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Pavie Macquin 2003

St Emilion, Premier Grand Cru Classé B

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Units Size Case size GBP Price: Quantities Buy
12 75cl Bottle Case 12 £800 per Case Case [Add to shopping basket]
Tasting Notes

This tremendous terroir has been brought back to life over the last 15 years by Nicolas Thienpont and Stephane Derenoncourt. Its 37-acre vineyard, planted in deep clay and limestone soils, is composed of 70% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Pavie-Macquin is not far from Gerard Perse’s little treasure, Pavie-Decesse. The 2003 Pavie-Macquin turned out brilliantly, no doubt because its soils supported the summer’s torrid heat and drought. Tipping the scales at 13.8% alcohol, it boasts an opaque purple color along with a gorgeous nose of blackberries, smoked meats, licorice, incense, and barbecue spices. Huge fruit on the attack is followed by a powerful, masculine wine with huge extract, high tannin, low acidity, and formidable power. Despite its low acidity, this is a wine to forget for 3-4 years, and drink over the following 20-25 years. When fully mature, this brilliant effort should rival the 2000 and 1998.

Score: 95

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2009-2034 30 April 2006

Minuscule yields of 22 hectoliters per hectare resulted in a prodigious blend of 70% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. This vineyard’s clay and limestone soils were a perfect antidote for the atypical climatic conditions of June, July, and August, 2003. Consultant Stephane Derenoncourt thinks the 2003 is the finest Pavie-Macquin produced to date, but it has some serious competition from both the 2000 and 1998. The color is an inky/purple/black, and the bouquet offers up scents of scorched earth, creme de cassis, blackberries, English walnuts, lead pencil shavings, and camphor. Extremely powerful, potent, and full-bodied, with enormous richness, a liquid minerality, a massive mid-palate and finish, and huge, but sweet, well-integrated tannin, this is clearly an offering from another era. It may have more in common with the most concentrated wines of 1947, 1945, 1929, or 1900 than more recent vintages. Made for true connoisseurs, the 2003

Score: 94 - 96

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2013-2030 30 April 2005

This 35-acre vineyard planted with 70% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon sits on top of a limestone plateau with some clay ... the perfect soil type for 2003. There are 3,300 cases of the 2003, a vintage that many Bordeaux cognoscenti consider to be the greatest Pavie-Macquin every made. The consultant is Stephane Derenoncourt, and the 2003's natural alcohol is 14%. A magnificent effort, it is one of the vintage’s superstars. An inky/ruby/purple color is accompanied by a fascinating perfume of graphite, blackberries, kirsch, plums, barbecue spices, and cold steel. Full-bodied and powerful, with terrific minerality, amazing delineation for its size and intensity, and low acid, full-throttle flavors that linger for nearly a minute, it may represent a modern day version of some of the great right bank 1947s. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2020+.

Score: 94 - 97

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2007-2020 30 April 2004