Pavie - Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2000

The Wine Independent

100

byLisa Perrotti-Brownthe12/13/2023

Medium garnet-brick in color, the 2000 Pavie needs a little swirl to coax out fragrant notes of dried roses, cinnamon stick, red loam, and fallen leaves leading to a core of kirsch, plum preserves, and blueberry compote plus a hint of cardamom. The medium to full-bodied palate is an exercise in grace and suppleness, featuring exquisitely ripe, silky tannins and seamless freshness to frame the achingly perfumed fruit, finishing so, so long and so, so fragrant. This was the first vintage using the "Eleanor" bottle shape that Pavie is well-known for today.

Wine Advocate

100

byRobert Parkerthe6/30/2010

I tasted this wine twice during the 2000 horizontals, then I actually popped the cork and drank a half-bottle of it. This wine remains, for me, one of the compelling success stories for proprietor Gerard Perse. An extraordinary effort made from a blend of 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon from the limestone soils that dominate this very distinctive terroir, the 2000 Pavie has moved out of the closed, dormant, broodingly backward stage into an adolescent period where one can see its extraordinary vibrancy, and great complexity as well as potential. It boasts an unctuous display of rich, cedar box-infused cassis fruit and liquid minerality. The tannins have sweetened, yet the wine has thirty years of longevity and potential evolution. A beautiful wine of great mass as well as elegance, it is good to see the extraordinary efforts that Gerard Perse and his team have made confirmed in this prodigious wine. A legend now ... a legend for the future. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2060.

Wine Spectator

96

byJames Sucklingthe7/31/2003

Voluputuous red. Glorious aromas of very ripe fruit, with layers of spices and chocolate. Full-bodied, with big yet very silky tannins and a long, long finish. Generous and seductive red. Lasts minutes on the palate. Best ever from here. Best after 2010. 7,500 cases made.

Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar

95

byStephen Tanzerthe6/30/2003

Good full medium ruby. Knockout nose of blackberry, espresso, licorice, minerals and burnished oak; offers terrific verve and clarity for a wine so ripe and rich. Then extremely youthful on the palate, with tightly wound flavors and great inner-mouth energy. Brilliant black fruit and mineral flavors offer compelling perfume. This is still remarkably primary despite its long elevage . Finishes with great tactile, chewy persistence. An outstanding vintage for this property.

Wine Advocate

100

byRobert Parkerthe4/30/2003

Give Gerard Perse credit. People thought his numerous assurances that 2000 was the greatest Pavie ever produced were premature as well as arrogant. However, after tasting this extraordinary blend of 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon (made from low yields of 28-30 hectoliters per hectare) six separate times in 2003, it is unquestionably one of the most monumental wines Bordeaux has ever produced. Bottled in March, 2003, about nine months later than other 2000s, the color is an opaque purple, and the bouquet offers up notes of liquid minerals, blackberries, cherries, and cassis intermixed with spice box, cedar, and white flowers. On the palate, it exhibits a massive display of richness and extract, yet with pinpoint delineation and vibrancy as well as a 60+ second finish, this is the kind of phenomenal wine that Perse's critics were afraid he might produce - a no-compromise, immortal wonder that represents the essence of one of Bordeaux's greatest terroirs. Life is too short not to own and consume the 2000 Pavie. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2050.

Wine Advocate

96-98

byRobert Parkerthe2/28/2002

With no shortage of confidence, Gerard Perse feels the 2000 is the greatest Pavie ever produced. Premature you say? Don't discount the proprietor's rhetoric. A blend of 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, it is a backward, super-concentrated effort displaying an inky purple color, and a thrilling bouquet of minerals, black fruits, vitamins, and toast. It possesses a wealth of fruit, glycerin, and extract as well as high levels of tannin, and a finish that lasts nearly a minute. It will undoubtedly close down after bottling, and not be close to prime time drinking until 2010 or later. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2050.

Wine Advocate

95-96

byRobert Parkerthe4/30/2001

If wine is to be judged by what is in the bottle, Pavie has become a fabulous first-growth quality estate, offering extraordinary elegance married to awesome levels of richness. The 2000 is a backward effort with structure and tannin. At the same time, the concentration is fabulous. Structured, with an opaque ruby/purple color, Pavie's 2000 exhibits aromas of liquid minerals, black cherry liqueur, cassis, and flowers. The wine is full-bodied yet extraordinarily precise, with uncanny elegance, fabulous purity, and astonishing length. Although elevated, the tannin is sweet as well as nicely integrated. However, this 2000 will require considerable patience. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2040. Except for some of Bordeaux's provincial knuckleheads (who resent outsiders), this is widely acclaimed as one of the region's most singular and greatest wines.