($195-$249; 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.

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I tasted this wine twice during the 2000 horizontals, then I actually popped the cork and drank a half-bottle of it. This wine remains, for me, one of the compelling success stories for proprietor Gerard Perse. An extraordinary effort made from a blend of 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon from the limestone soils that dominate this very distinctive terroir, the 2000 Pavie has moved out of the closed, dormant, broodingly backward stage into an adolescent period where one can see its extraordinary vibrancy, and great complexity as well as potential. It boasts an unctuous display of rich, cedar box-infused cassis fruit and liquid minerality. The tannins have sweetened, yet the wine has thirty years of longevity and potential evolution. A beautiful wine of great mass as well as elegance, it is good to see the extraordinary efforts that Gerard Perse and his team have made confirmed in this prodigious wine. A legend now ... a legend for the future.

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Voluputuous red. Glorious aromas of very ripe fruit, with layers of spices and chocolate. Full-bodied, with big yet very silky tannins and a long, long finish. Generous and seductive red. Lasts minutes on the palate. Best ever from here. 7,500 cases made.

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Amazing ! Powerful, seductive, red berries, toasted, complex, exceptional...