| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | France > Bordeaux > Right Bank > St Emilion |
| Colour | Red |
| Type | Still |
This 3.65 hectare vineyard is owned by Pavie and is situated on the same south-facing slope. The vines here are 50 years old. 90% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc. Always black, concentrated and powerful, made from low yields and aged in 100% new oak.
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.
A barrel sample, the very deep purple-black colored 2016 Pavie Decesse hits the ground running with bold scents of plum preserves, Black Forest cake and crème de cassis with hints of hoisin, Sichuan pepper, Chinese five spice and molten chocolate plus wafts of camphor and licorice. Full-bodied, very firm and wonderfully grained, with a very taut, muscular fruit profile, the palate is packed with mineral sparks and finishes on a long-lingering earthy note.
A Perse wine from up on the limestone plateau where the vines never suffered from dry water stress in 2016, and so this has juice, tension and depth, plus a quite amazingly low 3.43pH. Gorgeous - the best that I remember. 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc.
Drinking Window 2025-2038
Blackish crimson. Lively and sinewy but a bit severe and austere - lacks real flesh in the middle. Drying end. Not my style. Too reminiscent of Pavie 2003!
Drink 2025-2040
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. Drink 2026-2076.
The nose is tight the start of the palate firm with red and black fruits. The tannins are aggressive dusty tending to overpower and dry the fruit and although there is a hint of sweetness the tannins obscure. 2025-37
The 2016 Pavie-Decesse is a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc cropped at just 26 hectoliters per hectare and delivers 14.63% alcohol with a pH of 3.43. It was picked on 12 October and will be matured in 100% new oak. It has a very flamboyant nose for the vintage, eschewing the classicism you might find elsewhere in Saint Emilion with luscious macerated black cherries, blueberry and vanilla pod aromas, a hint of iodine developing in the glass. The palate is full-bodied with succulent, juicy ripe blue and black fruit, the acidity maintaining the freshness and with an almost viscous finish due to the concentration. It is atypical for the vintage, hedonistic and creamy in texture. Go for this if you seek fruit and concentration in 2016.
Drink Date 2026 - 2050
This has beautiful presence and finesse with lovely fruit, mineral and light walnut character. Center palate is gorgeous. Long and refined. Perhaps better than the superb 2015.
