95-97 Point Wines

wines

Aromas of mint and currants with hints of fresh herbs. Then turns to plum jam. Full body, with well-integrated tannins and pretty fruit. Long and caressing. This is really outstanding. Better in 2017.James Suckling | 95 JSGiscours shows an initial character of great style and elegance. The shining fruit and concentrated tannins follow, making it both a seductive wine and one with a long-term future.Wine Enthusiast | 95 WEFeatures a lightly firm, singed alder frame around a core of dark plum, cherry and cassis bush notes. Taut tar and warm paving stone notes fill in on the finish. Shows serious, well-embedded grip, and the core of fruit is spot on. This has the range, length and cut for the cellar. Best from 2014 through 2030.Wine Spectator | 94 WSDeep garnet in color, the 2010 Giscours slips seductively out of the glass with notions of baked black cherries, mulberries and plum preserves plus hints of cassis, pencil lead and dried Provence herbs. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is toting a fair amount of oak with a sturdy frame of chewy tannins, coming through with a long, fruity finish.Robert Parker | 92+ RPBright ruby-red. Cassis, blackberry and licorice pastille on the nose. Then sweet, juicy and energetic in the mouth, with complex flavors of plum, currant, cedar, tobacco and spices along with a gamey nuance. Firmly built but not hard. Finishes with serious but fine-grained tannins and a note of licorice. Still a bit strict today, this wine has the structure to repay aging.Vinous Media | 90+ VM

From a great, great vintage for all of Bordeaux, the 2010 Pavie Decesse is based on 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc that emerges from a vineyard sitting just above Chateau Pavie and was raised in new French oak. This inky beauty is still a baby yet offers incredible opulence in its huge nose of blackcurrants, blueberries, scorched earth, woodsmoke, chocolate, and graphite. With a distinct sense of minerality, full-bodied richness, building tannins, good acidity, and a monster of a finish, it is accessible today in a youthful sense yet needs another decade at a minimum to approach maturity. It will be a 50-60+ year wine.Jeb Dunnuck | 98+ JDThis is fascinating with a nutty, dried herb, spices, berry and hints of toasted character. Full body, with chewy tannins and a long, long finish. This has a wonderful density of fruit and length. Amazing. Try in 2020.James Suckling | 97 JSA Blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, with 14.5% natural alcohol, the higher percentage of Merlot in this wine than in the Pavie gives it a stunning opulence, thickness and luxuriousness. Opaque purple, with notes of mulberry and kirsch liqueur leaning toward blacker fruits, subtle smoked meats and some lead pencil and vanillin, this is another brawny, full-bodied, yet remarkably precise and fresh style of wine despite its sensational extract and power. Give it 5-6 years of cellaring and drink it over the following 30-40 years.This vineyard has shrunk, as part of it was incorporated into its more famous sibling, Chateau Pavie. It is now 8.5 acres sitting slightly higher on the slope above Pavie.Robert Parker | 96 RP(15% alcohol): Saturated dark ruby. High-toned aromas of cassis, black raspberry, bitter chocolate and crushed-rock minerality. Layered and powerful on the palate, but with highly concentrated cassis, black raspberry and dark chocolate flavors energized by pungent chalky minerality and strong acidity. One feels the 15% alcohol in the wine’s sheer size and chewy texture but the impressively long finish shows more tangy energy than heat. Needs five or six years of patience, but this comes across as considerably less tanninc and forbidding than the Pavie.Vinous Media | 94 VMHedonist alert—dense, fleshy layers of fig sauce, warm cocoa, dark currant confiture and exotic spice fill this red, which also shows plenty of grip, with a smoldering wood note on the back end.Wine Spectator | 93-96 WS