2012 Domaine Pavelot (Jean-Marc et Hugues) Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru La Dominode- France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru (11/21/2014)
Colour deep ruby with primary, purple highlights. A nose of red currants, raspberries, some dark plums and black berries too. Ripe, rich berry fruit in evidence on bouquet, also some herby savouriness and earthy notes. On palate, the 2012 vintage rich, ripe character is very much in evidence, as is the old vine character, with serious matière, fruit volume, concentration and a satiny mouthfeel. The tannins are sweet and silky. The palate is absolutely packed with flavours: raspberries, preserved plums, blackberry jam, espresso, earth, road tar, dried herbs, minerals etc etc. At present, it is actually a little over-packed, the palate staining wine needs time to settle and integrate, say 3-5 years. The 2011 is presently the more approachable vintage but this may ultimately be the better wine. Excellent. (92 pts.)
Don, I typically each vintage buy a mixture of the 1ers. For the '12s, reading the reviews, I decided to just get the Dominodes, in greater volume. How do the others compare?
Picked this up last week, $54 in NY instead of $48 for the 2010. I’d be buying many more 2012s if they were this available and at this fairly modest premium.
I bought a huge number of Pavelot and Ecards Savignys premiers especially when they were less than $30. They always seemed to give a real Burgundy experience albeit in a slightly minor key, and many of them particularly the Serpentiers have aged beautifully most recently the 1988 and 1990 Ecard.
Great note Howard. Given the little I tried of the 12 Vintage, I would have expected Pavelot and Ecard to have done really well. This sounds tremendously expressive.
I got this too. I also have the 2009 and 2010. I haven’t opened any of them yet so I’m grateful to you for the quasi-Pobega. I’m tempted to try a 2009.
The Guettes is a little less complex than the Dominodes but shows lots of finesse. More finesse than the Dominodes in many ways. These are the two I routinely buy Howard.
BTW, Allen Meadows had the Dominodes, Gravains, Lavieres all equal and the Guettes and Serpentieres a step behind. Within a single point on his scale FWIW.
Peter and Chris, here it’s possible to get good allocations of the Pavelots, provided you get them on release. They sell out in about 48 hours.
Don, thanks. As you say FWIW, Gilman has the same hierarchy as Meadows but Tanzer has the Dominodes as his favourite. I think they’re usually pretty equivalent quality, it comes down to style preference.
Dominodes used to be my default purchase, but in recent years it has sometimes shown more oak than the others, and at times has seemed a little too ripe. In most of the recent years I’ve prefered the Guettes.
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