The 2019 Château Calon-Ségur showcases a striking blend of precision and depth. Decanter awarded it 97 points, praising its vivid ripe black fruit and elegant violet and cedar aromas, complemented by a fresh, juicy mid-palate and gorgeously prolonged finish. The wine is perfectly balanced, with a touch of orange rind freshness to counter its rich body. Best to enjoy after 2025, it has tremendous aging potential, set to develop even further with time.

Decanter | D 97
Published: Feb 24, 2023
Drink: 2023-2060

A large-scale palate, dominated by the Cabernets. Combines vivid ripe black fruit opulence with aromatic cedar and violet, delivered with elegant tannins. The wine is so balanced, with such veritable mid-palate juiciness exuding orange rind freshness that you don't notice the 14.5% alcohol. What a gorgeously prolonged finish. 100% new oak, nicely integrated.

James Suckling | JS 96
Published: Jan 17, 2022

Sweet cherries and berries with some walnuts and dried flowers, as well as notes of crushed stone, pine, currants and violets. Full-bodied and building gradually on the palate, with intense, polished tannins that are layered throughout the wine, providing well-toned muscle. The finish lasts for minutes. Quintessential Calon. Needs time to soften. Try after 2027.

The Wine Advocate | RP 93?
Published: Apr 7, 2022
Drink: 2025-2055

Vincent Millet (who can boast a doctorate in wine microbiology and who took up his post as Calon's technical director after a stint at Château Margaux) is doing everything right in terms of restructuring the estate's somewhat neglected vineyards with massal selections, higher density plantings, cover crops and precision viticulture. He's also cleaned up and modernized the winery. The 2019 Calon-Ségur shows the impact of some of those changes already, offering up a rich bouquet of crème de cassis, licorice, warm spices and subtle hints of cigar box, followed by a full-bodied, broad and fleshy palate that's deep and concentrated, with lively acids and beautifully refined tannins. All this is very impressive, but the fly in the ointment is an alcohol level that flirts with 15% and makes itself felt on the warm, liqueured finish. Balance isn't a matter of mere numbers, of course, but despite its admirable qualities and the serious work behind it, I do have reservations about this wine's ultimate equilibrium. Time will tell. The good news is that Millet is actively exploring viticultural strategies to mitigate high alcohol levels.

Calon-Ségur is in the midst of a renaissance. A true "Clos," this walled 55-hectare vineyard, the first to be cultivated in Saint-Estèphe, was long planted at a low density of 6,000 vines per hectare. When the cahier des charges (appellation rules) for Saint-Estèphe changed in the recent past, mandating a higher minimum density, the Gasqueton family had already begun replanting at 8,000 vines per hectare. Now estate director Vincent Millet is replanting at 10,000 vines per hectare, and each individual vine has been geo-referenced so that treatments and amendments can be adapted on a vine-by-vine basis within each parcel: the latest in high-tech precision viticulture! The varietal breakdown is changing too, with Cabernet Sauvignon on the increase, currently amounting to around 60% of the estate's holdings and with a target of around 75%. In addition to clones, a massal selection, from parcels near the small chapel just to the east of the château, is underway. Winemaking, too, has been revolutionized: in an entirely new cellar and winery, the grapes are rapidly chilled by passage through a cold tunnel and undergo a three-day cold soak, before a co-innoculated 18- to 21-day maceration with micro-oxygenation. Maturation follows, in new barrels, for 20 months with a traditional racking every three. If all this sounds very detail-oriented, it's because Millet, who boasts a PhD in wine microbiology and spent several years at Château Margaux, is an extremely serious, forward-thinking estate director, and I have no doubt that he is going to unleash all of Calon-Ségur's latent potential. My only reservations, recorded in the accompanying tasting notes, are with the lofty alcohol levels that these 2019s exhibit. But there's no doubting the seriousness of the work going on at this address, or the inevitability of its successful realization.

Jancis Robinson | JR 17
Published: Feb 1, 2023
Drink: 2029-2044

Tasted blind. A hint of wet wool on the nose. Some fruit on palate entry. Cool and fresh. Good balance, but certainly not dramatic! Dry finish. 

Calon-segur.fr

The Grand Vin of Calon Ségur mirrors its terroir. It is rare, authentic and stirs the soul. In the most natural way, it reveals both great delicacy and outstanding intensity. All the magic of Calon is in this balance. The wine is aged in new oak barrels for 20 months, the tannins of the oak integrating harmoniously over time with the tannins of the grapes. The style is brought by a Cabernet Sauvignon which expresses its finesse without arrogance. Elegance is to be found everywhere, in the purity of the wine’s flavours, in the delicacy of its texture, while its depth and length are also superb. The wine’s extraordinary ability to age many years in bottle is another feature of the estate. The 1947, 1953 and 1982 vintages, by way of example, still display astonishing signs of youth.

Technical Specs

Alcohol: 14.5%
Closure: Natural Cork
Harvest: 2019
Oak: 20 months in 100% new French oak barrels
Varietals: 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot
Vineyard Area: 55 ha
Average Vine Age: 22 years
Planting Density: 8,000 vines/ha
Training: Double Guyot
Harvest: Hand-picked with initial selection on the vine, followed by mechanical and hand sorting
Vinification: Temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks with extended maceration
Consulting Oenologist: Éric Boissenot
Region: Saint-Estèphe, Bordeaux
Classification: 3rd Grand Cru Classé in the 1855 Classification

Serving Temperature: 16–18°C
Decanting: 1–2 hours
Food Pairing: Roast beef, lamb, venison, duck, beef Wellington, grilled steak, mushrooms, truffle dishes and mature hard cheeses