Château Pavie - Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2005 6b11bd6ba9341f0271941e7df664d056

Vinous

99 / 100

byAntonio Gallonithe11/15/2015

Explosive and sumptuous in the glass, the 2005 Pavie captivates all the senses with its extraordinary beauty. The flavors are deep, racy and boldly sketched throughout. Tobacco, roasted coffee beans, smoke, black cherries and plums are some of the notes that are pushed forward in this seductive, flamboyant wine. Immensely powerful and gratifying, the 2005 has it all. This is an especially youthful bottle of the 2005, a wine that will drink well for decades. There is an immediacy to Pavie that makes it pretty much impossible to resist today. It is one of the showiest wines of this night.
Drink 2015 - 2035.

Wine Advocate

100 / 100

byRobert Parkerthe6/30/2015

The 2005 Pavie is an absolutely amazing wine that has shed most of its oak aging (usually 24-28 months). Opaque purple in color, it is beyond belief in extract and concentration, but perfectly balanced and pure, with the oak well-integrated. Massively concentrated, and still a baby, this wine tastes more like it’s two to three years old than one that’s been around for a decade. Intense notes of grilled meats, spice box, cassis, black cherry, licorice and graphite arepresent in abundance. Enormously endowed, but with superlative purity and balance, this is the greatest Pavie in the early Perse era, starting in 1998. Only the 2009 and 2010 rival this in his opinion, but I would add the 2000. This killer effort should drink well for another 50 years and demonstrates the greatness of this terroir owned by the Perse family. Only 7,000 cases were produced from a blend of 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Bravo!

Jancis Robinson

17 / 20

byJancis Robinsonthe2/9/2015

Blackish crimson. The usual sweetness from the Perse stable and then the fruit almost rises up to triumph over the structure but, in this case, just fails. It so nearly manages it but the whole is submerged in a swamp of drying, grasping, rasping tannins. It may emerge eventually as a wonderful whole but it will be long after my day. Score is for ambition not results.

14.5% Drink 2030-2050

Wine Advocate

99 / 100

byNeal Martinthe6/17/2009

Tasted single blind at Southwold. I have to plead guilty, one of only two wines I gifted a perfect score at the Southwold blind tasting, the other being Château Margaux. It has a lifted, opulent, minerally nose with superb definition (here reminding me of Ausone.) It has a spellbinding purity fore sure with heavenly scents of blackberry, blueberry, crème de cassis and violets. A massive grip, just fills the whole mouth with gorgeous pure black fruits, blueberry and plum. Seamless tannins but my God, that finish packs a real punch that says you need to leave this alone for 20 years. A huge wine that bewitched a whole panel of experienced palates. Drink 2020-2050+ Tasted January 2009. 99+

Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar

96 / 100

byStephen Tanzerthe6/30/2008

Saturated, deep ruby-red. Knockout nose combines blackberry, minerals, crushed rock, truffle, vanillin oak and flowers; showing none of the porty quality of the sample I tried last year. A hugely concentrated essence of a wine, offering an incredible combination of sweetness, vibrancy and precision of fruit, thanks to strong acidity and powerful underlying minerality. The chewy tannins are totally buffered by the wine's material on the explosive back end. This wine has it all! Compared to the Pavie-Decesse, which essentially comes from a single block of old vines on limestone, this wine has clearly benefited by being an assemblage of soil types, with fruit from the foot of the slope contributing texture and richness. The 2005 Pavie should easily last for three or four decades.

Wine Advocate

98 / 100

byRobert Parkerthe5/7/2008

Now that the 2005 Pavie is in the bottle, I would place it, qualitatively, a notch below the prodigious 2000, and a few notches above the blockbuster 2003. There are 7,000 cases of this 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon blend. Disregarding the blatant jealousy of his success as well as his “outsider” status, proprietor Gerard Perse has pushed the envelope of quality, fashioning first-growth quality wines from one of Bordeaux’s finest terroirs. In St.-Emilion, only Ausone can be considered to have greater potential in terms of micro-climate and terroir. Pavie’s 2005 exhibits a thick-looking purple color to the rim as well as an exquisite perfume of blueberry and blackberry liqueur, unsmoked cigar tobacco, crushed rocks, damp earth, and hints of truffles and incense. The vineyard’s limestone soils have provided massive concentration, a laser-like precision, fresh, zesty acidity, and massive tannin. Despite the wine’s enormous concentration and intensity, there is a lightness to its style. As Perse has made clear, he is trying to produce modern day versions of such great vintages as 1921, 1929, 1945, and 1947, wines that lasted 50 or more years. I do not understand why Perse receives so much criticism. In the blind tastings of each new vintage conducted by the Grand Jury European, Pavie usually wins against 100 or so other great Bordeaux. As they say, the truth is irrefutable - this is one of the world’s most outstanding wines, and the 2005 Pavie should take its place among the greatest achievements of Bordeaux in the last 50 years. Anticipated maturity: 2020-2060.

Wine Spectator

100 / 100

byJames Sucklingthe4/16/2008

I love the purity of fruit in this wine, showing perfectly ripe blackberry, blueberry and raspberry on the nose. Complex and full-bodied, with hints of new oak and wonderfully polished tannins that caress the palate. Has a long, long finish. This is not the blockbuster it was from barrel, but rather a complete, balanced and gorgeous red. Best after 2015. From France.

La Revue du Vin de France

19 / 20

the11/30/2007

Dégustation sur échantillon. Nez intense, jolies notes de menthe sur fond de réglisse et de café. Bouche dense, compacte, très jeune, boisée, dense, longue, d'une concentration exceptionnelle. Il ira très loin.

Wine Advocate

98-100 / 100

byRobert Parkerthe5/4/2007

Last year I was not sure whether the 2005 would turn out to be better than the 2003 or 2000, two wines that can taste perfect on any given day, especially the 2000. However, this fabulous vineyard has once again produced 7,000 cases of true elixir in 2005, and it looks like this vintage will take its place in the pantheon of monumental Pavies that have been produced since Gerard Perse gained control of this great terroir on the famed Cote Pavie, just outside the medieval village of St.-Emilion. The 2005, a final blend of 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, enjoyed a Burgundian-like, eight day cold maceration, a six week cuvaison, and malolactic in oak. It will spend 26 months aging before being bottled. Its liquid mineral, scorched earth, blackberry, cassis liqueur, and roasted coffee characteristics are accompanied by phenomenal acidity, high tannin, and unbelievable levels of fruit and texture. One would have to go back to some of the last century’s greatest vintages to find the equal of this stunning St.-Emilion. Although not the most concentrated Bordeaux, it is unquestionably one of the most noble and potentially long-lived. Is it possible that Perse’s wines represent cleaner, more modern day versions of the 1921s, 1929s, and right bank 1947s? They are meant to be cellared for 10-15 years, and kept over the following 50 or more. The 2005 Pavie is one of his greatest achievements in terms of richness allied to phenomenal elegance and finesse. The natural alcohol came in around 14%, about the same as in 2003 and 2000. Anticipated maturity: 2017-2050+.

Wine Advocate

98-100 / 100

byRobert Parkerthe5/1/2006

It is increasingly apparent that the simplistic bashing by some wine writers of Gerard Perse and his wines as well as the “American taste,” is undermining their credibility ... as it should. As each new vintage gets released, consumers can taste Pavie and the other Perse wines and see for themselves how profound Pavie is. There is a reason why the highly respected Grand Jury European rated Pavie ahead of all other Bordeaux chateaux in 2000 and 1999. It is obviously a profound wine. When Jean-Francois Moueix (the owner of Petrus) and I were discussing this, he mentioned that his late father, Jean-Pierre, always believed that after Ausone, Pavie possessed the greatest terroir of St.-Emilion. While it was never exploited to its full potential by its previous owners, Gerard Perse has brought it to the forefront, consistently making one of the top wines of Bordeaux. Moreover, Perse’s offerings are meant to age for five or more decades. It’s hard to judge at this early stage whether the 2005 will be better than the 2003 or 2000, but it is unquestionably a thrilling wine to smell, taste, and reflect upon. Only 7,000 cases are produced from this 112-acre vineyard with an extraordinary exposition. In 2005, yields were a minuscule 30 hectoliters per hectare, the average age of the vines is 43 years, and the blend was 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine receives a 4-5 week maceration, malolactic in barrel a la top Burgundies, and aging on its lees. Perse, who neither fines nor filters, ages the wine for 26 months in barrel. He has recently gone to the additional expense of buying his own trees and having the wood air-dried and coopered to his specifications by the cooperage firm of Sylvain and Nadalie. The 2005 Pavie is reminiscent of some of the great 1900s, 1929s, 1945s, and 1949s. Inky/purple to the rim, with that extraordinary liqueur of minerals interwoven with creme de cassis, blackberries, and juicy cherries, it reveals a subtle note of smoky oak, massive body, a multilayered mid-palate and texture, incredibly high tannin, and dramatic levels of fruit, glycerin, and extract. The alcohol came in at 14% naturally in 2005, higher than in either 2000 or 2003. This is a wine of extraordinary purity, precision, and monumental aspirations. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2050+.

Wine Spectator

95-100 / 100

the3/30/2006

This is a blockbuster. Massive wine, with pure crushed blackberries and hints of wood on the nose and palate. Full-bodied, chewy and wonderful. Pavie is amazing this year. —J.S.