Aromes de Pavie 2019

Lush and exotic, with a broad wave of creamed plum and raspberry reduction notes, liberally laced with sweet toast and melted licorice. Features a swath of sweet tobacco on the finish. Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink now through 2028. 3,500 cases made.

Perfumed dark berries on the nose, smells ripe and round—super expressive. Mouthcoating tannins but not massively heavy, with such a lovely juicy and succulent quality—nicely rounded but with elegance too. Freshness and tension throughout. Good core of dark fruit—blackcurrants and black cherries—with licks of wet stone, salinity and minerality alongside some sweet black liquorice touches at the end. Such confidence—plush, ripe, round; this is a big, showy wine but with lots of well-expressed sides where little touches of freshness, mint, wet stone and spice all come through harmoniously. A blend of 65% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Franc and 17% Cabernet Sauvignon. 18 months’ ageing, 50% new oak, 50% one-year-old barrels.

The 2019 Arômes de Pavie retains the attractiveness I noted from barrel, offering blackberry and bilberry scents that are quite low-key for this château. The palate is well balanced with lightly spiced red fruit, salted licorice, and a slightly grainier finish than the silky one I encountered before. This is a thoroughly decent Deuxième Vin and it should provide a decade of drinking pleasure.

Deep dark ruby, opaque core, violet tints, delicate bright rim. Fresh forest berries, fine liquorice touch, a breath of noble wood, tobacco underlaid with herbal savouriness. Complex, tight-knit, fresh cherries, fine fruit expression, integrated tannins, salty minerality, long length, a multi-faceted food match.

Always one of the "Second Wines of the Vintage," the 2019 Aromes De Pavie is based on 65% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon. This deep purple-hued beauty boasts a great nose of cassis, graphite, white flower, tobacco leaf, and damp earth. It shows lots of Sauvignon aromatics with its lively, floral character yet is rocking Merlot on the palate, where it's medium to full-bodied, round, and seamless. It's a great second wine that undeniably shows some mini-Pavie character.

Powerful, fruity, peppery bouquet, blackberry jelly, blackcurrant, chocolate, smoke, liquorice. Powerful, firm and aromatic palate with dark fruit, sandy tannins, muscular structure, pronounced aromatics, drying finish. 17/20 2025 - 2035

Cigar box, powerful with less space for air between the tannins than I found in the Pavie Decesse. This is exuberant, with creamy black cherry fruit, a ton of black pepper spice and olive tapenade, solid and full of punch. 50% new oak, then 1/3 stainless steel, 2/3 oak.

Purplish violet. The bouquet of aromas of pavie unfolds slowly. Notes of resin, blackcurrant and tea leaves. On the palate, freshness takes the lead, lending pedigree to this rather creamy wine. The tannins show a fine grain and match the structure. A balanced, classy wine that can already be enjoyed in its youth. The aromas have gained in definition and precision.

This is chewy and juicy with plums and dried fruit, as well as some walnut and nutmeg. It’s medium- to full-bodied with earth and spice. Needs three or four years to come around. Try after 2025.

From a separate parcel of the Pavie vineyard, the wine is richly textured, firm with tannins. To contrast neatly, it also has a supple, velvet character with juicy black fruits and an open aftertaste. Drink from 2025.