Peter Michael Les Pavots 2014

Description

Rating: 95 Drink Date 2016 – 2036 Reviewed by Robert M. Parker, Jr. Issue Date 28th Oct 2016 Source 227, The Wine Advocate The 2014 Proprietary Red Les Pavots (3,570 cases) is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc, 13% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot aged in mostly Taransaud barrels with a small helping of Darnajou thrown in. This wine is fabulous in the vintage, although certainly less profoundly concentrated and extracted, as well as structured, compared to the 2013, which was off-the-charts fabulous. This is a brilliant wine, charming, with front-end loaded plum, blackcurrant and black raspberry fruit interwoven with graphite, tar and truffle notes. The wine has sumptuous texture, sweet, velvety tannin, and a long, full-bodied finish. It should drink well for at least two decades. Brothers Nicolas and Luc Morlet told me that Peter Michael?s 2015 vintage was essentially one characterized by roller coaster, rather violent weather, with so much wind during the bloom that the entire estate?s Pinot Noir crops on the Sonoma Coast were wiped out. The results were an incredibly tiny harvest of Chardonnay with a ratio of 50% skin to 50% juice, giving the 2015 Chardonnays a level of concentration unprecedented from this famous producer?s vineyards. That came after a much more abundant year in 2014 that was characterized by another drought year and an earthquake the third week of August, but much better yields than 2015. Tasting these Chardonnays together, the 2015s, not yet in bottle (but they don?t filter), and the 2014s, in bottle for close to a year, struck me as the two finest back-to-back vintages for Chardonnay that Peter Michael has yet produced. And that is saying something, as their 2013s were sensational, as were the 2012s. Peter Michael is an impeccably run, world-class winery and it is probably impossible to find a greater set of Chardonnays anywhere else in the world, with one exception ? the seven cuvées of Chardonnay made by Mark Aubert, ironically, one of Peter Michael?s former winemakers!