Moncharm Chateau Pavie 2000 Tasting

I have tasted this beautiful wine twice. Once over a Sunday lunch, which consisted of roast Gressingham duck, and again over dinner with friends from Moncharm at a restaurant, accompanied by rib eye steak. The wine tasted consistently over both tastings although I personally think that the Gressingham duck was much better company for the Pavie than rib eye steak because the spiciness of the Pavie complimented the gameness and richness of the Gressingham duck  perfectly. A simply stunning combination. 

At first the Pavie tasted very bold and upfront in the glass, almost  like a Pommerol. It was massive and very complex. The nose was of huge fruit and cherries. The colour was unbelievably dark and the wine itself was so rich and concentrated it was almost port like. After a good few hours in the decanter ,the Pavie had evolved marvellously into a very sophisticated wine that was really starting to show its elegance  and had shrugged off the upfront style it was showing when first opened. It was starting to show its finesse.

The nose was showing  an earthy spice,turmeric and garam masala. It should also be noted that at 13.5% this is extremely alcoholic for a bottle of Bordeaux.

On the palate the wine has a lovely herbaceous taste with raspberries, raisins and a slight smokey feel which, as I said earlier, complimented the duck so well. It is so concentrated it is almost treacle like and oh! so sweet. Everything is in balance here and I only assume in years to come this wine will get better and better.

All in all a simply stunning bottle of wine that I will definitely drink again at some point if I am lucky enough, the taste simply lingers on the tongue. However to get the best out of the bottle I would recommend opening at least 4 hours prior to consumption.    

Note: In accordance with floydtp’s notes on cellartracker.com I agree these have been the toughest tasting notes I have written to date as the wine simply keeps evolving in the glass almost continuously. It will be really interesting to have a glass in 20 years’ time.

Moncharm