Six Decades of Pavie-Macquin: 1928-2018
BY ANTONIO GALLONI |
Pavie-Macquin is one of the great success stories of Saint-Émilion. This retrospective going all the way back to 1928 provided a remarkable opportunity to witness the evolution of the property from underachiever to superstar, with all of the highs and lows that invariably accompany an extensive vertical that spans epic, average and challenging vintages. For the occasion, estate manager Nicolas Thienpont and consulting oenologist Stéphane Derenoncourt gathered every wine they have made at Pavie-Macquin, with a few surprises thrown into the mix.
Pavie-Macquin with a landscape view of Saint-Émilion in the background.
Historical Background
Albert Macquin founded the estate that bears his name in the late 1880s. A leading figure of his time, Macquin was an agronomist and viticulturist who popularized the revolutionary technique of grafting vines onto American rootstock as the phylloxera epidemic ravaged the vineyards of Europe. Macquin is widely credited for saving Saint-Émilion and noted for his research on soils, rootstocks and grape varieties.
Macquin acquired La Serre (9 hectares), part of Pavie-Pigasse (6.30 hectares), Peygenestou (5 hectares), Pavie-Chapus (3.72 hectares) and a number of smaller parcels totaling about two hectares, all in Saint-Émilion’s famed Pavie lieu-dit, to create Pavie-Maquin. At that time, the property had 26 hectares under vine. In the ensuing years, a number of parcels were sold off. The biggest of these was La Serre, which Macquin’s daughters sold sometime between the two World Wars. In 1945, the château exchanged a parcel for an access road with neighbor Troplong Mondot, something that is hard to imagine in today’s world. These transactions created Pavie-Macquin as it stands today, with its 15 hectares under vine.
Macquin passed away in 1911 and left the estate to his daughters, Marie-Louise et Andrée, who married brothers Antoine and François Corre, with Antoine managing the property. For most of its life, though, Pavie-Macquin has been run by outside managers, as is quite common in Bordeaux. Today, the estate is owned by Albert Macquin’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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Pavie-Macquin is one of the great success stories of Saint-Émilion. This retrospective going all the way back to 1928 provided a remarkable opportunity to witness the evolution of the property from underachiever to superstar, with all of the highs and lows that invariably accompany an extensive vertical that spans epic, average and challenging vintages. For the occasion, estate manager Nicolas Thienpont and consulting oenologist Stéphane Derenoncourt gathered every wine they have made at Pavie-Macquin, with a few surprises thrown into the mix.
