This wine is impressive in many ways, starting with its status as a Grand Cru Classé “A" (the top ranking for wines from Saint-Émilion) along with its price, its heavyweight custom bottle, and its inky appearance in the glass. It also impresses with its concentration, richness and balance of minty black fruits and burnished tannins, presenting as perfectly coiffed. It is no doubt rich and luscious, and frankly I can’t find any fault with the wine, but it leaves me unexcited. Maybe I am a bit plebeian in my views — after all, Lamborghinis are impressively powerful, but I would prefer for my daily driver to be less exotic and probably less powerful as well. My concern is that few of us can afford the time or money to see it age long enough to find complexity; in its current development it seems nearly monolithic.
Château Pavie, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé “A” (Bordeaux, France) 2015
By Andrew Holod