2005 Pavie Macquin, St-Emilion (lightly bin-soiled label)

A blend of 70% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, from a cool limestone terroir on the plateau, the 2005 Château Pavie Macquin is extraordinary juice, and the finest vintage of this cuvee I’ve ever tasted. Sporting a saturated purple color as well as an off the hook bouquet of crème de cassis, blackberries, smoked earth, chocolate, and Asian spices, with a sensational sense of minerality developing with time in the glass. Deep, full-bodied, massively concentrated, and multi-dimensional, it’s just now at the early stages of its drinking plateau and it will probably keep for another 2-3 decades. Count yourself lucky if you have bottles of this in the cellar!