Pavie Macquin 2005 (6.0L)

98 JD / 96+ RP / 96 WS / 95+ VM

A blend of 70% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, from a cool limestone terroir on the plateau, the 2005 Château Pavie Macquin is extraordinary juice, and the finest vintage of this cuvee I’ve ever tasted. Sporting a saturated purple color as well as an off the hook bouquet of crème de cassis, blackberries, smoked earth, chocolate, and Asian spices, with a sensational sense of minerality developing with time in the glass. Deep, full-bodied, massively concentrated, and multi-dimensional, it’s just now at the early stages of its drinking plateau and it will probably keep for another 2-3 decades. Count yourself lucky if you have bottles of this in the cellar! - Jeb Dunnuck

nky bluish/purple in color, Pavie Macquin produced a prodigious effort from St.-Emilion in 2005. Its crushed, chalky rock minerality, massive body, and high tannin make for a wine to forget for another decade. Super-loaded, concentrated and powerful, this wine should turn out great, but patience will be required. The blackberry and cassis fruit are there in abundance, but so is a massive structure. Anticipated maturity: 2020-2035. - Robert Parker

Bright and fresh, with raspberry, blackberry and black currant fruit still showing vibrancy, while a racy mineral edge and mouthwatering acidity course underneath. Flashes of anise, apple wood and black tea chime throughout. Integrated and melded now, but still quite primary. A wine of precision.—Blind '01/'03/'05 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2017). Drink now through 2035. 4,147 cases made. - JM, Wine Spectator

(14.8% alcohol; 3.39 pH): Fully saturated deep ruby-red. Brooding aromas of cassis, plum, violet, minerals and aromatic herbs hint at knockout depth and purity. Dense, rich and multi-layered, showing great precision and a seamless texture to the painfully young blackberry, cassis, truffle and mineral flavors. Finishes rich, pure and long, with hints of cocoa and balsamic vinegar. This Pavie Macquin is developing at a snail's pace. The product of a very gentle extraction and a longer cuvaison than usual, this is an absolutely memorable, outstanding wine. - Ian D'Agata, Vinous Media