1961 Château Pavie
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Tasting notes
Critic scores
Robert Parker
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
English bottling by Cockburn & Co. Peppercorn argues that UK bottling took place earlier than château bottling, to the benefit of the wine’s freshness and quality. Wonderful polished crimson. Very complex and fine. Together and fragrant and mellow. No excess of tannin – unlike other 1961s – although tannin did come up after a while in glass. Very long and complete. Lovely stuff. Great fan of flavours on the finish. (JR)
The first few times I tasted this wine I was unimpressed, but in 1988 at a blind tasting, the wine revealed a huge, spicy, cedary, black plum-scented nose, rich, concentrated, opulent flavors, amazing youthfulness, and plenty of tannin and alcohol in the finish. I was shocked when I learned it was the 1961 Pavie. The bottle I saw could easily last for another 10-15 years. It bore no resemblance to the relatively tired examples I had tasted previously. Will the real 1961 Pavie please come forward? Anticipated maturity: Now-2005. Last tasted, 2/88.
About the producer
The slopes of Château Pavie were planted as far back as the fourth century by the Ancient Romans and it has been a well-known producer in Saint-Émilion since the middle of the 19th century.