Château Pavie - Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 1998 6b11bd6ba9341f0271941e7df664d056

Wine Advocate

95 / 100

byRobert Parkerthe4/30/2001

A 50-year wine, this opaque purple-colored offering exhibits a strong, precise nose of black fruits, liquid minerals, smoke, and graphite. Extremely full-bodied, yet brilliantly delineated, powerful, and awesomely concentrated, it boasts a fabulous mid-palate as well as a finish that lasts for nearly a minute. This vin de garde requires 5-6 years of cellaring. A tour de force in winemaking, it has the potential to be the most profound Pavie ever produced, except for its two successors. Anticipated maturity: 2006-2045.

Wine Spectator

88 / 100

byJames Sucklingthe1/31/2001

A bit lean for the vintage but very good. Lots of tar, berry, tobacco and violet. Full-bodied, with silky tannins and a smoky, fruity aftertaste. Best after 2006. 6,665 cases made.

Wine Advocate

93-96 / 100

byRobert Parkerthe4/30/2000

The 1998 was spectacular last spring. After being tasted on three separate occasions in January, it looks to be extraordinary, as well as one of the vintage's most profound efforts. Black/purple-colored, with an exceptionally complex nose of wet stones and blueberry liqueur, this enormously rich, powerful, dense, layered wine possesses profound concentration, as well as an uncanny sense of elegance and potential complexity. The integration of wood, tannin, and alcohol has been done in a seamless manner, as it is powerful, with stupendous concentration and richness, yet unbelievable finesse for an effort of such size and intensity. The tannin is noticeable, but sweet, and the finish lasts for nearly a minute. This may be the most compelling Pavie of the twentieth century. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2030.

Wine Advocate

91-93 / 100

byRobert Parkerthe4/30/1999

Making wine in the style of Lafite-Rothschild, Pavie's proprietor, Gerard Perse, has produced a wine that retains its terroir's legendary elegance and complexity, but with more intensity and richness. This is the quintessentially refined Bordeaux that is also immensely flavorful and authoritatively powerful. The color is a dense ruby/purple. Its sweet aromatics reveal red and black fruits intermixed with subtle oak, minerals, and spice. Medium-bodied, with layers of fruit, it is gorgeously proportioned and exquisite. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2025.