France

Cabernet Sauvignon

Merlot

Cabernet Franc

Chateau Pavie Macquin

Chateau Pavie Macquin Premier Grand Cru Classe B Saint-Emilion Grand Cru

Bordeaux

Saint-Emilion Grand Cru

Soy, smoked earth, oyster shell and raspberry fruits all flood the mouth on the opening beats, with touches of fig and white flowers. A good moment to start drinking this, as it is a little less succulent than some others in the lineup, reserved after an extremely dry but not overly hot year. As it opens, you see hidden concentration and pools of stillness. Part of the classic vintages series within this vertical.

Inside Bordeaux

84% Merlot, 14% Cab Franc, 2% Cab Sauv. Pen nese, myk og bløt merlotfrukt, urter, litt mineralsk, men aller mest frukt per nå. Medium konsentrasjon. Frisk syre og bra balanse. Mer på den elegante siden enn full av kraft og power. 90p

Amatør

Up on the limestone plateau of St Emilion, the whole game in 2024 has been how to handle the austerity without rendering things too tight. Here they have got the balance right - delicate, sappy, drawn out, vivid blackberry and cassis fruits with hidden density, nothing overt but plenty of power and grip. 3.3ph, harvest 3 to 8 October. 42 hl/ha, touch of saignée. Harvesting entirely in October, from 3 to 8, Stéphane Derenoncourt consultant with Nicolas Thienpont. 

The 2023 Pavie Macquin is deep garnet-purple in color. Wow! It prances out with a showy perfume of lilacs, iris bulb, star anise, sandalwood, and Sichuan pepper leading to a core of redcurrant jelly, wild blueberries, and black raspberries plus earthy suggestions of moss-covered tree bark and fallen leaves. The medium to full-bodied palate shimmers with energetic red and black berry layers, framed by firm fine-grained tannins and magic tension, finishing very long with lots of chalky and red berry sparks. This is electric. The pH this year is 3.40.

by Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW

Creamy depths of colour and flavour, powerful damson and black cherry fruits, this is utterly compelling and beautifully concentrated. No question that the tannins are crowding in through the front of the palate, eager to make an impression, but they quickly soften and widen, and in between is air, spice, flowers, just nuanced and beautiful. The power of limestone in hot vintages on display. 3.4ph, great stuff from this 14.5ha estate, Nicolas Thienpont director.

Beautiful depth of colour, and the aromatics take their time to open, giving a closed slightly austere feel at first. Shows a verticality through the palate, with pummice stone scrape to the tannins, opening up to show black chocolate and creamy blueberry through the mid palate, and softer black cherry, damson, mandarin peel and tea. Harvest September 28 to October 12. No chaptilisation, the powerful south-facing slopes coming in extremely handy in 2021. 75% new oak, 3.67ph.

Composed of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc, the 2020 Pavie Macquin is deep garnet-purple in color. It bursts with bold notions of baked plums, boysenberries, and fresh, juicy blackberries, plus hints of Indian spices, violets, and clove oil. The full-bodied palate explodes with vibrant black and blue fruits, supported by super-soft tannins and a lively backbone, leading to a long and perfumed finish on this beautiful wine.

Rich and deep in colour, this is inky damson, layered and luscious in its aromatics, both restrained and generous, performing the limestone magic trick of push and pull, giving and taking. Blackberry, blueberry and liquorice upfront, with the tannins bristling and muscular but well honed and discreet. As it softens through the mid palate, the creamy fruits arrive, and you relax for a moment because the grip is turned on again. This will close up soon, as the 2016 has done, but right now is singing with liquorice, black chocolate, blackcurrant, turmeric, spiced black truffles, mandarin peel and slate. Totally lives up to its En Primeur brilliance. 50% new oak. Part of the outstanding vintages series within this vertical.

Pavie Macquin 2018 is deep garnet purple in color. It opens with notes of mocha and violets, giving way to prunes, blueberry pie, and sandalwood, with a touch of menthol. Full-bodied, rich and plush, the palate has bags of spicy fruit and a long, fragrant finish.

Drunk at home over supper with friends, this gorgeous Pavie Macquin was more proof for me that the 2017s - particularly those on St Emilion's clay limestone plateau - are tasting exceptional right now. It's not a vintage with the kind of structure to really lay down for long ageing, but I thoroughly recommend enjoying the sappy blueberry and redcurrant fruits, saffran and salt-scrape of limestone with sculpted tannins. A definite contender for Christmas drinking.

A perfect example of coiled sinewy tannins, a fist of steel wrapped in velvet. This is so juicy yet so reserved, fully walking the tightrope of light and shade. Meticulous layers of butterscotch, cigar, turmeric, dill, mandarin peel, with sculpted clarity to the cooly-reserved blackcurrant and bilberry fruits, extremely complex and clearly determined to be around for many decades. Part of the oustanding vintages series within this vertical - and where you could just about drink the 2017 today, I would strongly suggest not doing so with the 2016. 60% new oak.

This was a vintage where I really began to sit up and take notice of this estate as reguarly producing something extraordinary. Takes a heartbeat to get going, but you are rewarded with sculpted blueberry and raspberry fruits, mocha and liqourice, and a delicate feeling of tiptoing across a slate-strewn palate even at this young stage of six years old. Saline and pummice stone finish, with gunsmoke and black truffle curling out of the glass. Part of the warm vintages series within this vertical. 60% new oak.

The 2014 Pavie Macquin is medium to deep garnet-brick in color. Delicate notes of tobacco leaf, clove oil, and mossy tree bark open out to a core of dried plums and cherries with a touch of garrigue. The medium-bodied palate is delicate and light on is feet, with compelling tension and a soft-spoken finish.

Another signpost vintage where only the most adapted terroirs were able to survive. This has less grip than the others in the cool series, but we are in the same family of aromatics, with cool blue rather than red or black fruits. Tobacco, blueberry and raspberry leaf, this has juice and is delicate with mouthwatering floraility of the finish. Subtle, well handled, but less life ahead. Part of the cool vintages series within this vertical. 80% new oak.

The 2012 Pavie Macquin is medium to deep garnet colored. The nose sings of eucalyptus, baked raspberries, and black cherry compote with hints of fallen leaves, Ceylon tea, and dusty soil. The full-bodied palate has a chewy texture and just enough freshness, finishing on a lingering minty note.

Love the nuances straight off the bat with this wine, it's a nose that you want to take your time with, slowing everything down. Blackberry and cassis fruits, tannnins brooding but velvety, holds its core strength with confidence. This is 12 years old but just revving up out of the starting block. Delicious, reserved but luscious black chocolate and liqourice bud, nothing too sweet, this is balanced and careful in its slate-filled pummice stone minerality. Has a deft lightness of touch that conceals its power. 80% new oak. Part of the warm vintages series within this vertical.

This is generous and yet given definition and character by the saline twist and pulse of electicity and minerality that shoots through the palate. Blackberry, cassis, soy, charcoal, crushed stone, orange peel, juicy on the finish. Higher alcohols at this point but effortlessly balanced by the fresh acidities and supple tannins. Part of the warm vintages series within this vertical. 80% new oak.

The tannins in 2008 were austere and needed patience at first. This is earthy, a little less precise in its aromatics than others in the lineup, given a punch of personality with a great slug of liqourice. A wine that is edging forward extremely slowly, angular tannins hugging tightly on to the limestone minerality. Juicy finish, so mouthwatering, you feel the tightrope walk between acidity and tannins, and the power builds through the palate, opening up to show blackcurrant pastilles, cocoa bean and gunsmoke. This was a very late harvest, heading into the third week of October, after one of the longest growing seasons on record. Part of the classic vintages series within this vertical, and it really lives up to billing.

This is a signpost vintage for me, in that you can tell a lot about an estate through how its soils react to 2007. So many of them are drinking perfectly and generously now, but Pavie Macquin remains young even at 14 years old, showing precision, chiselled flesh, and overall a briliant incisive reflection of limestone. You'll find rich aromatics with soy sauce and charcoal, along with blackberry and loganberry fruits that reflect creamy notes through the mid palate, and a scrape of salinity on the finish. Can drink this now with a carafe but it will improve and soften further over the next few years in bottle. Part of the cool vintages series within this vertical. 80% new oak.

Restrained and yet generous, showing contrasts in texture and in architecture. Still knitted down with chalky tannins that give resistance on the palate, and here you feel cooler blue fruits that reflect the longer growing season, along with cigar box, saffron, chalk, juicy lemongrass and mandarin. Part of the cool vintages series within this vertical. 80% new oak.

Soft on the nose, a good moment to begin drinking, with soy, cassis, tobacco, creme de cassis, touch of liqueur. In an oxidative phase perhaps, may come back - these great terroirs always have the capacity to suprise. Not my favourite 2005, disappointing only because the vintage is so exceptional. Part of the warm vintages series within this vertical.

Edges of gunsmoke, tobacco and liquorice on the first nose, this feels significantly younger than the 2002 vintage, and you need a little more patience to wait out those drawn-together tannins that are holding the cassis and blueberry fruits in place. The juice and salinity though is already mouthwatering, giving a scrape and a push that both propels you forward and drags you back. These are physical wines in the mouth, which is why they are so exciting. Part of the cool vintages series within this vertical, and a great example of why great terroir can overperform in more challenging years. 80% new oak.

I'm not surprised by the success by this particular estate in 2003, but it is still a real pleasure to taste a wine from this vintage that remains full of plump ripe fruits and sappy tannins. It shows the heat of the vintage in terms of the exoticism of the caramelised fruits, which are fig, prune and blackberry tatin in character, along with bacon, turmeric and clove spice notes. It has a different feel than the others in the tasting, but it retains a freshess and is in no hurry to be drunk up. Part of the warm vintages series within this vertical.

20 years old this year, showing plump if softened black fruits, saffron and sweet tobacco notes (to the point that this is a masterclass in what sweet tobacco means, with its mix of smoky, woody and caramel notes). The tannins are gentle, melted into the overall structure, but there is still so much juice. The coolness of the vintage comes through in the fresh acidities, but they are lilting rather than abrupt, and this has so much to recommend. Drink now and sink into this wine. Part of the cool vintages series within this vertical. 80% new oak.

The colour is beginning to soften and turn russet pink around the edges, and the aromatics are moreish and enticing, with sweet tobacco, bacon rind, campfire smoke and charcoal. A vintage I love, and this is totally living up to my expectations, with a gentle power that builds through the palate, salinity exemplified, with the blueberry, raspberry puree and saffron character that is such a signature of older Pavie Macquin. 80% new oak that by now is smoky, stretched out, langorous, gentle. Part of the classic vintages series within this vertical, and I can't recommend highly enough. Don't expect fireworks, this is subtle but rewarding.

Now heading towards 22 years old, and the stubborn 2000 vintage is in full flow. Not quite as generous on the nose, surprisingly perhaps, as the 2001, but this is a stormingly good wine that begs to be shared. Sweet tobacco and enticingly fragrant blackberry and raspberry fruits, a tangled autumn hedgerow of sweet and mellow juicy fruits. There are fresh acidities here, with an oyster shell finish that roots this wine in its limestone bedrock, along with the flexed muscular power of clay. A wine to sink into. Part of the warm vintages series within this vertical. 80% new oak.

Tertiary white truffle and smoked earth notes curl out of the glass here, with brickish red tones around the edge of the still-ruby core. Still vibrating with life at almost 25 years old, nuanced and delicate with blackberry and soft crushed raspberry coulis. Saffron on full display, along with smoked caramel and freshly crushed mint leaf that is almost more pronounced on the finish here than in any other in the lineup. Part of the oustanding vintages series within this vertical.

2024	No priceNot available	Outstanding
2023	No priceNot available	Extraordinary
2022	No priceNot available	Outstanding
2021	kr 1 195.00Not available	Outstanding
2020	kr 4 695.00Not available	Extraordinary

Category	Red wine
Vinmonopolet no.
Producer	Chateau Pavie Macquin
Vintages	2011
Country	France, Bordeaux, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru
Bottle	75 cl

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