Château Pavie - St.-Emilion 2003 (750ml)
Price: $399.00
| Producer | Château Pavie |
| Country | France |
| Region | Bordeaux |
| Subregion | St Emilion |
| Varietal | Bordeaux Blend |
| Vintage | 2003 |
| Sku | 10630 |
| Size | 750ml |
Wine Spectator: 97 Points
This is a stunner with the warmth of the vintage marrying ideally with the relative coolness of the terroir to deliver a wide range of vivid plum boysenberry raspberry and cherry paste flavors that have energy and drive carried by a long graphite note and backed by a roasted apple wood accent that has been fully absorbed. Powerfully ripe but not heady with a sense of poise through the finish. A jaw-dropper.?Non-blind Pavie vertical (March 2017). Best from 2020 through 2040. 7500 cases made.
Wine Advocate: 96 Points
Certainly this was a wine born under considerable controversy receiving accolades and kudos from me and several of my American colleagues but generally excoriated by the British press. The French wine critics were very positive. This wine has calmed down considerably as it was a blockbuster somewhat of a Bordeaux fruit bomb in its youth and now has toned itself down to a serious candidate for one of the wines of this rather bizarre but interesting vintage. 2003 offered everything from pathetically dilute and thin wines to some massive blockbusters. That was true especially in the Northern Médoc and from the limestone hillsides of St.-Emilion (where Pavie is situated). The color is a dark garnet with a touch of amber beginning to appear on the edge. The wine has a stunning nose of roasted herbs grilled meats charcoal blackberry and blackcurrant fruit with some oak still present. Dense full-bodied and very succulent and lush this wine seems to be in late adolescence ready to enter a relatively mature stage. There is always a suspicion because of the extreme heat in July and August that these wines will crack up very quickly and certainly that will always be a worry but this one looks set for at least another 10-15 years of drinkability.
Vinous: 92+ Points
Impressive full medium ruby color. Quite locked up on the nose following the February bottling; hinted at currant smoked meat and roasted nuts as it opened in the glass. Extremely powerful but a bit chunky today conveying an impression of extraordinary solidity. One senses but does not taste the minerals and primary berry fruit. But this painfully closed wine already offers uncanny sweetness. The major mouthful of tannins calls for at least six to eight years of cellaring. A classic extreme 2003 that is currently in a sullen stage. This is sure to controversial-at least until it begins to recover from the bottling. My score may prove to be conservative but today it's the dried fruit character that dominates.
vStephen Tanzer: 92 Points
