(98+ points) 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.

A 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. - Robert Parker

(94-95 points) Black and blue fruit, licorice, flowers, black cherries and stone make up the perfume. The soft, textured wine feels like silk in the opulent, fresh, ripe, black red fruit filled finish. Read more at:https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/wine-tasting-note/?vintage=2010&wine=Chateau%20Pavie%20Decesse

A blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc compared to the Monbousquet there is just a slight jamminess on the nose that is denuding the Pavie-Decesse of a little freshness. The palate is full-bodied and dense extraordinarily powerful with masculine structure tannins and layers of black fruit. Good focus towards the finish this will need 15 years to reach its drinking plateau. Drink 2022-

(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. -- Stephen Tanzer