Pavie Decesse 2018 (1.5L)

97-100 JD / 97-98 JS / 96-98 WA / 95-98 WS / 92-95 VM / 94 DE 

All from the upper plateau and incredible limestone soils, the 2018 Château Pavie Decesse is a crazy good wine that's going to flirt with perfection. Black raspberries, cassis, crushed stone, exotic flowers, and an incredible salinity all give way to a full-bodied, concentrated yet elegant wine that just glides over the palate. Made from 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, it’s going to require 4-6 years of bottle age, but it’s one of the great wines of the vintage. - Jeb Dunnuck

Powerful young red with blackberry and blueberry aromas and flavors. Full-bodied, very strong and concentrated with great length and minerality at the end. Finesse with power. - James Suckling

Grapes for this wine come from the plateau and were harvested October 3 with yields of 32 hectoliters per hectare. Composed of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc with a pH of 3.57 and 14.52% alcohol, the 2018 Pavie Decesse is deep purple-black in color and strides confidently out of the glass with a very serious nose of crushed blackberries, warm black plums, mulberries and cassis plus touches of camphor, lavender, black olives and crushed rocks with a waft of woodsmoke. Full-bodied and laden with taut, muscular black fruit and loads of mineral accents, it has a firm structure of super ripe, finely grained tannins and amazing freshness, finishing very long and very layered. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Advocate

Well-endowed, with creamed boysenberry, fig and loganberry flavors, this is a step ahead of the pack. As lush as the fruit is, this shows admirable grip and some flashy spice and toast notes filling in throughout. A head-turner in the making. - James Molesworth, Wine Spectator

The 2018 Pavie-Decesse is laced with the essence of blackberry jam, grilled herbs, spice, leather and tobacco, all of which add to an impression of brooding power. This massively tannic, backward Saint-Émilion is going to require patience, but there is certainly plenty to look forward to. In 2018, Pavie-Decesse impresses with its vertical intensity and pure power.- Antonio Galloni 

Always one of my favourites in the Perse stable, this is once again delicious. Chewy tannins are joined by ripples of coffee and soft brambly fruits, subtly shifting gear as it moves through the palate. The average age of the vines here is 51 years old, which helps to give depth of flavour. There's a sense of straining against the barricades here, with the fruit being firmly held in check by the tannins. It's not going anywhere soon.- Jane Anson, Decanter