Wine Advisor
Pavie Decesse 2017
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
There was no frost in the vineyard in 2017, due to its elevation. This is a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, and 100% of the grapes come from the limestone plateau. Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2017 Pavie Decesse bursts from the glass with bold notes of crushed black cherries, baked plums and boysenberries plus wafts of licorice, smoked meats and cracked black pepper with a hint of tree bark. Medium to full-bodied, the palate delivers wonderfully concentrated, crunchy black fruits and racy acidity to balance with firm, ripe, rounded tannins and a very long, very minerally finish.
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
There was no frost in this vineyard in 2017, due to its elevation. One-hundred percent of the fruit comes from the limestone plateau. Composed of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc and sporting a very deep purple-black color, the 2017 Pavie Decesse has a drop-dead gorgeous nose of crushed blackcurrants, red roses, black plums and blueberries with touches of tapenade, cigar box and wood smoke plus a hint of cast iron pan. The palate is medium to full-bodied, firm and incredibly structured with grainy tannins and a lively line supporting the tightly wound fruit, finishing on a lingering mineral note.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2017 Pavie-Decesse, which was bottled in July 2019, offers copious black cherries and boysenberry fruit on the nose. Fine delineation here, very pure with floral notes (violet and peony) developing with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, gentle grip with impressive focus towards the finish. It will need a few years in bottle to lose its sinew, but this appears to have obtained more balance since I tasted it from barrel.
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.
