Château Pavie

The château

For most of the 19th century Pavie was not one estate but several. Charles Cocks, in Bordeaux, ses environs et ses vins of 1850, lists 4 Pavies under 4 proprietors in the same section: Tallemon at 20 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), Pigasse at 15 with Larcis, Lafleur at 10 and Chapus at 10. In 1868 Cocks and Édouard Féret, in the guide that became the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, still printed 2 of them, Pigasse at 25 to 30 tonneaux and the Chapus brothers. Ferdinand Bouffard, a Bordeaux négociant (a merchant who buys from the châteaux and sells on) whose family already held La Sable next door, bought Château-Pavie from the Fayard family in 1885 and went on buying the vineyards around it, Pavie-Pigasse among them, until he had nearly 50 hectares; he still sold their wines under separate names. The single Château Pavie came with Albert Porte, who bought the holding in 1919: the 1922 edition of Bordeaux et ses vins prints 1 line where Bouffard’s labels had stood, Château Pavie, at 200 tonneaux. In 1943 Pavie went to Alexandre Valette, a négociant who already owned Troplong Mondot, and his grandson Jean-Paul took charge in 1957.

Gérard and Chantal Perse arrived in 1993 and bought Pavie in 1998. He found more than 15,000 vines missing or dead and a cellar unfit for its work, and he rebuilt within months. The rank followed the work. Pavie had been a Premier Grand Cru Classé B since the first Saint-Émilion classification, of 1955; it was promoted to A in 2012, and the list of 2022 confirmed it at that level, where only Figeac stands beside it. That same year the vineyards of Pavie-Decesse and Bellevue-Mondotte, which Perse had bought in 1997 and 2001, went into the blend of Château Pavie. Gérard Perse died on July 19, 2025, aged 75; Chantal, their daughter Angélique, Henrique, their daughter’s husband, and their grandchildren carry the vineyards on.

The vines cover 42 hectares in a single block, an amphitheater facing south across the limestone plateau, the slope beneath it and the foot of the slope, falling from 110 meters above the Dordogne to 35. They are planted at 7,000 vines a hectare, 50% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. Laurent Lusseau is technical director and Jean-Baptiste Pion deputy technical director, and David Eymas has run the vineyard since February 2023.

I tasted the 2008, a cooler and less celebrated vintage, in April 2024, with braised short ribs: deep garnet, blackberries, coffee, spice and chocolate, full and concentrated, with a savory side of earth and minerals, elegant tannins, lively acidity and a very long finish, and years still ahead of it. Tasted again at the château, as I wrote in October 2025, it showed the richness of the house held in line by the freshness of the year.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Émilion, from the limestone plateau to the foot of the slope

Classification

Premier Grand Cru Classé A, 2012 and 2022; Premier Grand Cru Classé B from 1955

Owners

The Perse family, since 1998; Gérard Perse died on July 19, 2025

Direction

Laurent Lusseau, technical director; Jean-Baptiste Pion, deputy technical director; David Eymas, vineyard, since February 2023

Vineyard

42 hectares in one block, from 110 to 35 meters; Pavie-Decesse and Bellevue-Mondotte in the blend since 2022; 7,000 vines a hectare

Soil

Limestone plateau, the slope beneath it and the foot of the slope Terroir of Saint-Émilion →

Grapes

Merlot 50%, Cabernet Franc 30%, Cabernet Sauvignon 20%

Wines

Château Pavie; Arômes de Pavie, since 2005

In history

4 Pavies under 4 owners in 1850; Château-Pavie bought by Ferdinand Bouffard in 1885; 1 wine from 1919, under Albert Porte

Took in

Château Bellevue-Mondotte; Château Pavie-Decesse