Arômes de Pavie 2018

The 2018 Arômes de Pavie is made up of 65% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Franc and 17% Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine has a 3.56 pH and 14.42% alcohol. Deep garnet-purple colored, it comes barreling out of the glass with powerful scents of stewed black cherries, mulberries and plum preserves, plus suggestions of hoisin, chocolate box, anise and underbrush with a touch of dried mint. The full-bodied palate is densely packed with ripe, concentrated black fruits and loads of savory accents, framed by rounded tannins and superb freshness, finishing long and beautifully layered.

Quite ripe and inviting, with warmed raspberry and boysenberry compote flavors that are focused, with anise, graphite and sweet toast accents lending a hand. A bit dressed up but will certainly have fans. Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink now through 2029.

Impressive liquorice and dark chocolate notes seem a little over-concentrated, but with texture and punch. It’s big and goes long on black cherry and damson fruits, but is not as fresh as some. 50% new oak. 42 hl/ha in 2018. pH 3.56.

This shows blackberry, blue-fruit, dark-chocolate and black-truffle aromas that follow through to a full body with crushed-stone, fruit and black-olive character. Layered with firm tannins that are chewy and intense. Serious aromas. 65% merlot, 18% cabernet franc and 17% cabernet sauvignon. Try after 2024.

The 2018 Arômes de Pavie comes across very ripe and exotic on the nose of black cherries, dates and thickly spread raspberry jam. It feels a little smudged compared to its peers. The palate is medium-bodied with chewy tannins and quite grainy in texture, but like Monbousquet, I find it too dry on the finish, with a bitter aftertaste.

Deep purple with a black core and a purple rim. Dense blue and black-berried bouquet with wild cherries, chocolate pralines, and cassis liqueur. On the powerful palate, demanding tannins; the acidity sits above and currently bites unpleasantly. In the focused finish, macerated plum skin and sloe juice. Potential rating.

(65% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Franc, 17% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42 hl/ha, 14.42% vol. alcohol) Herbal, peppery bouquet, blackberries, white pepper, licorice. Medium, broad palate with sweet fruit, sandy tannins, a bourgeois, robust structure, bitter aromatics, medium, dry finish. Can still improve. 16/20 2025 - 2032

Still under the sway of the warm vintage, the second wine remains as austere as it was at the outset. However, the depth of the fruit breaks through behind the structure, luxuriously raised with half new barrels.

Floral and fruity bouquet with good intensity. Pleasant notes of licorice wood. Lively, creamy attack. Good aromatic intensity from the first sip through to the finish. The wine benefits from its acid structure, creating a pleasant symbiosis with the fruit’s generosity. Excellent fine-grained tannic framework that unfolds slowly along the palate. A vibrant, expansive wine with a persistent finish.

The nose is fruity, racy, and offers crunch, minerality, and a touch of concentration. It reveals notes of fleshy/juicy blackberry, crisp blackcurrant and, more subtly, cornflower and lily, combined with fine touches of crunchy raspberry, small wild berries, as well as subtle hints of nutmeg, spices, blond tobacco, and very discreet varietal notes. The palate is fruity, balanced, and offers juiciness, a zesty backbone, and minerality. On the palate, this wine expresses notes of juicy/fresh blackcurrant, juicy/fresh blackberry and, more slightly, fleshy/fresh cherry, combined with touches of small red berries and flowers (violet, lily), as well as fine hints of licorice, toast, chocolate, and very discreet hints of blond tobacco.