the famous limestone plateau.

Pavie's vineyards are bordered by those of Château La Gaffelière and Château Pavie-Decesse. For many years the property was owned and run by Jean-Paul Valette. In 1998 Gérard Perse, who also owns Pavie-Decesse and Monbousquet, purchased it.

Pavie's wine is typically a blend of 55% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. Since 1998, the grapes have been fermented in spanking new wooden vats with the wine then being aged in 100% new oak bariques for 18 months. It is bottled unfiltered.

Pavie produces elegant, harmonious and stylish St-Emilions that typically display a fine bouquet with good depth of fruit on the palate. Under the Perse regime Pavie has become richer, more intense and more concentrated.

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St Émilion

St Émilion

St Émilion is one of Bordeaux's largest producing appellations, producing more wine than Listrac, Moulis, St Estèphe, Pauillac, St Julien and Margaux put together. St Emilion has been producing wine for longer than the Médoc but its lack of accessibility to Bordeaux's port and market-restricted exports to mainland Europe meant the region initially did not enjoy the commercial success that funded the great châteaux of the Left Bank. 

St Émilion itself is the prettiest of Bordeaux's wine towns, perched on top of the steep limestone slopes upon which many of the region's finest vineyards are situated. However, more than half of the appellation's vineyards lie on the plain between the town and the Dordogne River on sandy, alluvial soils with a sprinkling of gravel. 

Further diversity is added by a small, complex gravel bed to the north-east of the region on the border with Pomerol.  Atypically for St Émilion, this allows Cabernet Franc and, to a lesser extent, Cabernet Sauvignon to prosper and defines the personality of the great wines such as Ch. Cheval Blanc.  

In the early 1990s there was an explosion of experimentation and evolution, leading to the rise of the garagistes, producers of deeply-concentrated wines made in very small quantities and offered at high prices.  The appellation is also surrounded by four satellite appellations, Montagne, Lussac, Puisseguin and St. Georges, which enjoy a family similarity but not the complexity of the best wines.

St Émilion was first officially classified in 1954, and is the most meritocratic classification system in Bordeaux, as it is regularly amended. The most recent revision of the classification was in 2012

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Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.

In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.

In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and  Australia.

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