Wine Advisor
Pavie Macquin 2003
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
From a cool terroir on clay and limestone soils (the perfect scenario for producing great wine in 2003), the 2003 Pavie Macquin is composed of 84% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon, and achieved 13.8% natural alcohol. Full-bodied, young and vigorous, the wine exhibits a dense blue/black color to the rim along with a stunning nose of asphalt, truffle, blackberry, cassis, lead pencil shavings and forest floor. The super-complex aromatics are followed by an opulent, majestic 2003 with a finish that lasts nearly 45 seconds. One of the superstars of the vintage, it should continue to drink well for 10-15+ years. Bravo!
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The aromatics are rather stewed and pruney at first. Blackcurrant juice. The palate is rich and toasty and lacking typicity, whilst there is an underlying stalkiness which does not suit the personality of this modernist wine. Just a little overdone. Drinking 2007-2012. Tasted January 2007.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
A rich, modern-style nose of sweet strawberry and black cherry. The palate lacks some nuance but it has good acidity, well-knit with well-integrated tannins. I did not rate this quite as highly as others because it lacks some typicity. But a well-made Pavie-Maquin, very pure with a crisp fresh finish. Tasted again after bottling at the UGC in Oct-05. This has built on its promise from en primeur. A vibrant strawberry and black cherry nose with a touch of coconut from that new oak. Good grip on the medium-bodied palate, with great cohesion. Low acidity, but good weight with notes of soft red berried fruit and mocha. Still lacking some typicity, but stylistically it is admirable.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
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+.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
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.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
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 Pavie-Macquin is best forgotten for 7-10 years. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2030.
About the Producer
Located in the Saint-Emilion region on the right bank of the Bordeaux coast, the Chateau Pavie Macquin has been a Premier Grand Cru Classe B in Saint-Emilion since 2006, and its wines are highly sought after for their consistency. Since 1887, Albert Macquin has acquired a number of châteaux, acquiring some 26 hectares of land, thus giving shape to the Château de Berfet-Marcet. Albert was a pioneering agricultural engineer who pioneered and promoted the grafting and transplanting technique when phylloxera was sweeping through France, making a remarkable contribution to the fight against the spread of phylloxera and gaining acclaim in Saint-Emilion and throughout France. Today, the winery is managed by his grandsons Benoit Corre, Bruno Corre, Marie Jacques Charpentier and their children. In 1990, Stephane Derenoncourt, the famous winemaker, joined the estate as a consultant winemaker. A specialist in terroir, Stephane was considered to be the next Michel Rolland, and his wines were often highly regarded. In 1994, Nicolas Thienpont was recruited to run the Château de Pape Marquet. Nicolas comes from the Thienpont family, a well-known Bordeaux wine family with a strong background in winemaking and winery management, and now oversees both Chateau Beausejour Heritiers Duffau Lagarrosse and Château Las Dugas. He is also the owner of two first class B estates, Chateau Larcis Ducasse and Beausejour Heritiers Duffau Lagarrosse. Under the leadership of Stephane and Nicolas, Château Beausejour Heritiers Duffau Lagarrosse has progressed to become a First Growth of Saint-Emilion in 2006. The vineyard is situated at an altitude of 65-100 metres above sea level and covers 15 hectares of land adjacent to the three Grand Crus of Saint-Emilion - Chateau Pavie, Chateau Troplong Mondot and Chateau Trottevieille - and has a privileged terroir. The terroirs are covered with a limestone clay soil with a water-holding layer of stellate limestone 20-150 cm thick, producing fresh, full-bodied, powerful wines with a distinctive mineral flavour. Depending on the terroir of each plot, 84% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon are planted on the estate, with an average age of over 30 years. The vineyard is managed with respect for the terroir, using organic farming methods, planting companion plants and installing drainage systems to maintain soil vigour and ecological balance. In addition, the vineyard staff keep a close eye on the health of the vines, replanting those that have failed, and strictly controlling the planting density to ensure the production of quality fruit. In addition, the winery team carefully selects old vines and uses their cuttings to grow new vines, thus promoting genetic diversity while maintaining the good characteristics of the old vines. Château Lafite Marquet believes that wine is a joint crystallisation of the soil and the vines, and that it should reflect the delicate balance of the ecological environment, the variability of the vintages and the continuity of the local terroir. For this reason, the winery controls each step of the winemaking process with precision, producing individual grapes from different plots of land to create a wine that reflects the characteristics of the terroir. The grapes are hand-picked, optically screened and destemmed, and then fermented in large open-topped oak barrels for some of the grapes, and in concrete tanks for others. During the fermentation, the winemakers extract the pigments and phenolics from the skins in a gentle pressure cap process. After the alcoholic fermentation, the wine is transferred to oak barrels for malolactic fermentation and is then matured in 60% new French oak barrels for around 18 months, including 6 months of sludge ageing, resulting in a wine with silky tannins, intense and concentrated flavours, freshness and distinctive mineral characteristics. The result is a wine with silky tannins, intense flavours and a fresh, mineral character.
1989(1)1995(1)1998(4)2000(3)
Package Size
12 x 75cl
