2002 Château Pavie St. Émilion Grand Cru Bordeaux France Wine Tasting Note

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2002
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Fully developed, the wine is quite mineral-driven on the nose and palate, where you find strong oceanic, salty notes that combine with the concentrated, layers of sweet, ripe, black and red fruits, licorice, smoke and dried flower nuances. Decanted about 30 minutes prior to sering seemed to do the trick.

Fully developed, the wine is quite mineral-driven on the nose and palate, where you find strong oceanic, salty notes that combine with the concentrated, layers of sweet, ripe, black and red fruits, licorice, smoke and dried flower nuances. Decanted about 30 minutes prior to sering seemed to do the trick.

4,155 Views   Tasted
One of the top wines of this cooler vintage is rich, concentrated and loaded with ripe, black cherry, licorice, dark chocolate, cedar and wet earth. The tannins are soft, the finish is long and the aromatics are complex. For those that find Pavie too much for their delicate senses, this is a good vintage to explore, due to its cool, weather characteristics.

One of the top wines of this cooler vintage is rich, concentrated and loaded with ripe, black cherry, licorice, dark chocolate, cedar and wet earth. The tannins are soft, the finish is long and the aromatics are complex. For those that find Pavie too much for their delicate senses, this is a good vintage to explore, due to its cool, weather characteristics.

5,582 Views   Tasted
2 hours of air brought out the chocolate covered, black cherries, truffle, licorice, cigar box and floral notes. Soft, smooth and round, but lacking the volume and opulence found in the top vintages, this is really drinking well. While 2 hours of air brought the wine around, after 4 hours of air, the wine lost its edge. This is for drinking now and over the next decade or so.

2 hours of air brought out the chocolate covered, black cherries, truffle, licorice, cigar box and floral notes. Soft, smooth and round, but lacking the volume and opulence found in the top vintages, this is really drinking well. While 2 hours of air brought the wine around, after 4 hours of air, the wine lost its edge. This is for drinking now and over the next decade or so.

5,056 Views   Tasted
Floral, earth, cherry blossoms, licorice, black raspberries, smoke and a faint whisper of oak in the background open to a soft, dusty, olive tapenade and plummy palate. This is probably at or close to its peak. No hurry to drink it, but it's not a wine to lay down for decades. I decanted this about 2 hours before consumption. The olive component became stronger as the night wore on. My instincts say, this wine might be better with a short decant, or popped and poured and allowed to develop in the glass.

Floral, earth, cherry blossoms, licorice, black raspberries, smoke and a faint whisper of oak in the background open to a soft, dusty, olive tapenade and plummy palate. This is probably at or close to its peak. No hurry to drink it, but it's not a wine to lay down for decades. I decanted this about 2 hours before consumption. The olive component became stronger as the night wore on. My instincts say, this wine might be better with a short decant, or popped and poured and allowed to develop in the glass.

4,396 Views   Tasted
There are some nights when a bottle of Pavie is all that will do. This was one of those nights. Still dark in color, blackberry, blueberry, earth, truffle, kirsch liqueur, licorice, smoke and a hint of espresso bean with dark chocolate made the perfume come alive with little effort and perhaps 30 minutes in the decanter. On the palate is where its star shines brightly. It's the perfect balance between thick and concentrated meshed against opulent, velvet textures. This is like drinking pure pleasure. If you get hung up on modern, vs traditional styles, perhaps this is not your thing. But if you look at wines as a vehicle for pleasure, this is a nice way to go. It's young, but starting to open. Drink it, or wait a decade.

There are some nights when a bottle of Pavie is all that will do. This was one of those nights. Still dark in color, blackberry, blueberry, earth, truffle, kirsch liqueur, licorice, smoke and a hint of espresso bean with dark chocolate made the perfume come alive with little effort and perhaps 30 minutes in the decanter. On the palate is where its star shines brightly. It's the perfect balance between thick and concentrated meshed against opulent, velvet textures. This is like drinking pure pleasure. If you get hung up on modern, vs traditional styles, perhaps this is not your thing. But if you look at wines as a vehicle for pleasure, this is a nice way to go. It's young, but starting to open. Drink it, or wait a decade.

4,647 Views   Tasted
Blackberry liqueur, smoke, truffle, stone, earth, caramel, fresh herbs and a faint hint of espresso bean make up the perfume. On the palate, concentrated flavors of fresh black raspberry, bitter chocolate, Maraschino cherry flavors unfold with luscious, rich, sexy textures. This is a great place to catch this wine. It should deliver pleasure and continue to expand for at least another 10-15 years. This is much better than the last bottle I opened and both were from the same case!

Blackberry liqueur, smoke, truffle, stone, earth, caramel, fresh herbs and a faint hint of espresso bean make up the perfume. On the palate, concentrated flavors of fresh black raspberry, bitter chocolate, Maraschino cherry flavors unfold with luscious, rich, sexy textures. This is a great place to catch this wine. It should deliver pleasure and continue to expand for at least another 10-15 years. This is much better than the last bottle I opened and both were from the same case!

5,624 Views   Tasted
This opened with a quiet nose of truffle, smoke, minerality and spicy black raspberries. Lush, plush and sensuous on the palate, most of the tannin has been resolved. The wine finished with a soft, spicy, licorice and spicy, black cherry finish. Each bottle has its own personality. Some are going to be better than others .I tend to think this was not a correct bottle as I've had this wine before and its shown better. I'm going to need to open another in the near future to discover if it was this bottle, or the specific vintage that has not developing as well as expected.

This opened with a quiet nose of truffle, smoke, minerality and spicy black raspberries. Lush, plush and sensuous on the palate, most of the tannin has been resolved. The wine finished with a soft, spicy, licorice and spicy, black cherry finish. Each bottle has its own personality. Some are going to be better than others .I tend to think this was not a correct bottle as I've had this wine before and its shown better. I'm going to need to open another in the near future to discover if it was this bottle, or the specific vintage that has not developing as well as expected.

6,466 Views   Tasted

When to Drink Chateau Pavie, Anticipated Maturity, Decanting Time

Chateau Pavie is much better with at least 12-15 years of aging in good vintages. Young vintages can be decanted for 3-4 hours or more. This allows the wine to soften and open its perfume.

Older vintages might need very little decanting, just enough to remove the sediment. Chateau Pavie offers its best drinking and should reach peak maturity between 15-40 years of age after the vintage.

Serving Chateau Pavie with Wine and Food Pairings

Chateau Pavie is best served at 15.5 degrees Celsius, 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The cool, almost cellar temperature gives the wine more freshness and lift.

Chateau Pavie is best paired with all types of classic meat dishes, veal, pork, beef, lamb, duck, game, roast chicken, roasted, braised, and grilled dishes. Chateau Pavie is also good when matched with Asian dishes, and rich fish courses like tuna, mushrooms, and pasta.

The wine of Chateau Pavie sparks debates. Hopefully, they are fun debates, but with wine involved, I've seen a few conversations become rather heated! Some tasters love the wine. Count me in that group. It is a favorite wine of Robert Parker. Other consumers do not enjoy the wine and prefer when it was made in a less ripe, thinner, less concentrated style.

My bet is, in time, when the Perse vintages have matured, the greatness of what Perse has accomplished at Pavie will be widely recognized. In fact, as we mentioned earlier, the efforts expended by Perse seem to have vindicated Perse and Parker because September 6, 2012, marked the day Chateau Pavie was upgraded in the official 2012 St. Emilion Classification to Chateau Pavie, St. Emilion, Premier Grand Cru Classe A.

Starting with the 2010 vintage of Chateau Pavie, to protect consumers and fight counterfeits, every bottle, and label from this vintage forward has a locking slip on the capsule with a unique code that matches up to the identical number of the bottle displaying the date the wine was bottled and labeled at Chateau Pavie. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

For the 2012 vintage, to commemorate their promotion to Grand Cru Classe A status, Chateau Pavie introduced a new, sleek, quite artistically designed, regal-looking label in gold and black, replacing the older, classic, green-tinted design. Chateau Pavie returned to the standard label in subsequent vintages.

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