Wine Advisor
Pavie Decesse 1998
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
This layered, black/ruby/purple-colored wine displays sweet black cherry and cassis fruit as well as subtle toasty oak. It is layered, with gorgeous symmetry, plenty of glycerin and extract, moderate tannin, and a long, persuasively rich finish that lasts for 30+ seconds. The oak is subtle and restrained. Anticipated maturity: 2002-2020.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
Heavier, thicker, and richer than it was last spring, this saturated blue/purple-colored 1998 boasts a stunning nose of minerals, blueberries/blackberries, new oak, and smoke. Deep and concentrated, with multiple layers, this pure, impressively-endowed, powerful yet harmonious wine should be at its finest between 2005-2025.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
A fine supple nose of new oak with aromas of black truffles and a touch of ginger. Fine and elegant palate. Quite restrained now. Good depth with firm structure. In my mind on par with Pavie 1998.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
Wet stones, minerals, vanilla, black cherries, and smoke aromas as well as flavors are present in this powerful, muscular, medium to full-bodied 1998. Crammed with fruit, and built for the long haul, it is not as accessible as many of this vintage's offerings. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2025.
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
The 1998 Pavie Decesse is medium to deep garnet-brick in color and explodes with fabulous plum pudding, prunes, blackberry preserves and blueberry pie notes with hints of smoked meats, garrigue, dusty soil, cast iron pan and star anise with dried roses and cinnamon stick wafts. Full-bodied, concentrated and packed with rich exotic spice and black fruit preserves layers, it has loads of mineral and meat sparks and a very, very long, layered finish. Incredible! For cellaring potential, I give it 20+ more years.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 1998 Pavie Decesse has a delightful, quite expressive and thoroughly enjoyable bouquet with intense dark cherry, blueberry, truffle and liquorish. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly grainy tannin, black cherry and melted tar, a touch of tobacco towards the linear finish. It just attenuates a little when you want it to fan out, but at 20 years this is a commendable Saint-Émilion, if better on the nose than the palate. Tasted at the château.
About the Producer
Chateau Pavie Decesse is located in the Saint-Emilion appellation on the right bank of Bordeaux, France, and is one of the Grand Cru Classe of Saint-Emilion. Château Pavie Decesse has strong ties to Premier Grand Cru Classe A, which was originally owned by Château Pavie. In 1885, Ferdinand Bouffard, the owner of Chateau Pavie, decided to reorganise the vineyards and separated a plot of land called "Pigasse", thus giving birth to Château Pavie de Caisse. The estate was then passed on to Mr Marzelle. In 1970, when he died, his wife entrusted the estate to the Valette family, then owners of Château Lafite, who took over the estate in 1990. In 1997, Gerard Perse bought the estate, and the following year, he took it under his wing. Since becoming part of the Perse family, Château de Berfet de Sais has enjoyed the same treatment as Château de Berfet and the quality of its wines has continued to improve. The 3.65 hectares of vineyards of Château Pape de Cais are located on the limestone plateau of Saint-Emilion, next to the vineyards of Château Pape, and have similar terroirs but with different characteristics. The soil is mainly made up of limestone and clay soils and is planted with 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, with an average vine age of 43 years. The limestone gives the wines their freshness, floral aromas and minerality, while the clay provides structure to the finished wines. In the winemaking, Château de Pays follows the modern winemaking philosophy of the Pace family, sharing the same winemaking team as Château Pays. The grapes are harvested by hand after they have ripened and undergo a rigorous manual selection process before moving on to the next stage of the process. Grapes from different plots are fermented separately in three temperature-controlled vats to allow for fine-tuning during the final blend. The maceration lasts three weeks before the wine is transferred to oak barrels for malolactic fermentation. After fermentation, the wine is matured in 80% new French oak barrels for 18-24 months, during which time it is racked every three months. This is followed by blending and bottling. In order to maintain the pure flavour of the wines, no clarification or filtration is carried out on the red wines of Château de Pape de Cais before bottling. Thanks to the excellent terroir, the wines of Château de Pape de Sais are rich and complex, full-bodied, with a fine tannic structure and excellent ageing potential. The red wines of Chateau Pavie Decesse, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classe, France, are not only very popular with consumers, but have also been highly praised by prestigious wine critics and magazines.
1983(1)1984(1)1990(1)
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