CHÂTEAU PAVIE

37 ha (91 acres) planted in a single block. 60% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon. Fermented in wooden vats. Aged in 80% new oak. Black-hearted with purple rim. Rich and dark and packed with fruit, and here the oak char adds a savoury quality and does not overwhelm the fruit. Excellent freshness – everything is embryonic but in a powerful but harmonious whole. A particular style but well done in that style. Chewy, compact and all so concentrated. Needs time to unfurl. Drinking range: 2030 - 2045 Rating: 17++ Julia Harding MW, www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2018)

This is a good Pavie, with a good amount of clear water between it and the second wine. There's no doubt that this is a big wine, high on extraction of black fruits, coffee and tar aromatics, but the overall feel is velvety and fresh, as it was in 2016. 80% new oak has been used this time, compared to 100% previously, but still for 24 months, and the estate has continued their practice of beginning harvest a little earlier than in the past (helped by the vintage of course), getting going on 20 September this year. It's a very good wine for the vintage, with impressive texture, and they are doing a very successful job of moving towards a more sculpted feel without sacrificing their signature. They had no blockage of maturity here, and no frost; the altitude and the limestone saw to that. Drinking range: 2026 - 2040 Rating: 95 Jane Anson, Decanter (Apr 2018)

Dark and admirably ripe, with layers of fig and blackberry compote liberally infused with tobacco, licorice snap and fruitcake flavors. Shows some heft through the finish, but there’s enough energy to keep this moving along. A long, subtle echo of chalk is alluring. Rating: 93-96 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Apr 2018)

This is very velvety with a very pretty density and richness. Full body and chewy tannins. Focused and tight on the finish. Succulent and savory, too. Shows strength and subtlety at the same time. Rating: 96-97 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2018)

In this vintage the yield for this vineyard was 32 hl/ha. This might seem low, but the slopes of the Côte de Pavie largely escaped the frost, and the figure is not dissimilar to yields here in 2016 (38 hl/ha), 2012 or 2009 (both were 28 hl/ha). The fruit was picked between September 25th and October 3rd. The alcohol is 14.59%, a contender for the highest degree in the entire vintage (certainly one of the highest I have seen), while the pH is 3.68. Aromatically this has a very dark, savoury style of fruit on the nose, with a maturity to the fruit, a sweet ripeness, pushing it into a confit but happily not a baked or roasted style, with the usual sweet buttery oak wrapped around it all. The palate is restrained, elegant even, confident, with sweetly ripe but not overdone black cherry, black plum and violet cream fruit confidence, with a wrapping of very finessed, fine-grained tannins throughout. There is balance here, a fresh acidity, perfect harmony in terms of structure, and a real focus. With its perfectly ripe and floral but not overdone fruit, and properly elegant tannins, as well as its fresh and bright acid balance, Pavie is finally really looking like a first growth here. I feel this is a wine that wants to set standards for the appellation and classification level, rather than following a questionable winemaking dogma or trend. There is clearly earlier picking here (relative to the Pavie of old, anyway), and I see there will be less new oak for the élevage as well. This is a hugely impressive wine in this vintage. Rating: 96-98 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2018)