2020 Château Pavie Macquin, St Emilion, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
Drink from 2028 to 2044
Jane Anson, Decanter (April 2021)
Drink from 2025 to 2045
Neal Martin, Vinous (May 2021)
Drink from 2030 to 2055
Antonio Galloni, Vinous (June 2021)
Drink 2025 - 2055
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate (May 2021)
Drink 2028 - 2044
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (April 2021)
James Suckling (April 2021)
Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com (May 2021)
Drink 2032 - 2052
Michael Schuster, The World of Fine Wine (May 2021)
About this WINE
Chateau Pavie Macquin
Château Pavie Macquin, a St Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classé (B), is a property that has hit form in the last 10 years and is now producing first-class wines. It is located east of the village of St Emilion and its 15 hectares of vineyards are located on the Côte Pavie, adjacent to the vineyards of Pavie, Pavie-Decesse and Troplong-Mondot. Since 1990 Nicholas Thienpoint Château has been in charge of the property. A pioneer of the Right Bank, Nicolas Thienpoint first pushed the boundaries with organic then biodynamic winemaking in developing the property’s style, helped by his soon-to-be-famous maître de chai, Stéphane Derenoncourt, who joined the team in 1990 and still consults today. Pavie Macquin's wine is a blend of 70% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon.
Best of BBX: Bordeaux
Bordeaux is arguably the world’s best-known fine wine region. Here, legendary producers make classically-constructed, age-worthy wines that nearly always benefit from time in the cellar to draw out their full potential. Here is a selection of Bordeaux currently available on BBX.
Merlot
The most widely planted grape in Bordeaux and a grape that has been on a relentless expansion drive throughout the world in the last decade. Merlot is adaptable to most soils and is relatively simple to cultivate. It is a vigorous naturally high yielding grape that requires savage pruning - over-cropped Merlot-based wines are dilute and bland. It is also vital to pick at optimum ripeness as Merlot can quickly lose its varietal characteristics if harvested overripe.
In St.Emilion and Pomerol it withstands the moist clay rich soils far better than Cabernet grapes, and at it best produces opulently rich, plummy clarets with succulent fruitcake-like nuances. Le Pin, Pétrus and Clinet are examples of hedonistically rich Merlot wines at their very best. It also plays a key supporting role in filling out the middle palate of the Cabernet-dominated wines of the Médoc and Graves.
Merlot is now grown in virtually all wine growing countries and is particularly successful in California, Chile and Northern Italy.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
Merlot 80%, Cabernet Franc 20%
Cyrille Thienpont observed that the record levels of spring rain and summer drought made this a year of extreme contrasts. This accentuated the individual characteristics of his clay and limestone parcels here. The wine shows this precisely: there is ample, lush fruit on the nose, with succulence and an almost candied element. Then the wine moves towards deeper, more grippy mineral notes; it finishes with muscularity and tannin. There is a joyous fruity aspect, then countered by rigour and structure. This is a big wine which should eventually be something rather special.
Drink 2028-2050
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