Château Pavie 2015 (750ml)

This is really something. Sort of speechless when I taste it. It shows evocative aromas of wet earth, oyster shell, dust, tile, blackberries and blueberries. Full body, ultra-fine tannins and a length and intensity that is so, so fine. A wine in perfect harmony. Complete. Hard not not to drink. Energetic and balanced. Better to wait for 10 years. Try in 2028.

Opaque garnet in color with a touch of purple, the 2015 Pavie needs a fair bit of swirling to unlock notes of baked plums, blackberry preserves, and spice cake followed by nuances of tree bark, charcoal, and tapenade with a touch of Indian spices. The full-on, full-bodied palate is atomic, exploding in the mouth with black fruit preserves and velvety tannins, kept in check by a racy backbone, finishing with epically long-lasting notes of exotic spices. It needs 5 years to come into its best, then drink over the next 25 years+.

The 2015 Château Pavie is going to be a candidate for the wine of the vintage, both from the right and left banks, it’s that good. Made from 60% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon, this truly great wine sports an inky purple color and to-die-for notes of crème de cassis, toasted bread, liquid flowers, and a building, gravely, liquid rock-like minerality. Possessing full-bodied richness, ultra-fine tannin, and integrated acidity, with perfect ripeness and balance, it will need at least 4-5 years of bottle age to be drinkable but is going to keep for decades. I wrote “Wow” more than once in my notes. 2022 - 2052