Château Pavie-Decesse

The first-known owner of Château Pavie-Decesse was Adolphe Pigasse, in the second half of the 19th century. Ferdinand Bouffard, a Bordeaux native who inherited Château Pavie in 1873, acquired a number of small neighbouring properties, bringing the total surface area up to nearly 50 hectares, and vinified and marketed each property separately, Pavie-Pigasse among them. The family's two sites date the split differently: the Pavie-Decesse history says Bouffard separated the 'Pigasse' part of his holdings in 1885, while Château Pavie's history says Albert Porte, who ran the properties from 1919, sold Pavie-Pigasse, which became Pavie-Decesse. Albert Porte sold the vineyard in 1943 to Alexandre Valette. Under the direction of Monsieur Marzelle, Pavie-Decesse earned the title of Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé in 1954. In 1970 the Valette family, who already owned Château Pavie, took over the running of the property, and they bought it outright in 1990. In 1997 Gérard Perse bought Château Pavie-Decesse from Jean-Paul Valette; he and his wife Chantal bought Château Pavie in 1998.

• Second half of the 19th century: Adolphe Pigasse is the first-known owner.
• 1954: classified Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé under the direction of Monsieur Marzelle.
• 1970: the Valette family, owners of Château Pavie, took over the running of the property; 1990: they bought it outright.
• 1997: Gérard Perse bought Pavie-Decesse from Jean-Paul Valette, one year before buying Château Pavie.

Gérard Perse (1949-2025) was born in Paris and built a chain of supermarkets with his wife, Chantal, before turning to viticulture; he moved to Saint-Émilion in the early 1990s and bought Château Monbousquet in 1993. Since 2005 Gérard and Chantal Perse's daughter, Angélique, and her husband Henrique Da Costa have been part of the family business, and as of December 2025 Henrique Da Costa had been part of the family team running Château Pavie with Angélique for more than two decades. The Perse Latitudes brand connects the family's wines, hotel and restaurants.

• Gérard Perse (1949-2025): bought Château Monbousquet in 1993, Pavie-Decesse in 1997 and Château Pavie in 1998.
• Angélique and Henrique Da Costa: in the family business since 2005; part of the family team running Château Pavie as of December 2025.
• The family's wines, among them Château Pavie, Château Monbousquet, Château Pavie-Decesse, Château Bellevue-Mondotte, Clos Lunelles and Esprit de Pavie, belong to the Perse Latitudes universe.

Pavie-Decesse is unusual in that it is entirely located on the Saint-Émilion limestone plateau, about 85 meters above the Dordogne River and southeast of the village of Saint-Émilion. Pavie and Pavie-Decesse form a contiguous group of vines, yet each has its own terroir and the wines from each were kept entirely separate. The soil is largely clay-limestone with an asteriated limestone subsoil; the 'starfish limestone' contributes a pronounced freshness with floral and mineral aspects, while the clay gives good structure. The vineyard is well ventilated. It covered 3.65 hectares, planted to 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, with an average vine age of 43 years and annual production of 7,800 bottles.

• Entirely on the Saint-Émilion limestone plateau, about 85 meters above the Dordogne River.
• Clay-limestone soil over an asteriated ('starfish') limestone subsoil.
• 3.65 hectares: 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc; average vine age 43 years; 7,800 bottles a year.

Vines were pruned to six spurs, with green harvesting and two leaf thinnings: on the eastern side of the vines in late June and on the western side in mid-August. Grapes were picked and sorted by hand. Under Gérard Perse the buildings were entirely renovated, and the ground floor of the residence was altered to house wooden vinification vats that are an exact copy of those used at Château Pavie; the barrel cellar was restored to its original layout as designed by Ferdinand Bouffard. Pavie-Decesse was fermented in 3 wooden temperature-controlled vats to keep lots separate for the final blend, with 3 weeks on the skins and malolactic fermentation in barrel. The final blend was made just before bottling, without fining or filtering.

• Pruning to six spurs, green harvesting and two leaf thinnings; hand picking and hand sorting.
• Wooden vinification vats copied from those at Château Pavie; barrel cellar restored to Ferdinand Bouffard's original layout.
• Fermentation in 3 wooden temperature-controlled vats, 3 weeks on the skins, malolactic fermentation in barrel.
• Final blend just before bottling; no fining or filtering.

Decanter dates to 2002 the INAO's approval of the integration of Château La Clusière and part of Pavie-Decesse into Château Pavie. In 2022 the remaining vineyard of Pavie-Decesse and that of Bellevue-Mondotte joined Pavie after 15 vintages of comparative tastings to confirm compatibility. In the same year Château Pavie's rank of Premier Grand Cru Classé with distinction A was confirmed in the Saint-Émilion classification approved by the INAO's national committee on 8 September 2022, a list on which Pavie-Decesse does not appear. With the integration, the Pavie estate reached 42 hectares.

• 2022: the vineyards of Pavie-Decesse and Bellevue-Mondotte joined Château Pavie, bringing the estate to 42 hectares.
• 8 September 2022: the INAO national committee approved the new Saint-Émilion classification, naming Château Pavie (distinction A) and not Pavie-Decesse.

The Vignobles Perse site describes Pavie-Decesse as 'a wine that is rich and full, fleshy and complex' with 'an excellent capacity to improve with age,' characteristics it calls typical of wines from the plateau. In sommelier David Biraud's notes on the estate's site, the 2000 brings 'a very classy bouquet of prune, spice, cinnamon, toast, and blackcurrant macerated in alcohol' and 'suave, round, elegant tannin,' and the 2017 shows 'jammy notes of crushed black currants' with floral elements.

Primary sources (producer's own sites): https://www.vignoblesperse.com/en/pavie-decesse/home, https://www.vignoblesperse.com/en/pavie-decesse/history, https://www.vignoblesperse.com/en/pavie-decesse/presentation, https://www.vignoblesperse.com/en/pavie-decesse/terroir, https://www.vignoblesperse.com/en/pavie-decesse/vines, https://www.vignoblesperse.com/en/pavie-decesse/chais, https://www.vignoblesperse.com/en/pavie-decesse/degustation, https://www.vignoblesperse.com/en/vin/3/chateau-pavie-decesse, https://www.vignoblesperse.com/en/perse-family, https://www.chateaupavie.com/en_US/the-domain. Official body: INAO, Saint-Emilion grand cru classification approved 8 September 2022 (https://www.inao.gouv.fr/node/32497/printable/pdf). Secondary sources: Decanter (https://www.decanter.com/premium/a-st-emilion-story-chateau-pavie-profile-571810/, published 13 December 2025). Last verified 2026-10-19. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.