A wine I’ve been lucky enough to have many times, the 2005 Château Pavie is unquestionably one of the finest vintages from this Chateau, checking with the likes of the 2000, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2018, and 2020. I’d say just outside of its adolescent years, it’s still ruby/purple hued with incredible aromatics of ripe dark fruits, truffly earth, graphite, and leather. Possessing blockbuster richness, full body, velvety, seamless tannins, and no hard edges, this is quintessential Pavie all the way. Drink this magical elixir over the coming 15-20 years.

Gérard Perse believes this is the greatest Pavie he’s made to date, although certainly I would argue that list includes the 2000, as well as the 2009 and 2010, among his superstars. This wine, which I had both in the 2005 horizontal report in the Wine Advocate, and at a mini-vertical with Perse at the restaurant Maison Boulud in Montreal, looks to be a 75- to 100-year wine. Dense, opaque purple to the rim, with a gorgeously promising nose of blackberries, cassis, graphite and cedar wood just beginning to emerge, it tastes more like a three-year-old than wine that is already a decade old. This beauty is intense and full-bodied, with magnificent concentration, a majestic mouthfeel and a total seamless integration of tannin, wood, alcohol, etc. Beautifully rich, full and multidimensional, this is a tour de force in winemaking and certainly one of the top dozen or so 2005 Bordeaux. Forget it for another 3-5 years and drink it over the following 50-100 years! - Robert M. Parker, Jr.

The 2005 Pavie is deep garnet with a touch of brick. It skips out of the glass with bright, lively notes of Morello cherries, plum preserves, red roses, and candied violets followed by hints of menthol, dark chocolate, and underbrush. The full-bodied palate is so vibrant and energetic that it sparkles. Youthful red and black fruit notes comingle with mineral and floral sparks, framed by fine-grained tannins and wonderful tension, finishing with epic length and depth. This is a triumph. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown

70% Merlot 20% Cabernet Franc 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Black center fades to purple with a bright ruby rim. Notes of flowers over mostly blueberry but also raspberry aromas followed by hints of sweet strawberry and wet clay. Bright cherry fruit milk chocolate and sweet tea balance well with the huge juicy tannins that pull at the teeth. Long spicy fruit finish. Excellent overall structure. This is a monster!

The Château Pavie 2005 has a gorgeous bouquet, very pure and refined with intense blackberry, blueberry, baking powder, violet and mineral-scented bouquet that is utterly entrancing. The palate is full-bodied with lavish ripe black cherries, blueberry and cassis fruit that lacquer the mouth. There is amazing volume and intensity here, a voluminous Pavie and yet it does not stint on precision or elegance on the finish. This is a sumptuous, ravishing, seamless wine that is irresistible and unlike Pavie-Decesse, it is just beautifully proportioned, the terroir starting to seep through as the winemaking recedes. One of the finest wines on the Right Bank. 97+

Still young, vibrant, tannic and stubbornly holding on to its adolescence, the wine is full-bodied, concentrated and mineral-driven, finishing with loads of salty tannins, ripe, deep, dark red fruits, licorice, espresso, earth and plums. If you have the patience, give it another 5 years in the bottle before opening, and it should prove to be a better tasting experience. 96 Points Read more at:https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/search-wine-tasting-notes/?szSearch=2005%20Pavie

Shows a frankly roasted edge, with steeped fig and boysenberry fruit inlaid liberally with roasted apple wood and juniper notes. The structure is a touch austere, which leaves it standing a bit apart from the core of fruit. Very weighty in feel, this is layered and dense, but also more on the muscular, extracted side of the ledger. Perhaps this is in a tough phase today. Will certainly hang around for a while, so there's time to wait it out. But not quite in the class of the '10 or '03 for me.—Non-blind Pavie vertical (March 2017). Best from 2020 through 2040. - JM