Press review

Parker # 194 (5/1/2011) : 90 Maturity: -2041

A blend of 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot and 2% Petit Verdot, this is an outstanding wine made in a classic style. The tannins are high, but the wine possesses abundant notes of cedar, licorice, underbrush, black currants and cherries. Medium-bodied and dense, but structured and backward (as are most vintages of Calon-Segur), give it 7-8 years of cellaring and drink it over the next 20-25.

The property in brief

3d classified growth in 1855. Calon, meaning little river skiff used in Middle Ages to ferry timber across the Gironde estuary, gave its name to the district which was at one point known as Calones or Saint-Estèphe-de-Calon. In early times, Château Calon-Ségur was one of the original three vineyards in Saint-Estèphe, and in 1825 Château Montrose (in 1855 classified as a Second Growth) was a forest-land parcel belonging to the Calon-Ségur estate. By marriage, the estate came to be owned by Nicolas-Alexandre, marquis de Ségur who also owned Chateau Latour and Chateau Lafite. Despite his ownership of these two First Growths, the Marquis said that his "heart was with Calon" and the wine's label today includes a drawing of a heart around the Chateau's name. Chateau Calon Segur has been in the hands of the Gasqueton family since 1894.