Served blind at a private dinner in Bordeaux, the millennial Pavie is a brilliant Saint Emilion that just with age is developing a sense of classicism that must have a few cynics blushing with embarrassment. Decanted for a couple of hours, it offers a sensational pure bouquet with dark berries, a touch of crushed raspberry, limestone and rose petals. The palate is surprisingly reserved on the entry but builds nicely on the palate. Supremely well balanced with a very precise, refreshing finish. Over the course of two hours, this Pavie 2000 just gets better and better and better. It is just about reaching its drinking plateau where it should remain for a decade. Tasted April 2011.

– eRobertParker.com, Sept 2011

Deep garnet in color, this has an intensely scented cassis and warm red plum nose with hints of spice box, crispy duck skin, toast and cedar. Medium-full bodied and very tannic in the mouth, it has refreshing acidity cutting through the concentrated fruit and a long finish.

With no shortage of confidence, Gerard Perse feels the 2000 is the greatest Pavie ever produced. Premature you say? Don't discount the proprietor's rhetoric. A blend of 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, it is a backward, super-concentrated effort displaying an inky purple color, and a thrilling bouquet of minerals, black fruits, vitamins, and toast. It possesses a wealth of fruit, glycerin, and extract as well as high levels of tannin, and a finish that lasts nearly a minute. It will undoubtedly close down after bottling, and not be close to prime time drinking until 2010 or later. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2050.

Hard to believe that Gerard Perse had only been at Pavie for two years by this point, so thoroughly had he remade the wine. I have always said that it's hard to fully appreciate Pavie until it has reached maturity, and time has softened the power that is intrinsic to its first decade - this is a great example of why it is worth the wait. Now 25 years old, it is still deeply coloured, but the aromatics are melted and finessed, sandalwood, campfire, tobacco leaf, incense, crayon, truffle, bitter cocoa bean, cassis fruit puree, stretched out tannins and a wave of salinity on the finish. 100% new oak, with extended ageing in barrel. Jean-Baptiste Pion winemaker, Michel Rolland consultant.

(bottled in March of 2003) Good full medium ruby. Knockout nose of blackberry, espresso, licorice, minerals and burnished oak; offers terrific verve and clarity for a wine so ripe and rich. Then extremely youthful on the palate, with tightly wound flavors and great inner-mouth energy. Brilliant black fruit and mineral flavors offer compelling perfume. This is still remarkably primary despite its long elevage (the wine was bottled just three weeks prior to my tasting). Finishes with great tactile, chewy persistence. An outstanding vintage for this property.

Quality 950 | Brand 965 | Economics 751 | buzz brand
Quality: Above the average quality score of its peer group for the 2000 vintage, 808 Brand: We found this wine on 20 of the world's top restaurant wine lists, including Helene Darroze at the Connaught Economics: Above its peer group average price of £188 for the 2000 vintage Production: Higher production than its peer group average of 46,409 bottles

- www.wine-lister.com June 2017

70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Aged for 26 months in 100% new oak.  Delicious gravel, meat, cooked black fruit and cocoa. Properly mature, but still with primary fruit, and there is delicious extended length with plenty of earthy complexity. Powerful, but with the soft-focus of time that has given nuance and integration. (RH)

Just beginning to come around and strut its enormous potential, this wine at age 15 has been evolving like a glacier. The wine has an inky, opaque, plum/purple color and a stunningly rich nose of mulberries, bramble berries, blackberries, licorice and incense as well as touches of toast and graphite. Fabulously concentrated and full-bodied, with a multidimensional mouthfeel, this profound Pavie is in mid-adolescence. It should evolve and continue to drink well for at least another 30-40 years. This is clearly the first compelling effort made by the Perse family.

Robert Parker (Wine Advocate #220, Aug 2015)

Just a powerhouse of a wine that does everything right, the 2000 Château Pavie is drinking incredibly well today, offering huge blackcurrant and chocolatey darker berry fruits as well as loads of truffly earth, tobacco, and spice. Full-bodied, deep, and concentrated on the palate, it stays flawlessly balanced, and while I suspect the acidity is quite low, it has an incredible sense of freshness and a weightless texture. Fully mature, yet in the early part of its drink window, it has another two decades or prime drinking ahead of it.

Medium garnet-brick in color, the 2000 Pavie needs a little swirl to coax out fragrant notes of dried roses, cinnamon stick, red loam, and fallen leaves leading to a core of kirsch, plum preserves, and blueberry compote plus a hint of cardamom. The medium to full-bodied palate is an exercise in grace and suppleness, featuring exquisitely ripe, silky tannins and seamless freshness to frame the achingly perfumed fruit, finishing so, so long and so, so fragrant. This was the first vintage using the "Eleanor" bottle shape that Pavie is well-known for today. Lisa Perrotti-Brown Dec 2023 - The Wine Independent