Chateau Pavie Macquin 2020

JAMES SUCKLING: "I have never had a Pavie Macquin like this. It’s so fresh and vivid with black cherry, currant and raspberry character, as well as citrus. Some mineral and spice. Salt, too. The palate is full and linear with a verticality that takes you so deep and long. Endless. Transparent. Drink after 2028."

WEINWISSER: "Delikates und intensives Bouquet, reife rote Kirsche und Sandelholz. Am komplexen Gaumen mit seidiger Textur, körnigem Extrakt und stützender Rasse; muskulöser, druckvoller Körper mit engmaschiger Art. Im gebündelten Finale ein Feuerwerk: Palisander, Schattenmorellensaft und tiefschürfende Terroirwürze. Da ist gewaltiges Potenzial. Hier gilt: «Warten und Tee trinken»!"

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Deeply colored with a showy nose packed with smoke, espresso bean, flowers, licorice, black cherries, plums and chocolate. The wine is rich, full-bodied, deep and concentrated with layers of sensuous, flamboyant, silky fruits that express purity, depth and complexity. The lingering finish builds in intensity finishing with intriguing touches of citrus peel, red pit fruit, and dark chocolate. In a few years, this could be even better. Drink from 2025-2055."

DECANTER: "Vivid and vibrant nose, full of rose petals, lilac floral edges, strawberries and black cherries. Forward, expressive, perfumed, alive. Sensual on the palate, smooth, velvety soft, intense but well balanced with a gorgeous plush, mouthful of ripe tannins. Really very good with the right intensity, structure and push. Powerful but controlled, poised yet plush, wild and raw yet pretty too with tons of energy and St-Emilion glamour. Has a core of juicy, bright red fruits with a grainy, herbal edge to the strawberries, a lovely bitterness, and edges of liquorice, slate and wet stone - nuanced and aromatic. I love this, they haven't pushed too far and the acidity is brilliant. Clean and precise."

JEB DUNNUCK: "The dense purple-hued 2020 Château Pavie Macquin checks in as a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc from yields of 31 hectoliters per hectare and a selection of 85% of the production. Incredibly pure cassis and blueberry fruits as well as complex spring flowers, liquid violets, white truffle, and a liqueur of limestone-like minerality define the aromatics, and it's medium to full-bodied on the palate, with ultra-fine tannins, the vintage's pure, focused, structured profile, and a great finish. As in most vintages, this beauty is not for instant gratification and needs 7-8 years, if not a decade of cellaring to show its potential. It's another true vin de garde from the team of Nicolas Thienpont (Stéphane Derenoncourt also consults) that readers will love to have in their cellar."

FALSTAFF: "Tiefdunkles Rubingranat, opaker Kern, violette Reflexe, zarte Randaufhellung. Attraktives Bukett nach Sanddorn, Lakritze und Vanille, feine Edelholznuancen sind unterlegt, ein Hauch von reifen Erdbeeren, kandierte Orangenzesten. Komplex, saftig, rote Kirschfrucht, finessenreicher Säurebogen, reife, integrierte Tannine, lange anhaftend, feinfruchtiger Nachhall, saliner Touch im Rückgeschmack."

WINE ENTHUSIAST: "This full wine's ripe black fruits are velvety in texture and density. Inherently powerful, the wine keeps a great sense of proportion and balance. It has good acidity, with the freshness and balance coming together. Drink from 2027."

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "The 2020 Pavie Macquin is performing well in bottle, unwinding in the glass with aromas of sweet raspberries and cherries mingled with notions of orange zest, violets, spices, bay leaf and vine smoke. Medium to full-bodied, layered and concentrated, it's deep and fleshy, its ample core of fruit framed by youthfully firm, chalky tannins. As usual, it's more structured than Larcis Ducasse, and it remains a bottling that will demand some patience, even if the Thienpont team have subtly eased off on extraction over the last few vintages, a welcome trend that I hope will be pushed further."

WINE SPECTATOR: "Very expressive, with a lovely violet and cassis set of aromas and flavors that spill forth, though this keeps focus and form, as subtle minerality and a very fine-grained structure allows this to flow gracefully through the finish. Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2028 through 2040. 4,800 cases made."