Château Pavie-Decesse

The château

Pavie-Decesse began as a piece of Pavie. In the 19th century it was the Pavie of Adolphe Pigasse, its first known owner; Albert Porte, who consolidated Pavie in 1919, sold it off, and it took the name Pavie-Decesse. It was a Grand Cru Classé in the first Saint-Émilion classification, under M. Marzelle. On his death in 1970 the Valette family, owners of Pavie, took over its running, and they bought it outright in 1990. Jean-Paul Valette sold it to Gérard Perse in 1997, the year before Perse bought Pavie itself. It was still a Grand Cru Classé in the classification of 2012. From 2022 its vines, with those of Bellevue-Mondotte, went into the blend of Château Pavie, and the name is not on the list of 2022. Gérard Perse died in the summer of 2025.

Under its own label it was a wine of the plateau alone, about 85 meters above the Dordogne, on clay and limestone over a subsoil of asteriated limestone, planted 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, with vines 43 years old on average. Perse renovated the buildings entirely: the lowest floor of the house was altered to hold wooden vats copied exactly from those of Château Pavie, and the barrel cellar was restored to the layout Ferdinand Bouffard had given it. The leaves were thinned 2 times, in late June and in mid August, and the crop thinned green; the grapes were picked and sorted by hand and fermented in 3 wooden vats with temperature control, with 3 weeks on the skins. The malolactic ran in barrel, and the wine aged 18 to 24 months in new oak, racked every 3 months, blended just before bottling and bottled without fining or filtration: about 7,800 bottles a year.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Émilion, on the limestone plateau

Classification

Grand Cru Classé from the first list and in 2012; not in the list of 2022

Last owners

Gérard Perse, from 1997; he died in 2025

Vineyard

On the limestone plateau, about 85 meters above the Dordogne; vines 43 years old on average

Soil

Clay and limestone over a subsoil of asteriated limestone Terroir of Saint-Émilion →

Grapes

Merlot 90%, Cabernet Franc 10%

Cellar

3 wooden vats with temperature control, copies of those of Château Pavie; malolactic in barrel; 18 to 24 months in new oak; no fining or filtration

Production

About 7,800 bottles a year

In history

Adolphe Pigasse in the 19th century; M. Marzelle; the Valette family from 1970; Gérard Perse from 1997

Now part of

Château Pavie