These are notes from a dinner tasting of Ch. Pavie-Macquin, a St. Emilion that has been showing well in recent vintages.
A small property of about 15 ha near Pavie and Troplong Mondot, they produce an average of 60,000 bottles. In the reclassification, they received elevation to Premier Grand Cru Classé. They have specifically espoused a wish to ‘reveal the terroir’ since 1995. This event was aimed at assessing what all the fuss was about, and so the wines were intended to cover the recent history of the chateau..
1996 Feuillatte Ay Grand Cru Blanc de Noirs – this bubbly was rather impressive with a very good and complex nose, nice flavour, good concentration and balance.
With seared Ahi tune, celery root remoulade:
1989 – ripe hot nose, not quite Maderised but having suffered heat at some point. Came from the US.
1990 – brown, maderised wine, spoiled. Same source.
1995 – one good out of three – not a great start. This wine had a very nice nose, dark fruit and cedar, good intensity on entry, fresh in the mouth, and was pleasant now, with far les tannin than I’d expected.
With saddle of rabbit and boudin noir with morel cream:
1996 – lots of intensity in this nose, more dark fruit, huge structure and still hard tannins that ended with an astringent finish. Not sure where it is going.
1998 – interesting chocolate syrup nose, lots of tannin, but softer than the 96, and the fruit sweeter. A bigger bodied very attractive wine that tightened up at the end.
1999 – plum, earth and mushroom in the nose, medium body, soft tannin, fruit sweeter than 96, the most currently drinkable of this trio.
With duck and porcini risotto:
2000 – nice coffee mocha nose, bright acidity on the tip of the tongue, but reasonably soft on palate, and well balanced. Pleasant wine.
2001 – Eureka – the first wine that displayed any detectable St. Emilion character, despite the avowed intention s of the producer. The nose is still pretty much primary fruit at this point, with almost no differentiation. Quite forward and pleasant with soft tannins(surprisingly so for the age), it drinks well now and borders on elegant.
With beef loin and oxtail ‘en crepinette’:
2003 – dark purple with a nose almost as sweet and ripe as an Aussie Shiraz, a bit hot. Nonetheless the tannins were reasonably soft and the wine very pleasantly drinkable.
2004 – dark purple with a plummy oatmeal sort of nose. Bigger wine than the 2001, and more like a Bordeaux in the nose.
1999 Ch. Guiraud – light golden colour, ton of fresh acidity, which made it seem less sweet and almost more like an Alsatian Vendage Tardif Only a little botrytis. I don’t know how this will age, but it drinks quite well now.
Verdict – for a wine intended to be terroir driven, I saw little sign of that here. To elevate it on the basis of only a few years of inconsistent results seems precipitate to me. I have not bought it in the past and on the evidence of this tasting (discounting the two spoiled bottles, of course) I will not collect it in the future. I will taste when possible to chart any progress in future, but at the moment, it isn’t what I look for in a St. Emilion.
