Chateau Pavie-Decesse

The story of Pavie Decesse dates back to the mid 1800's, where Monsieur Adolphe Pigasse becomes the first-known owner of Château Pavie-Decesse. After the First World War, the then owner Ferdinand Bouffard had to sell his vineyard to M. Marzelle, who later earned the Grand Cru Classé title for Pavie-Decesse in the 1954 Saint-Emilion classification. In 1970, the Valette family took over the management of Pavie-Decesse and eventually acquired it in 1990. In 1997, Gérard Perse bought the estate.

Pavie-Decesse is a small 3.5-hectare vineyard that was detached from Château Pavie in 1885. Despite sharing this similar terroir with Château Pavie, Pavie-Decesse has its own unique character.

The vineyards are located entirely on the limestone plateau of Saint-Emilion, and Merlot is the predominant grape variety, accounting for 90% of the vines, with the remaining 10% being Cabernet Franc. The soil is composed of clay and the "starfish limestone" that gives the wine a pronounced freshness with floral and mineral aspects.

Harvesting and sorting is done manually. The wine is fermented in three wooden temperature-controlled vats to keep different lots of wine separate and to fine-tune the final blend. The wine stays on the skins for three weeks, and malolactic fermentation occurs in barrels. After fermentation, the wine is aged in new oak barrels for 18 to 24 months, with racking every three months. The final blending is without fining or filtering.

Pavie Decesse is a well appreciated wine by wine lover and professional wine reviewers. More recent excellent vintages are, amongst others, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016.