2020 Les Aromes de Pavie

The second wine of Château Pavie, the 2020 Aromes De Pavie certainly has some Grand Vin character in its red and black fruits, tobacco, leafy herbs, and chocolate-driven aromas and flavors. Full-bodied and concentrated, with fine tannins and some obvious minerality on the finish, it's up with the finest second wines in the vintage. It will keep for two decades.

The 2020 Arômes de Pavie represents a major step up in quality vis-à-vis previous vintages. It is a deep, statuesque wine endowed with tremendous power, richness and resonance. Plum, mocha, licorice, espresso and spice all flesh out in the glass. I can't wait to taste this in bottle. This is the first year in which the blend is equal parts Merlot and Cabernet Franc, both increasingly from plots dedicated to the Arômes, a departure from the past, when this wine was a selection of younger-vine fruit and lots that did not make it into the Grand Vin.

Powerful and upfront, with a thick layer of liquorice and clove, blueberry and blackberry fruit. A little more of a monolith than the main estate wine of Pavie - something that you find often this year, where the tannins seem to go to the second wines. 70% new oak, 3.57pH. A yield of 35hl/ha.