Pavie Decesse 2007

Gerard Perse's tiny vineyard was cropped at 26 hectoliters per hectare, and the final blend was 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc (14.5% alcohol). It boasts great intensity, a dense purple color, and beautiful aromas of sweet mulberries, black cherries, cedar, crushed rocks, and white chocolate as well as a chalky character (which gives the wine superb minerality). The wine is expansively flavored, and the tannins are remarkably sweet and well-integrated. An atypical blockbuster for the 2007 vintage, it should drink beautifully for 15-20 years. Drink 2010-2030.

I often enjoy the nose on Pavie-Decesse more than other wines under Gerard Perse and this is not different. Notes of blackberries, macerated black cherries, a touch of plum and a little violets. The palate is full-bodied but with acidity cutting through those layers of ripe black fruits. Very pure, clams up towards the finish but this has great balance and precision. Tasted April 2008.

Dark chocolate, berry and mineral aromas and flavors. Medium body, well-integrated tannins and a medium finish. Well done.

90% Merlot; on the plateau above Ch Pavie. Very dark. A bit cheesy and overdone on the nose. Dark and jammy. It’s a fruit cordial rather than a wine. Lots of sweetness. Tough minerals and chew on the end. But it’s certainly serious. Tarry finish without enough juice in the middle – more reminiscent to me of the exaggerations of the Perse house style. Drink 2012-2020

Bright medium ruby. Lively aromas of kirsch, bitter chocolate, minerals and licorice, lifted by a peppery element. Suave and fine-grained, showing less obvious structure and power than the Bellevue-Mondotte that preceded it but a finer grain. Then broader and longer on the aftertaste, with more minerally lift. The crop level here was 31 hectoliters per hectare, according to owner Gerard Perse, who noted that the average age of vines here is a good 20 years higher than those of Bellevue-Mondotte.

Dark purple-black hue. Red fruit and chocolate notes. Not the concentration of big brother Pavie but ripe fruit and fine, firm tannins that build on the palate balanced by a minerally freshness the terroir imports. Powerful and long for the vintage. Drink 2015-2025. 4 stars.