CALON SEGUR 2021

One of the true gems of the vintage is the 2021 Château Calon Ségur, from tiny yields of 26 hectoliters per hectare and a blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc, 7% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot. This beauty was aged for 20 months in 100% new barrels and comes in at 13% alcohol. It delivers more depth, sweet fruit, and charm than most in the vintage, with a complex, layered profile of cassis, black raspberry, tobacco, leather, and savory, floral-like aromas and flavors. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, this balanced, layered, complete 2021 has ripe tannins, the vintage’s focused, elegant style, solid mid-palate depth, and a beautiful finish. It already offers pleasure but deserves 4–5 years of bottle age and will provide two decades of prime drinking. This vintage doesn’t get much better, and it’s worth your time and money.

A step ahead of the pack in this vintage, this offers a hint of polish to fleshier-than-most cassis and plum purée flavors. Solidly built, with a well-buried chalky spine, plus tangy acidity. Lilac, bay and black tea notes add range on the finish. Shows the vintage’s taut character, but this has more depth and better proportion than most of its colleagues. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Best from 2025 through 2037. 7,800 cases made.

A Saint-Estèphe of stature and vertical intensity, the 2021 Calon Ségur dazzles from the very first taste. Spice, menthol, licorice, black cherry, mint and espresso are some of the many notes that build with a bit of coaxing. The 2021 clocks in at a modest 12.9% in alcohol, yet it possesses tremendous density and textural resonance. What a wine! Tasted two times.

A juicy and caressingly astringent red with currant, berry and cedar aromas with citrus undertones. Medium body. Firm and silky with a delicious finish. A little tight at the end. Two or three years will open it up.

Revisited in bottle, the 2021 Calon-Ségur opens in the glass with aromas of dark berries mingled with aromas of violets, pencil shavings, lilac, Indian spices, cigar wrapper and grilled meats. Medium to full-bodied, dense and suave, with powdery tannins, lively acids and a penetratingly sapid and discreetly carnal finish, it appears to have lost a touch of aromatic precision during élevage, but it remains a compelling Calon-Ségur.