2003 Chateau Pavie, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, Case of 12 btls

JD98 "Still youthful yet I'd wager at the early stages of its prime drinking window, the 2003 Château Pavie shows no signs of bricking and has a stunning – and classic – bouquet of ripe red and black fruits, smoked herbs, chocolate, and smoked tobacco, with plenty of background limestone-like minerality. This beauty is full-bodied, concentrated, and powerful, yet the balance is spot on, and it has beautiful tannins, a great mid-palate, and a thrilling finish. This is pure Pavie magic that readers will love to have in the cellar and to drink any time over the coming two decades." JD Mar 2024

WS97 "This is a stunner, with the warmth of the vintage marrying ideally with the relative coolness of the terroir to deliver a wide range of vivid plum, boysenberry, raspberry and cherry paste flavors that have energy and drive, carried by a long graphite note and backed by a roasted apple wood accent that has been fully absorbed. Powerfully ripe, but not heady, with a sense of poise through the finish. A jaw-dropper.—Non-blind Pavie vertical (March 2017)." JM for WS May 2017

JS97 "This controversial wine is fresh and bright still, unlike many of the overrated 2003s. Full-bodied, tight and polished with beautiful intensity and verve. Blackberry and sweet tobacco. Wet earth. Subtle and complex. Straight and direct. Drink or hold." JS Mar 2018

RP96 "Certainly this was a wine born under considerable controversy, receiving accolades and kudos from me and several of my American colleagues, but generally excoriated by the British press. The French wine critics were very positive. This wine has calmed down considerably as it was a blockbuster, somewhat of a Bordeaux fruit bomb in its youth, and now has toned itself down to a serious candidate for one of the wines of this rather bizarre, but interesting, vintage. 2003 offered everything, from pathetically dilute and thin wines to some massive blockbusters. That was true especially in the Northern Médoc and from the limestone hillsides of St.-Emilion (where Pavie is situated). The color is a dark garnet, with a touch of amber beginning to appear on the edge. The wine has a stunning nose of roasted herbs, grilled meats, charcoal, blackberry and blackcurrant fruit, with some oak still present. Dense, full-bodied and very succulent and lush, this wine seems to be in late adolescence, ready to enter a relatively mature stage. There is always a suspicion because of the extreme heat in July and August that these wines will crack up very quickly, and certainly that will always be a worry, but this one looks set for at least another 10-15 years of drinkability." RP Aug 2015

LP96 "The 2003 Pavie is deep garnet with a touch of brick. It needs a fair bit of swirling to unlock evocative scents of kirsch, blackberry preserves, and plum pudding leading to suggestions of anise, fragrant soil, cigar box, and incense. The medium to full-bodied palate is densely laden with black and red berry preserves layers, framed by firm yet velvety tannins and bags of freshness, finishing long and minerally." LPB for TWI Dec 2023