Chateau Pavie-Macquin

Chateau Pavie-Macquin is one of the three Pavie vineyards in St-Emilion, the others being Pavie and Pavie-Decesse. All three were once part of the holdings of Ferdinand Bouffard, a Bordeaux negociant in the 19^th century. Most of Bouffard’s properties formed the current 40 ha Chateau Pavie, but two were kept quite distinct, with the Pigasse vineyards forming Pavie-Decesse and Chapus-Pavie vineyards becoming the basis of Pavie-Macquin.

The vineyards were acquired by the owner of Chateau La Serre, Albert Macquin, giving his name to formally create Pavie-Macquin. Albert was a pioneer in the battle against phylloxera, favoring the grafting of French vines onto American rootstocks, successfully protecting the St-Emilion and other right bank properties from total devastation.

There are 15 ha at Pavie-Macquin, lying on limestone with clay soils. It is planted with 70% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, averaging 40 years of age. The estate has been practicing biodynamics. It was at Pavie-Macquin that the famous Stephane Derenoncourt made his name, with the 1993 vintage attracting many attentions.

The estate includes an ancient farmhouse with new cellar, and each tank in the cellar bears a woman’s name. After fermentation the wine will spend up to 20 months in oak, of which 80% are new for each vintage. A second wine called Les Chenes de Macquin is produced, with annual production around 6400 cases.

Today the estate is owned by the Corre family, who contracted Nicolas Thienpont to manage the property. Under Nicolas and Stephane’s guidance the quality improved significantly, with the estate promoted to Premier Grand Cru Classe in 2006.

On a side note, the label shows two oak leaves and a rope, and the holm oak is in fact the landmark and the tree had used to hang people underneath.

I have recently tasted the 2002 vintage and below is my tasting note:

Good quality St-Emilion with a deep ruby color, the nose is reasonably intense with fairly good complexity, showing aromas of blackcurrant and black cherries, liquorice, cedar, blackcurrant leaf, game and chocolate. Medium in acidity, the tannin is ripe and clay-textured, of fairly full-bodied and having reasonable concentration of blackberry and black cherries, nutmeg and cedar flavors. The wine has a reasonable finish, in balance, though the flavors are relatively simple. It is ready to drink now though can benefit from further ageing of another 2-3 years.