2019 Château Pavie Macquin

Suckling - 98-99

Really classy red, offering blueberries, minerals, salt, limestone and light fresh herbs. It’s full-bodied, but so refined. Fine layers of fruit and tannins. It’s like millefeuille. The 2018 is more exuberant, but I love the elegance and structure here. Subtle and complex. 78% merlot, 20% cabernet franc and 2% cabernet sauvignon.

Jeb Dunnuck - 96+

The 2019 Château Pavie Macquin comes from a beautiful, cooler terroir located just outside the village of Saint-Emilion. A wine that always demands bottle age, its deep ruby/purple color is followed by a tight, reserved wine with notes of ripe cassis, mulberry, and blackberry fruits as well as notes of spring flowers, sandalwood, and flowers. The purity is truly something, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a rich, layered mid-palate, beautiful tannins, and a great finish. This is a wonderfully complete, nuanced, flawlessly balanced Pavie Macquin that will round into form with just 5-6 years of bottle age yet keep for 2-3 decades.

Markus Del Monego - 97

Vinous - 95-97

The 2019 Pavie Macquin feels very tight on the nose at first and certainly from my sample bottle, I allowed it 15-20 minutes to open. Eventually it reveals very intense scents of black cherries, cassis and crushed violet, touches of blood orange in the background. The palate has a satin-like texture, almost Vosne-Romanée-like, with extraordinarily pure blue and black fruit. Seamless! There is fine tension on the finish with impressive persistence. This is a seriously good Pavie-Macquin from Nicolas Thienpont and his team.

Robert Parker - 96+

The 2019 Pavie Macquin has turned out very well indeed, unwinding in the glass with aromas of blackcurrants, cherries, burning embers, black truffle and licorice, framed by a deft framing of new oak that's more discreet than was the case even a few vintages back. Full-bodied, layered and concentrated, it's deep and layered, with a strikingly vibrant core of fruit, powdery, chalky tannins and a long, penetrating, youthfully firm finish. Tasted alongside older vintages, it's clear that the Thienpont team have eased off extraction, which allows the quality of fruit that this fantastic vineyard produces to express itself all the more completely, delivering the finest Pavie Macquin since 1998.