Pavie Macquin - Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2023

Vinous

94

byNeal Martinthe2/1/2026

The 2023 Pavie Macquin has a slightly more tertiary, forest-floor-tinged bouquet than its peers. Touches of pine filter through the black fruit, well-defined and focused. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, velvety in texture, closing up toward the finish that exerts insistent grip. Good substance here, but it will require longer in bottle before it is open for business.

Jamessuckling.com

99

byJames Sucklingthe1/27/2026

This shows limestone, plum, citrus and mineral character with a savory, almost saline twist and touches of oyster shells, dried meat and oranges. Really quintessential and full of chalky fruit that unwinds and dissolves through the finish. So much character and personality. Best Pavie-Macquin ever? Precise in every wy. 84% merlot, 15% cabernet franc and 1% cabernet sauvignon. Drinkable now, but better from 2027.

My Bettane + Desseauve

96-97

by Bettane & Desseauvethe5/15/2024

C’est une réussite majeure. La densité de l’argile du terroir est exprimée par la profondeur en bouche avec un fruit frais et ciselé. Le style s’affine de millésime en millésime.

Yvesbeck.wine

96-97

byYves Beckthe5/14/2024

Pavie Macquin zeigt sich crescendoartig, Schritt für Schritt, indem er subtile Noten von Kirschen, Veilchen und Kalkstein miteinander verbindet! Die vom Bouquet angekündigte Finesse wird vom Gaumen gut aufgefangen. Der Auftakt ist leicht salzig und unterstreicht die Frische. Der Wein verfügt über präzise, elegante Tannine und eine geschliffene Säurestruktur. Ein subtiler und kerniger Pavie Macquin!

Jeb DUNNUCK

93-95

byJeb Dunnuckthe5/13/2024

An open, expressive vintage for this cuvée, the 2023 Château Pavie Macquin still has that classic darker cherry and cassis-driven perfume as well as beautiful minerality, medium to full body, a ripe, layered, yet focused mouthfeel, and ripe yet integrated tannins. It has the elegant style of the vintage while still being a classic Pavie Macquin. It's going to need 7-8 years of bottle age, but it's clearly an impressive, beautiful wine in the making. Tasted multiple times.

The Drinks Business

92-94

byColin Haythe5/7/2024

Pavie Macquin (Saint Émilion; 82% Merlot; 17% Cabernet Franc; 1% Cabernet Sauvignon; a final yield of 48 hl/ha; pH 3.35; 14.2% alcohol; tasted at the UGCB press tasting at the Cité du Vin). This remains very true to its style, in a vintage in which Larcis-Ducasse seems somehow more aerial and expressive. Bolder, bigger, slightly spicier and slightly denser too, quite saline in its minerality. Quite ferrous in its minerality, with an oyster shell-iodine note too, and just a little more open-textured and crystalline in the mid-palate than is usual here at this nascent stage. Fireworks, struck match, red cherry and darker berry fruits. Long and racy, but without the fruit concentration of recent great vintages. 

The Wine Cellar Insider

97-99

byJeff Levethe5/6/2024

Flowers, red berries, spice, licorice, lavender, and sea-salt are featured in the perfume. The wine on the palate is electric, edgy, fresh, and fruity. The berries are ripe, sweet, and pure, with a strong essence of minerality that you really sense as the wine lingers on your palate. The key to the wine this year is two fold. First, the newer plantings from 2013-2016 have started maturing. In the cellars, the aging program is more gentle, with close to half the amount of punch downs, so you have less extractions which allows the wine to feel more relaxed on the palate. Clearly, this is in contention for the best vintage of Pavie Mac, (As it is affectionally known) ever produced. The wine blends 82% Merlot, 17% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon. 14.1% ABV, 3.5 pH. The harvest took place September 18 - October 3. Drink from 2029-2055. 97-99 Pts.

Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux

96

byJane Ansonthe5/6/2024

Touch of gunsmoke reduction softens to show gentle grilled oak notes, skilful construction, cocoa bean, espresso, blueberry, pomegranate, oyster shell salinity. This has grip and intensity, tension, energy, a brooding quality that switches into a vertical lift through the palate. Brilliant construction, and a joyful reflection of the power of terroir. 48hl/ha. Thienpont-Derenoncourt team, celebrating 30 years of collaboration, Corre-Macquin family, Nicolas Thienpont director director. Tasted twice.

Vinous

95-97

byAntonio Gallonithe4/30/2024

The 2023 Pavie Macquin is one of the stars of the vintage. An exceptional, vibrant wine, Pavie Macquin dazzles from start to finish. Seamless tannins wrap around a core of inky red/purplish fruit, lavender, mint, spice and blood orange, all framed by bright, salivating acids. The transition toward higher-density vineyards and greater freshness is paying huge dividends. This is a stellar effort from the château and long-time consultant Stephane Derenoncourt, who has kept Pavie Macquin as one of just a handful of estates he personally follows these days. In a word: Brilliant! Tasted two times.

Vinous

94-96

byNeal Martinthe4/29/2024

The 2023 Pavie Macquin was picked from September 18, finishing with the Cabernet Sauvignon on October 3, cropped at 48hl/ha. The nose offers a mélange of red and black fruit with light wilted rose petal and iris scents. The Cabernet Franc (17% of the blend) imparts loamy aromas. The palate is very svelte and creamy on the entry, but there is real depth and freshness here. Harmonious and poised, it fans out beautifully on the finish. This is more elegant and complex than the 2022, and my score reflects this. Superb.

Falstaff

94

byPeter Moserthe4/29/2024

Dark ruby, deep core, purple reflections, brightening on the rim. Liquorice and can- died violets, fine wood spice, ripe red cherries, intense bouquet. Juicy, red berryish, shows an accentuated freshness, ripe tannins, mineral, subtle fruitiness, a very charming style; an animating food wine with certain ageing potential.

Alexandre Ma

97-98

byAlexandre Mathe4/28/2024

Wine Advocate

93-95

byWilliam Kelleythe4/26/2024

Aromas of sweet raspberries, cherries and plums mingle with notions of licorice and creamy new oak, introducing the 2023 Pavie Macquin, a medium to full-bodied, layered and concentrated wine with a deep core of fruit, tangy acids and powdery tannins. As higher density plantings on the plateau with superior vine genetics start to enter into production, and as the south of the property is restructured, this estate's tannins are becoming more refined, even if the very low pH of 3.35 still tends to foreground the wine's structure.

Jamessuckling.com

98-99

byJames Sucklingthe4/25/2024

This is a twitchy, lively red with brambleberry, black olive and a real sense of limestone. The tannins are very well integrated. Lots of energy. Medium body. Extremely long. Very cool, fine wine from this estate in this year. 3.35 pH. 14.2% alcohol. 82% merlot, 17% cabernet franc and 1% cabernet sauvignon. Best ever?

Vertdevin

96-97

byJonathan Chicheportichethe4/24/2024

Decanter.com

96

byGeorgina Hindlethe4/16/2024

Super fragranced on the nose, really floral and evocative with heady aromas - expressive, ripe and sweet fruit elements too. Super high acidity on the palate, but actually this really works with a soft chalky, powdery bite to the tannins. It’s touching on lean, more straight and less concentrated than Larcis Ducasse at this point. The focus here is the fun, lifted side. So precise, finessed, and detailed with layers of fine tannins, bright fruit and tons of energy yet still with concentration and firm red summer berry fruit. I love it.