Chateau Pavie-Macquin is one of three Pavie vineyards clustered around St Emilion, the others being Chateau Pavie itself, and Chateau Pavie-Decesse. All three were once part of the holdings of Ferdinand Bouffard, a 19th century Bordeaux négociant who owned numerous vineyards in St Emilion, as well as being part owner of Chateau Héritage-Haut-Brion, adjacent to Haut-Brion itself, in Graves. At the peak of his activity in St Emilion he owned more than 50 hectares of vineyard in this region.
Bouffard''s acquisitions included a variety of plots, including the Fayard-Talleman, Pimpinelle, Dussaut, Pigasse and Larcis-Bergey vineyards. Whilst most of these vineyards were amalgamated to form what is today the 40 hectare Chateau Pavie, two were kept quite distinct; these were the Pigasse vines, which formed the basis for Chateau Pavie-Decesse, and the Chapus-Pavie vineyard. The latter vineyard was purchased by the proprietor of neighbouring Chateau La Serre, Albert Macquin, and this is the basis for today''s Chateau Pavie-Macquin. Albert Macquin obviously gave his name to his newly acquired property in St Emilion, but it is not this for which he was most famous. Macquin was a pioneer in the battle against phylloxera, and favoured the grafting of French vines onto American rootstocks. Having studied viticulture, particularly the business of grafting, at the Ecole d''Agriculture in Montpellier, he moved to Bordeaux, where the new and radical concept of grafting onto phylloxera-resistant rootstock met with a frosty reception. So whilst others around him, including the owners of the other Pavie vineyards, tried to coax their vines through infection, Macquin got on with extensive replanting using grafted vines.
Today grafted vines, in Bordeaux and elsewhere, are the norm, and there are 15 hectares at Pavie-Macquin, lying atop the limestone côte that characterises St Emilion, with typical clay and limestone soils. They are predominantly Merlot (70%), with 25% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. After fermentation the wines spend up to 20 months in oak of which 70% is new each vintage. The grand vin is Chateau Pavie-Macquin, whereas the second wine is Les Chênes de Macquin, and the total output is in the region of 6400 cases per annum.
Today the estate is owned by the Corre family, who since 1995 have contracted Nicolas Thienpont to manage the estate, whilst Stéphane Derenoncourt has control over the vinification. The stories of Derenoncourt and Pavie-Macquin are inextricably intertwined, as it was at this estate that the young cellar-worker was thrust into the limelight. Derenoncourt arrived in Bordeaux in 1982, having hitchhiked his way there, and yet he had no real interest in wine; he spent the next ten years working on the land and playing his guitar. It was not until he secured a job in the Pavie-Macquin cellars that his meteoric rise began, and it was the success of the 1993 Pavie-Macquin, in the context of a terrible vintage, that attracted attention. He was then ''discovered'' by Comte Stephan von Neipperg of Chateau Canon-la-Gaffelière, who secured Derenoncourt''s advice not only in the running of Canon la Gaffelière but also a new project, which became La Mondotte, one of the region''s most exalted garage wines. Under the direction of Thienpont and Derenoncourt the wines of Pavie-Macquin are generally regarded as significantly improved, and this would seem to be confirmed by the promotion of the estate in the 2006 revision of the St Emilion classification to Premier Cru Classé.
My own experience is very limited, but nevertheless the wines I have tasted fit into a theme that is common on the Right Bank. These are wines that teeter on the edge of over-extraction, and apparently they satisfy the palates of the officials overseeing the 2006 revision much more than they do mine. I suppose it is a question of style; what to some are supple, appropriately extracted, hedonistic delights that typify the region are to others simply attenuated and forced. Clearly Pavie-Macquin has much to offer - promotion in St Emilion comes only with detailed assessment of ten vintages - but that does not mean these wines will appeal to all. (2/11/06)
Contact details:
Address: 33330 St Emilion
Telephone: +33 (0) 5 57 24 74 23
Fax +33 (0) 5 57 24 63 78
Internet: www.nicolas-thienpont.com
