Wine Advisor
Pavie Decesse 2000
View analysis
Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
In 2002, a big section of this vineyard will be incorporated into Pavie. The 2000 Pavie Decesse, made from 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc at yields of 30 hectoliters per hectare, enjoyed a five-week maceration and was aged in 100% new oak, with aging on its lees for the first six months. It was bottled unfined and unfiltered, as are all the Perse wines. This wine, for about one-half the price of Pavie, is well-worth checking out ... to state it mildly! A brilliant effort, the wine has an opaque bluish/purple color and a gorgeous nose of sweet blueberries, blackberries, charcoal, and mineral. The wine is full-bodied, rich, with striking purity, fabulous delineation, immense body and extract, and sweet but high levels of tannin in the finish, which goes on for nearly one minute. This is undoubtedly the greatest Pavie Decesse ever produced and a modern-day Bordeaux legend. At one-half the price of its sibling, Pavie, it should be obvious what readers should do! Anticipated maturity: 2008-2030.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The finest wine ever made at this estate, the 2000 Pavie Decesse boasts a strikingly exotic, floral, and liquid mineral-scented bouquet with notes of sensationally ripe black cherry and cassis fruit. It is full-bodied, structured, powerful, and crammed with extract as well as tannin. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2030.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Concentrated black cherry nose with a touch of shoe-polish. Massive concentration on the palate with velvety smooth tannins. A very serious, fat wine. Opulent and ravishing.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
Gerard Perse’s 2000 Pavie Decesse, a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc from a vineyard situated above Pavie, on the steep limestone hillsides outside the walled town of St.-Emilion, is a fabulous effort (all the Perse wines are stunning in this vintage). Notes of camphor, creme de cassis, violets, black currants, cedar, and licorice jump from the glass of this inky/purple-hued offering. Monumental richness, sensational sweet tannin, a skyscraper-like mid-palate, and a 45+-second finish result in an extraordinary wine that is just reaching its plateau of full maturity. It should last for another 20-25 years.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
Pavie-Decesse has never produced better wines than those fashioned under the helmsmanship of Gerard Perse and his consulting winemaker, oenologist Michel Rolland. Pavie-Decesse has a noble terroir, producing sweet, approachable wines. Part of this is attributable to the blend. Pavie-Decesse is composed of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. The color is an opaque black/ruby. The nose offers up aromas of melted licorice, incense, smoke, and jammy blackberry and cherry fruit. Unctuously-textured, with low acidity and structure, this super-concentrated offering should be drinkable within 4-5 years, and keep for 20-25. This is a magical elixir that satiates both the hedonistic and intellectual senses. Anticipated maturity: 2005-2025.
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.
