Pavie 2020 (6.0L)

100 JD / 100 JS / 99 WI / 97 DE / 97-99 VM / 18 JR

#28 James Suckling's Top 100 Wines of 2023

Pure perfection in red wine, the 2020 Château Pavie checks in as 50% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Franc and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon, all raised in 75% new French oak. Absolutely incredible in every way, it has a sensational bouquet of crème de cassis, smoked tobacco, chocolaty oak, graphite, white truffle, and hints of flowers. Pure, full-bodied, and concentrated, with perfect integration of its fruit, oak, and tannins, it's one of those wines that needs to be tasted to be believed. Hats off to the Perse team for not following trends and for continuing to make a truly Grand Vin that offers a rare mix of power and elegance. Give bottles just 4-5 years and enjoy over the following three decades. - Jeb Dunnuck

This opens up on your palate like a butterfly. It takes your breath away. Purity of blackberry, raspberry and black cherry. Lavender. Very, very impressive. Full and chewy with tight and polished tannins that go on and on. Energetic and structured. Crisp and vivid. Superb finish. Better after 2029 but a joy to taste.-James Suckling

A blend of 50% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Franc, and 16% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2020 Pavie has a deep garnet-purple color. After a swirl or two, the nose erupts with powerful notions of baked plums and blueberry preserves, giving way to fragrant notes of molten licorice, lilacs, crushed rocks, and chocolate box, with just a touch of black olives. The medium to full-bodied palate is dense and muscular, charged with amazing tension and textured with super fine-grained tannins, finishing very long with multi-layered exotic spices, mineral and floral notes. Shimmery! -Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Independent

Smooth from the get go, still tense as you’d expect with a straight backbone, but the creamy texture is lovely with a beautiful balancing acidity and suaveness overall. More calm and quiet than I was expecting, certainly not shouting but with clear depth and length to the chocolate, blackcurrant, liquorice and graphite. Detailed and nuanced, not trying too hard with energy and plumpness yet retaining a serious, savouriness that brings you back to Pavie and to the terroir with clear minerality in the lick of wet stone on the finish. Well constructed with care. - GH, Decanter

The 2020 Pavie is very clearly one of the wines of the year. Rich, inky and wonderfully vibrant, it pulses with energy from start to finish. All the elements are well balanced. Soaring Cabernet Franc aromatics lead into a core of finely knit yet deep fruit in a wine that feels endless. Harvest for the reds started on September 17, paused briefly during some rain on the 25th and 26th, and then wrapped up by the end of the month. The blend is 50% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Franc and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, so more Cabernets than in the past, the result of a large replanting program that began in the early 2000s. A real head-turner. Magnificent! -- Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

50% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Franc, 16% Cabernet Sauvignon. Cask sample. 
Power and elegance combined. Deep purple-black colour. Intensity and complexity on the nose with dark fruit, cassis, mint and floral notes. Beautifully poised on the palate with smooth attack and persistent fruit and freshness. Powerful tannic frame but tannins really fine and no extraction. Long, persistent finish. Absolute precision. More than highlights the change in style. One of the best yet. (JL) - Jancis Robinson .com