2007 Pavie Decesse

Good deep ruby. Blackberry, minerals, violet pastille, licorice and pepper on the nose, along with a rocky quality characteristic of this calcaire-rich site. Juicy and very intense but youthfully imploded, with a restrained sweetness and terrific precision and grip to the mineral and crushed cassis flavors. Finishes firmly tannic and very long, with terrific energy. This should evolve slowly.

Gerard Perse’s tiny vineyard was cropped at 26 hectoliters per hectare, and the final blend was 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc (14.5% alcohol). It boasts great intensity, a dense purple color, and beautiful aromas of sweet mulberries, black cherries, cedar, crushed rocks, and white chocolate as well as a chalky character (which gives the wine superb minerality). The wine is expansively flavored, and the tannins are remarkably sweet and well-integrated. An atypical blockbuster for the 2007 vintage, it should drink beautifully for 15-20 years.

Bright medium ruby. Lively aromas of kirsch, bitter chocolate, minerals and licorice, lifted by a peppery element. Suave and fine-grained, showing less obvious structure and power than the Bellevue-Mondotte that preceded it but a finer grain. Then broader and longer on the aftertaste, with more minerally lift. The crop level here was 31 hectoliters per hectare, according to owner Gerard Perse, who noted that the average age of vines here is a good 20 years higher than those of Bellevue-Mondotte.