Château Pavie

Vignobles Perse

2 Pimpinelle


33330 SAINT-EMILION, FRANCE

Tél. : +33 (0)5 57 55 43 43

contact.pavie@perselatitudes.com

www.vignoblesperse.com

Château Pavie Premier Grand Cru Classé de Saint-Emilion "A"

Find out more about the Premier Cru Classé "A", Château Pavie in the Saint-Emilion Grand Cru appellation.

The famous Pavie's coast as a backdrop

Located less than 2 kilometers southeast of the village of Saint-Emilion, on a wide variety of terroirs varying from 85 meters to 55 meters above the level of the Dordogne, Château Pavie has found all the resources it needs to produce rare wines in great demand worldwide.

A story that starts with a fruit tree.

Pavie's origins date back to the 4th century, when the vineyard was a simple farm dedicated to the production of red-fleshed peaches. This variety of peach was called the Pavie peach. Over the centuries, she gave its name to the château. Gradually, peaches will make way for vines. The estate then evolved through the ownership of several Bordeaux noble and merchant families throughout the 19th century. The estate was first called "Pimpinelle" in 1867, and from 1873 onwards, it was made up of several small winegrowing entities, each of which was bought up over the period of 20 years to make up the equivalent of 50 hectares (Pigasse, Chapus, Fayart, Dussaut) on the initiative of Ferdinand Bouffard (a Bordeaux merchant). It wasn't until 1919, with a new owner, Albert Porte, that the property - the result of the sale of Château Pavie-Pigasse (which became Pavie-Decesse) - was able to be sold with all the unified entities become a single official entity: Château Pavie. 

In 1943, Alexandre Valette, a merchant from Saint-Ouen (France) who at the time owned the neighboring Château Troplong-Mondot, bought Château Pavie. In 1957, after the château became a Premier Grand Cru Classé "B", Alexandre Valette's grandson, Jean-Paul Valette, took over the reins of the estate until the arrival in 1998 of an businessman, former jockey and professional cyclist. 

Gérard Perse: a decisive turning point in the destiny of Château Pavie.

41 years after belonging to the Valette family, Pavie is about to undergo an unequaled major makeover. This is where the Perse family comes into the scene in 1998. Chantal and Gérard Perse - who have owned Château Monbousquet, another 32-hectare cru, since 1993 - will bring their passion for wine to bear on this top-quality terroir with a breathtaking new impetus and dynamism. Before buying Pavie, Gérard Perse had long had his sights set on the estate and adored the wines of Pavie. This former Jockey, then racing cyclist and owner of three supermarkets had already experimented at the age of 44 with Monbousquet, where everything had to be redone (vineyard restructuring, vineyard drainage, building renovation, vat room and winery to be created, brand image to be urgently restored, all with the help of the famous consultant oenologist Michel Rolland). In other words, Monbousquet - which, along with the Perse family, was the first estate to practice leaf thinning and "green harvesting" in an unprecedented way (and under the stunned and questioning watch of the locals), the estate will serve as a laboratory for the future acquisition of Pavie, and shortly before that, Pavie-Decesse, acquired by the Perse couple in 1997.

At Pavie, everything also had to be redone, and this will take two years: renovation of vineyards and equipment. The ultimate goal is to achieve absolute, uncompromising quality. A winning bet! In 2006, Pavie first achieved the status of Premier Grand Cru Classé "B". But the Perse want to go further, to reach the grail: the "A" classification to be at the top of the Olympus of Saint-Emilion wines. And it's all set to happen in September 2012. Pavie achieves consecration and the supreme title by joining the Saint-Emilion elite. Then, in 2013, the cru acquired an impressive new winery and ageing cellar designed by french architect Alberto Pinto (architect and decorator of palaces and luxury hotels). 

Pavie thus joins Ausone and Cheval Blanc, the indestructible duo in the ranking, who will retire from it, against all odds, in 2022. This fabulous ascent to the top is the result of a relentless, unfailing commitment. Chantal et Gérard Perse have succeeded. And that's to be congratulated. 

Château Pavie: guided tour of a great terroir

Pavie has a fabulous terroir whose vines, with an average age of 43 years, occupy both the limestone plateau (85 metres above the Dordogne river) composed of a clay-limestone layer dominating the asteriated limestone sub-layer and the limestone plateau (85 metres above the Dordogne river) composed of a clay-limestone layer dominating the asteriated limestone sub-layer. Then the south side of the village of Saint-Emilion with the "milieu de Côte" at 55 metres from the level of the Dordogne, whose soils are composed of fine-textured brown clay-limestone. Finally, the "foot of the coast", 35 meters above the Dordogne, with brown limestone soil and non-calcareous fluvial sand above. The 37 hectares are south-facing, exposed to the west wind and therefore not very frosty - an ideal exposure for the growth and ripening of the grapes. 65% of the vineyard is planted with Merlot on the limestone plateau, 25% with Cabernet Franc on the clay-limestone soils and 10% with Cabernet Sauvignon on the sandy-clay soils. But the geological characteristics of the estate show that Pavie enjoys a great diversity of terroirs, with ideal soil poverty, which explains the complexity and strong personality of the wines.

Some of the world's best wines

What a long way we've come since 1998. Pavie wines have never stopped gaining in precision and complexity. The impressive restoration work carried out in Pavie and delivered in 2013 by architect Alberto Pinto has enabled us to better manage the parcels of land, going ever further in expressing the terroir. The vat room (a state-of-the-art facility including 20 temperature-controlled wooden vats) and the impressive winery (part of which is made up of the old arches of the Bordeaux Bastide railway station that support the walls, all reinstated in an elegant style) have accentuated performance and the ability to make wines that connoisseurs are snapping up. 

Pavie produces around 70,000 bottles a year for its first wine, Château Pavie, and 30,000 bottles for its second wine, Arômes de Pavie, launched with the great 2005 vintage. Between 2012, when Pavie achieved the status of Premier Grand Cru Classé "A", and 2022, when it confirmed its classification in this category, the Perse family integrated the vineyards of Pavie-Decesse and Bellevue-Mondotte (purchased in 2001), which were enclosed within Pavie, into the Pavie vineyard. The ability to produce more and more surgically (integrating all the subtleties of each parcel's style into the blends) has been enhanced.

Pavie's wines are incredibly rich and concentrated, with depth and balance between fruit, alcohol and structure. They have acquired greater balance, particularly since the 2014 vintage, when the teams decided to return to more freshness and balance and less power (concentration), as had long been the case with previous vintages in the 2000s: the international market has long sought out this type of wine. But trends and fashions do change. Château Pavie's red wines are flamboyant, distinguished by their richness, elegance and noble tannins, and of course their exceptional ageing potential. A Pavie is waiting to happen! It should be noted that in 2023, celebrating their 25th harvest and confirming for the second time Pavie's status in the "A" category of Saint-Emilion's Premiers Grands Crus Classés, the Perse have decided to change Pavie's bottles into a new, more luxurious and distinctive case: a darker, more massive Bordeaux bottle (heavier in terms of raw materials) with the abandonment of paper labels in favor of silk-screen printing directly on the glass. The result is both elegant and distinctive. 

Arômes de Pavie

"Arômes de Pavie" (70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon) is the label for Château Pavie's second wine. This new label, launched in 2005, is the successor to the Château Tour Simard label. With the same care as for the Grand Vin ("première étiquette"), this wine is made mainly from young vines less than 10 years old. It is the result of drastic selections of lots not included in the first wine. Like all second wines, "Arômes de Pavie" is more readily available for tasting, making it possible to wait patiently for the first wine.

Pavie's great vintages :

1928-1929-1945-1947-1949-1953-1955-1959-1961-1970-1975-1981-1982-1985-1988-1989-1990-1995-1998-2000-2005-2009-2010-2015-2016-2018-2019-2020-2022