CHÂTEAU CALON SÉGUR
2012 3ème Cru Classé Saint Estèphe
78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot. 13.5%. Harvested starting 1st October as opposed to 3rd September in 2011. Fantastic black fruit depth, mineral, salty, gourmand and appetising. No shortage of guts but has a sweet appeal too - very pure. Rating: 92 L&S (May 2013)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
The 2012 Calon Ségur is dark, powerful and intense. Smoke, game, tobacco and dark stone fruits open up in a distinctly virile, imposing wine. Quite frankly, what stands out most is how much Calon Ségur has come in the years since French insurer Suravenir Assurances bought the property in July 2012. In 2012 the blend is 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 2% Petit Verdot. The wine spent 19 months in 100% new French oak barrels. In my view Calon Ségur is one of the most dynamic and exciting reemerging properties in Bordeaux today. It will be fascinating to see what the new team headed by Estate Manager Laurent Dufau does here over the coming years. Drinking range: 2017 - 2042 Rating: 91 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Jan 2016)
The 2012 Calon Ségur, has an opaque ruby/purple color, very sweet black raspberry, black cherry and currant fruit, underlying forest floor notes, wonderfully sweet tannin, surprising up-front opulence and beautiful purity, texture and length. This is an outstanding effort and a strong wine in 2012. Drink it over the next 20 years, as the acidity is quite low and the wine already approachable. Drinking range: 2015 - 2035 Rating: 91 Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate, www.RobertParker.com (Apr 2015)
The nose is deep and brooding with lots of concentrated black fruits. The start of the palate is quite closed but it opens up with a chocolate and liquorice richness in the middle. Although the finish is a bit tight there is a lot more fruit to show. 2018-35 Rating: 90-94 Derek Smedley MW, www.dereksmedleymw.co.uk (Dec 2013)
The Grand Vin was picked between 1st and 16th October, the Cabernet from the 9th October, the fruit sorted by hand as it enters the winery rather than an optical sorting machine. It has a very fragrant bouquet, very pure with dark cherries and raspberry preserve, like a toned down version of the 2009. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp, chalky tannins. There is plenty of bright red fruit, fine focus and a very composed, quite suave finish that is presently driven by the 100% new oak. This is a great little wine from Calon Segur that should have plenty of class and sophistication once in bottle Rating: 90-92 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (May 2013)
(78% cabernet sauvignon, 20% merlot and 2% petit verdot; 5.5 g/l total acidity, 75 IPT; 13.5% alcohol; 38 h/h yield): Pretty, medium ruby-red. Aromas of raspberry, cocoa powder and mint are lifted by a penetrating violet note. Intensely flavored, juicy and tight, with brisk acidity extending the red and dark fruit and minerals on the bright, very well-delineated finish. A note of sweet blackcurrant lingers impressively. This has excellent energy without coming across as green, but seems less strict to me than the 2011. Interestingly, technical director Vincent Millet told me that the petit verdot was planted partly in 1939 and that these old vines love water stress (they were harvested on October 15, yielding just 15 h/h). In contrast, some of the young cabernet sauvignon vines didn't make it, which explains the lowest proportion of cabernet sauvignon (along with 2011) in the Calon-Segur blend in some years (2008 had 75%). Millet thinks that the 2012 Calon is livelier than the 2011 (which had a similar pH but lower total acidity); he believes the '11 will be ready to drink sooner than 2012. I'm not so sure, as I find this 2012's sweetly fruity personality hard to resist already. Rating: 89-92 Ian d'Agata, TerroirSense (May 2013)
Lively and some richness. Dry finish. But great vitality. Long and complete with no concessions to the vintage. Not as dense as Montrose. 2020 - 2035. Rating: 17 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2013)
A château that rarely disappoints, even in trickier vintages, Calon-Ségur seems to be flourishing under its new owners. This is the same blend of grapes as in 2010 and 2011, but it’s the hand of the winemaker, Vincent Millet, that matters. Once again, this is a very graceful St Estèphe, with no hard edges, polished tannins, plenty of perfume and oak and the understated concentration needed to age. Drink: 2020-35 Rating: 94 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (Apr 2013)
Superbly rich colour, nose still discreet but of great class, great purity of flavour, tannins present for the long-term, “an iron fist in a velvet glove”, a beautifully structured wine for the long term, the Lafite of Saint-Estephe. Drink: 2018 - 2035. Rating: 18.25 Steven Spurrier (Apr 2013)
One of the highlights of the vintage, with a perfect expression of the terroir and some beautiful fruit. Rating: 18 Matthew Jukes www.matthewjukes.com (Apr 2013)
Super fresh and floral with raspberry, currant and berry character. Full body, with fine tannins and a long, long finish. Bright and racy. 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, and 2% Petit Verdot. Rating: 92-93 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2013)
Château Calon Ségur
Please make sure that you have read the terms of this offer which are different from those of the main website. If you are unclear as to what is involved in primeur purchases please do call us, but see the 'practical notes' below.
Ordering
Prices are per case as listed 'in bond London'.
Pre-Orders are a firm commitment from you to buy the wines you order on release, subject to the price being below the upper price of the estimated band on our website. You may also set your own upper price limit, lower or higher than ours. Pre-orders will be fulfilled subject to availability. Providing this firm commitment to us effectively gives you priority.
Wines listed on the website (after any pre-orders and allocations have been fulfilled) can be ordered in the usual way via the website order form or by email or telephone 020 7221 1982, always subject to stock remaining.
Confirmation
All orders will be confirmed by email and are contractually binding unless written cancellation is received within seven days of the confirmation date, apart from pre-orders which are binding if the release price is below the top estimate or other price you have set.
Invoices are raised at the In Bond price, excluding any duty and VAT which will become payable at the prevailing rates on arrival of the wine if required duty paid.
Payment is required on sight of invoice, by cash, cheque, debit card or credit transfer. We reserve the right to charge 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.
Delivery
- Shipment to our bond (LCB Creek Road) and insurance are included in the in bond price.
- Delivery is free to Lea and Sandeman / Elephant storage accounts, both duty paid and in bond.
- Other deliveries (In Bond and Duty Paid) are also free subject to a minimum order from the offer of £1000, orders below this total will be charged £16.50+ VAT when the wine invoices are issued. We will group deliveries and this is a charge for your entire purchases, not a per-case charge.
- Delivery for 2016 Bordeaux primeurs will probably be completed by October 2019, but we make no guarantee as to specific delivery times, and some of the Sauternes may be later.
Practical notes - how it works
We start a sale in each customer's name and add all their primeur orders to one sale which is invoiced at the end of the campaign (or when the customer wishes) for immediate payment. We and our customers find that having a single invoice for the vintage is the simpler option, but do please note that confirmed orders are still binding as above even if the final invoice has not been issued.
When the wine is shipped, unless previously specified we will assume that delivery is to be to bonded storage with Elephant Storage, but in any case, we will contact you requesting any alternative instructions. If you have another bonded delivery address you would like the wine to go to, please tell us at the time of ordering. If the wines are required duty-paid we will issue invoices at the rates prevailing at the time for the excise duty (currently £25.98 per case) and the VAT (currently at 20%) on the total of the wine cost and the duty.
Half-bottles, Magnums and larger bottles.
One of the additional advantages of buying en primeur is being able to order the wine in the bottle size you want. Even if a wine is only listed in one size, you can order any bottle or case size you want if the property supplies it, but you must order the case/bottle size you require and check that the correct size has been invoiced.
Additional charges are as follows:-
- +£15 per case of 24 half-bottles
- +£15 per case of 6 Magnums (2 bottles equivalent, 1.5 litres each)
- +£35 per individually boxed Double Magnum (4 bottles equivalent, 3 litres)
- +£45 per individually boxed Imperial (8 bottles equivalent, 6 litres) for Salmanazars, Balthazars, Nebuchadnezzars and Melchiors please enquire for availability and price.