Château Calon-Ségur, Saint-Estèphe 2021

This third-growth property occupies a prime position in the north-east of Saint-Estèphe, making it the northernmost of all the Médoc grands crus classés. Its long history includes a period under the same ownership as Lafite and Latour, courtesy of 17^th-century wine magnate Nicolas de Ségur who, despite owning two first-growth estates always claimed that his heart belonged to Calon. A heart remains on the wine's label to this day around the château’s and continues to spark the interest of our Welsh-speaking members for whom calon segur means ‘idle heart’.

For the past century the estate has been owned by the Gasqueton family who made great strides in the latter part of the 20^th century to take things up a notch here. From 1995 Denise Capbern Gasqueton managed the estate and when she died in 2011 the estate was subsequently sold to the French Insurance company Suravenir. They have appointed Laurent Dufau as director of the estate with a remit to revamp.

The 74 hectares of vineyards are found to the north of the village of Saint-Estèphe itself. They are planted predominantly with cabernet sauvignon, around 20% merlot, 15% cabernet franc and a tiny amount of petit verdot. A gradual increase in plantings of cabernet sauvignon is not unsurprising given that the terroir here is particularly suited to this variety. More cabernet in the blend has also led to a greater proportion of new oak being used and a longer period of maturation (up to 18 months).The wines are bottled fined but not filtered.

The wines can be austere when young, but their staying-power is beyond doubt and in the last ten years of the previous ownership there was a noticeable increase in complexity, and a noticeably softer, more velvety texture tempers the characeristic Calon depth and structure.

The grand vin Château Calon-Séguraccounts for about 60% of production. The second and third wines are Marquis de Calon and La Chapelle de Calon respectively.