This is the best Pavie Decesse ever made!  It’s another feather in the cap of the man with the Midas touch, Gerard Perse.  The scores say it all.

JS99, JD98+, WA98, VN97

JS99: “Amazing, pure cherries, plums and flowers, as well as crushed stones. It jumps out of the glass. Full body, powerful tannins and a freshness and roundness to it. Lightly salty on the finish. Great structure with finesse. Try after 2024.”

JD98+: “A wine that’s going to flirt with perfection in a few years, the 2016 Pavie Decesse is a normal blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc that was brought up in new barrels. It has an incredible mix of power and elegance that’s hard to describe, hitting the palate with a deep, full-bodied texture that carries, beautiful tannins, good acidity (the pH here is quite low), no hard edges, and thrilling length. Exotic, with notes of cassis, orange blossom, graphite, white truffle, and crushed rocks, it tastes like the essence of the limestone soils just outside of Saint Emilion. It’s going to need 7-8 years of bottle age and keep for decades. It’s another magical wine from the Perse team.”

WA98: “Deep purple-black colored, the 2016 Pavie Decesse bursts boldly out of the glass with confident blackcurrant preserves, baked blackberries, baked plums and sandalwood notes with touches of Indian spices, mocha and lilacs plus touches of cedar chest and pencil lead. Big, concentrated and voluptuously fruited in the mouth, it has a truly impressive structure of very firm, finely grained tannins and racy freshness lifting all that densely packed fruit to a very long, multilayered finish. Wow!”

VN97: “The 2016 Pavie-Decesse pulses with energy, tension and pure class. Inky red and purplish berry fruit, pomegranate, chocolate, lavender and spice all run through this super-expressive Saint-Émilion. Dark and unctuous in the glass, but also very much medium in body, the 2016 is super refined and elegant. Silky tannins, pulsing, saline minerality and a sense of vibrancy all add to the wine’s considerable appeal. The 2016 is a wine of exceptional finesse, class and sensuality. More importantly, it is absolutely memorable.”