2022 Peter Michael Les Pavots
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Tasting notes
63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Cabernet Franc, 8% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot. Third vintage of drought. A moderate July was followed by a series of heat events in August, then record-high temperatures in early September. After the heat came light rains then cooler temperatures in the last half of September and into October. Harvest 12 September to 14 October. Aged for 18 months in French oak barrels. Bottled unfined and unfiltered 9–13 May 2024. Really rather sumptuous on the nose. A hint of something floral or boudoir-esque on the nose that’s most attractive, but arguably it’s let down a little on the very sweet, hot end. Such a shame! Maybe needed to be picked a little earlier? (JR)
Critic scores
Jancis Robinson MW
James Suckling
More reviews and scores
A truly bold, powerful and focused Bordeaux-style blend with an intense core of black fruits, great tannin structure and sense of energy that drives through as you taste. Perhaps the original and current best example of red-blend perfection from Knights Valley. So well-balanced, ripe and generous, with blackberries and raspberries that expand on the palate. Drink now or hold. (JG)
The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Les Pavots offers considerable depth in its notes of black plum, blackberry liqueur, lavender perfume, and vanilla bean spice. It fills the palate with ripe fruit, plush tannins, and a light chalky texture, with blue fruit coming through. Another more immediate vintage of the wine with its more primary fruit shining through, its richer tannins emerge on the finish. Drink 2027-2040. Sir Peter Michael founded his eponymous winery in 1982, inspired by the wine of Chateau Montelena, which led him to California. In 2020, Robert Fiore took the helm as winemaker, while former winemaker Luc Morlet remains as a consultant. Robert studied at the Colorado School of Mines, which led him to a career in environmental geophysics before finding his path into the world of wine. He went on to UC Davis to study Viticulture and Enology. Most recently, Robert was a member of the winemaking team at Continuum in Napa. Vineyard manager Javier Avina has championed the land since 1991. Each of the sites are steep hillsides in Knights Valley that modulate with varied exposition and soils. Sir Peter’s son Paul and his wife Emily oversee the management of the winery today.
Intense and sculpted and full of intensely fragrant dried herbs, garrigue, cassis, olive tapenade, savoury and lifted. Touch of dried fruits on the finish, fig and prunes, reflecting the heat of the vintage, and this had one of smallest yields in decades. Harvested through to mid October. 70% new oak for ageing, Morgan Maureze head winemaker at Peter Michael since 2019.
About the producer
Founded in 1983 by Sir Peter Michael CBE and his wife Margaret, Peter Michael Winery produces some of California’s finest wines.