This is fascinating with a nutty, dried herb, spices, berry and hints of toasted character. Full body, with chewy tannins and a long, long finish. This has a wonderful density of fruit and length. Amazing. Try in 2020.

A Blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, with 14.5% natural alcohol, the higher percentage of Merlot in this wine than in the Pavie gives it a stunning opulence, thickness and luxuriousness. Opaque purple, with notes of mulberry and kirsch liqueur leaning toward blacker fruits, subtle smoked meats and some lead pencil and vanillin, this is another brawny, full-bodied, yet remarkably precise and fresh style of wine despite its sensational extract and power. Give it 5-6 years of cellaring and drink it over the following 30-40 years. Drink: 2018 - 2058

This vineyard has shrunk, as part of it was incorporated into its more famous sibling, Chateau Pavie. It is now 8.5 acres sitting slightly higher on the slope above Pavie.
-Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #205 Feb 2013

(94-96 pts)
2010: Pavie Decesse's vineyard is currently 8.5 acres (it declined dramatically after part of the vineyard was incorporated into the larger Pavie estate as both are owned by Chantal and Gerard Perse). The vines are planted in decomposed limestone soils and yields in 2010 were only 24 hectoliters per hectare. A blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc that achieved 14.5% natural alcohol (slightly higher than what Pavie reached, no doubt because of the higher percentage of Merlot). Sweet berry fruit, barbecue smoke and toasty oak aromas jump from the glass of this inky/purple-colored 2010. Softer and more restrained than previous vintages, this is a beautiful, full-bodied, opulent, stunningly pure, rich wine that should be drinkable in 5-6 years and last for three decades.

(15% alcohol): Saturated dark ruby. High-toned aromas of cassis, black raspberry, bitter chocolate and crushed-rock minerality. Layered and powerful on the palate, but with highly concentrated cassis, black raspberry and dark chocolate flavors energized by pungent chalky minerality and strong acidity. One feels the 15% alcohol in the wine's sheer size and chewy texture but the impressively long finish shows more tangy energy than heat. Needs five or six years of patience, but this comes across as considerably less tanninc and forbidding than the Pavie.

Hedonist alert-dense, fleshy layers of fig sauce, warm cocoa, dark currant confiture and exotic spice fill this red, which also shows plenty of grip, with a smoldering wood note on the back end. -J.M.

A blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, compared to the Monbousquet, there is just a slight jamminess on the nose that is denuding the Pavie-Decesse of a little freshness. The palate is full-bodied and dense, extraordinarily powerful with masculine, structure tannins and layers of black fruit. Good focus towards the finish, this will need 15 years to reach its drinking plateau. Drink 2022- Tasted March 2011.

St Emilion Grand Cru Classe (26hl/ha, 14.4%, 80% New) [90M/10CF] Intense black fruit, touch of raisin, plus a touch new oak vanilla on the nose; firm and firmly tannic wine; lovely purity of fruit at the heart, but with a very dry oak tannin frame; long, aromatic, quite refined, and with good length. But a tough texture! A sort of late harvest style. 10 yrs minimum. 2020-30+ [M.Schuster, Bordeaux Mar/Apr 2011]