2010 Château Pavie, St Emilion, Bordeaux

What fun, excitement and joy it will be to compare the four perfect wines Perse has made in 2005, 2009, 2010 and, of course, the 2000, in 25 or so years. This wine is truly profound Bordeaux. Everything is in place remarkable concentration and a beautiful nose of cedar and ripe blackcurrant and blackberry with some kirsch and spice box in the background. Lavishly rich, with slightly more structure and delineation than the more Rabelaisian 2009, this wine does show some serious tannins in the finish, and comes across as incredibly youthful. Of course, it's five years old, but it tastes more like a just-bottled barrel sample than a 2010. In any event, this wine is set for a long, long life and should be forgotten for at least another decade. Consume it over the following 75 or more years.Robert M. Parker, Jr. - 28/08/2015

Very dark crimson. Much more lift and savour than its stablemates. Much more obvious fruit than the rest of the Perse stable so it can stand up to all that late picking and structure that bit more, though I’d love to know how it would have tasted if picked a week or two earlier. Still pretty demanding in terms of all those painfully dry minerals on the finish. But it has been miraculously sculpted so that it has a certain smoothness on the mid palate, even if it dries out terribly on the end. Strictly for modernists, with a hint of dark chocolate powder. Very much a long distance runner. jancis_robinson_mw MW- jancis_robinson_mw.com, April 2011)

Chateau Pavie is bound to court controversy again this year. Some will love it, others hate it. Aromatically pitched closer to the Mediterranean with raisined fruit notes. Rich, thick fruit on the palate. Bold and full but keen acidity for balance. Huge, tight muscular frame. Built for the long haul.

This is really gorgeous, with a flamboyant display of spice, warm linzer torte, blueberry and plum confiture aromas giving way to fleshy dark fruit and anise notes. Never overly weighty, with great cut and purity on the finish thanks to a superstrong graphite note. Shows power, precision and drive. (james_molesworth – The Wine Spectator – Top Scoring Bordeaux 2010 – 31 Mar 2011)

Painfully powerful, backward and super-concentrated, this 2010 is a blend of 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon cropped at 26 hectoliters per hectare. The harvest, as usual, was late by the standards of the appellation, occurring between October 12 and October 19. The alcohols are surprisingly modest by 2010 standards, 14.2%. As usual, this is one of the top wines of the vintage, but it needs a good decade of cellaring. It is much more backward and restrained than the 2009 was at the same stage, and seems even more tannic and structured than the 2005. It is a monumental wine for true connoisseurs who have the patience and discipline to cellar it for a good decade. Anticipated maturity: 2025-2060+. This great terroir dominates the Cote Pavie, which is a combination of decomposed limestone and more gravelly soils at the bottom of the slope. Kudos to proprietors Chantal and Gerard Perse for continuing to push the envelope of quality and ignoring their jealous critics. (98+ robert_parker - Wine Advocate - Feb 2013) Along with several other Medoc first-growths as well as Ausone in St.-Emilion and possibly Petrus and Lafleur in Pomerol, few estates have such a record for consistent quality as Gerard Perse’s Chateau Pavie. Made from a classic blend of 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2010 was cropped at a ridiculously low 26 hectoliters per hectare, and the harvest occurred between October 12 and 19. Surprisingly, the alcohol is only 14.2% which is actually less than the 2008 and 2009. Since Perse acquired this estate in 1998, most Pavies have possessed off the charts richness and the 2010 is no different. It also reveals an opaque purple color, abundant notes of roasted coffee, blackberries, cassis, full-bodied power and sensational density, texture and length. There is also a boatload of tannin, so do not expect this 2010 to provide near-term consumption. Somewhat reminiscent of the 2005 in its freshness, precision and intensity, it requires 7-10 years of cellaring and should keep for 3-4 decades thereafter. I had this wine on four separate occasions and would rank it slightly behind the 2000, 2005 and 2009. (95-98+ robert_parker- Wine Advocate- May 2011)