Chateau Calon Segur 2014

JAMES SUCKLING: "This is real powerful and sexy with a voluptuous style of ripe fruit, mushrooms and wet earth. Leafy. Full and seductive. Better after 2021 but already fantastic."

DECANTER: "Heady fragrance nose, smells ripe and potent. Thick almost on the palate, this definitely has some sweet fruit aspects, mixed with herbal touches and minerality so you're getting lots of different flavours with a texture that is quite sleek and streamlined. Tannins are present but well integrated, a soft spice to them which keeps the relatively defined frame. Fruity and fun, if not totally refined, but enjoyable nonetheless and has great acidity which lifts the whole expression. Not as long a finish as some."

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Full-bodied, rich, spicy, intense, long, and captivating, the wine grabs you with its spicy fruits, cedar, tobacco leaf, red plums, blackberry, and floral nuances. Still youthful, yet approachable due to its structure and softness in the tannins, you can enjoy this now, if you like more primary notes, or age it as it is going to develop complexities over the years. The wine blends 67% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Drink from 2025-2050.

WINE ENTHUSIAST: "This is a beautifully perfumed wine. With a high proportion of ripe Cabernet Franc, it is not only structured but has a fine dried fruit character that gives the wine a memorable richness. The wine is tight with its tannins, likely to age over decades. Drink from 2027."

WEINWISSER: "66 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 19 % Merlot, 13 % Cabernet Franc, 2 % Petit Verdot. Sattes Purpur Granat, dicht in der Mitte, lila Schimmer aussen. Florales Bouquet, Johannisbeeren, feinstielige Würze dahinter, Szechuanpfeffer und Tabakblatt, zeigt eine schöne Tiefe an. Im Gaumen elegant, stützende Adstringenz, die Aromatik bleibt im blaubeerigen Bereich, klare Cabernet-Aromatik. Der Wein ist für einen Saint Estèphe erstaunlich fein, aber der Calon-Ségur hatte immer schon etwas Feminines an sich. Insgesamt auf Finesse und Klasse setzend. Er wird mit dem weiteren Ausbau (100 % neues Holz, 20 Monate) bis zu seiner Abfüllung noch an Volumen gewinnen. Zwei Mal verkostet. Einmal auf dem Weingut und einmal auf Ulysse."

JEB DUNNUCK: "The 2014 Calon Ségur has to be considered an undeniable success in the vintage, offering the elegance, balance, and charm that’s the hallmark of this late growing season. Still relatively tight and reserved, with beautiful notes of black currants, smoked earth, graphite, and tobacco leaf, it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, beautiful purity, and a layered, elegant style that opens up with time in the glass. It has more density than the 2015 and will keep for two decades or more."

WINE SPECTATOR: "On the darker side of the spectrum, with dark currant, plum and blackberry fruit, inlaid with ample dried bay and tobacco notes. Pepper and charcoal details fill in the finish, adding range and energy. A touch sauvage in style, this will have fans for sure. Best from 2020 through 2030. 6,665 cases made."

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "The 2014 Calon Ségur has a much more reticent bouquet than either the 2014 Montrose or Cos d'Estournel. There is blackberry here, a hint of cassis and violets, fine purity but bolshie and withdrawn at the moment. The palate is medium-bodied with ripe tannin, more red fruit than the Montrose with a smooth, quite silky Merlot-like, graphite finish. Tasted on two occasions in Bordeaux, the second bottle exuded more panache and joie-de-vivre, coming across a little more spicy with a longer aftertaste."