Château Pavie, 1er Grand Cru Classé, St Emilion,

The ancient Pavie vineyard – going back at least as far as the 4th century AD – is located on the southern part of the Cote de Saint-Emilion (Saint-Emilion slope). Gerard Perse’s purchase of Pavie, in 1998, did wonders for the estate. Chateau Pavie is located on nearly 37 hectares of vines in a single block and is divided into three terroirs; the limestone plateau, deep clay soil, and at the foot of the slop – a sandy clay with slight amount of gravel. Chateau Pavie was upgraded to the ranks of 1er Grand Cru Classé ‘A’ in 2012 and now sits alongside, Ausone, Cheval Blanc and Angelus in the elite St Emilion classification. The wines are always massive, dense and tannic when tasted from barrel, but the class of the terroir typically starts to show through after five years in bottle.