CHÂTEAU CALON SÉGUR
2015 3ème Cru Classé Saint Estèphe
82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Petit Verdot, 16% Merlot. First tasting: fine harmonious nose. Palate mixes ripeness with a certain elegant dustiness, and then juicy velvet red fruit sweetness. Supple, appetising and long. At the château, a creamy close texture, lovely balance, it really works: real wine with sap, fruit, expression and all the body it needs. The tannins are present but not aggressive. Fruit is cherryish, raspberry accented, bright and precise. Vincent Millet says he thinks it will drink well from five years time and also hold well. Rating: 92-93 L&S (Apr 2016)
* 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 2015 Calon-Ségur has an attractive bouquet with black olive-infused blackberry, bilberry and a whiff of the estuary coming through with time. The palate is medium-bodied with smooth tannins and fine depth. It's a little grainy toward the finish with that marine theme lingering in the mouth. This is promising. Tasted blind at the 2015 Bordeaux Ten-Year-On tasting at Farr Vintners. Drinking range: 2029 - 2048 Rating: 93 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jun 2025)
The 2015 Calon-Ségur has a fresh and very well defined bouquet of raspberry, wild strawberry and crushed stone aromas, very focused and beautifully integrated new oak. The palate is medium-bodied with fine grain tannin, well judged acidity, lightly spiced and quite saline toward the marine-tinged finish that fans out beautifully. There is classiness in this Saint-Estèphe and it should age with grace. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting. Rating: 94 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jul 2019)
Aromas of blackberries, currants, cedar and tobacco. Full-bodied, layered and dense. Great fruit yet tight and structured. A classically proportioned red with so much intensity. A wine for the future. Drinking range: 2022 - Rating: 95 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Feb 2018)
The 2015 Calon Ségur is a very pretty, if somewhat one-dimensional wine with good brightness in its floral-infused red berry fruit. The purity aromas and flavors is striking, but the texture, dimension and complexity of the very best years is elusive. The 2015 is an attractive, mid-weight Calon Ségur to drink while some of the more recent vintages, especially the 2014 and 2016, are left to age in the cellar. The blend is 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot and 2% Petit Verdot. Drinking range: 2023 - 2040 Rating: 93 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Feb 2018)
Among the top performers in St. Estèphe, as it nearly always is, Calon has made a stylish, refined red in 2015. Perfumed and floral, with structured, chalky tannins and intense black and red fruits. A triumph over adversity in a tricky vintage for the northern Médoc. Drinking range: 2024 - 2032 Rating: 94 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (May 2016)
The assemblage here is 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot and 2% Petit Verdot. The grand vin takes 40% of the crop in 2015. A very classic nose, very traditional and pure blackcurrant fruit, with a touch of curranty intensity to it. The palate keeps up appearances with a very pure, very elegant style, tense, very linear and direct, with some fresh and gently polished fruit. There are notes of blackcurrant and damson, with a juniper-berry flourish on the finish. A very tense, very direct, very pure, the tannins ripe, quite serious, with only a moderate texture draped over the top. Good freshness and energy to it though. Rating: 16-17/20 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2016)
82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot. 47 hl/ha. 20 months in 100% new oak. Dark crimson. Pure and aromatic. Pretty dense and dry with a hint of sweet oak. Solid and concentrated. All set for the long term. Pretty introvert. Edgy finish but more sweetness than there used to be. Intense - more intense than usual for this property. A little attenuated on the end. Very solid indeed! 13.3% Drinking range: 2024 - 2036 Rating: 17+ Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2016)
Really lovely bouquet: totally aromatic and full of finesse and restrained power. Great charm and purity of fruit on the palate, showing lovely precision and persistence. This château continues on its progression to the top. Drinking range: 2022 - 2040 Rating: 95 Steven Spurrier (Apr 2016)
The 2015 Calon Segur is a blend of 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot and 2% Petit Verdot (no Cabernet Franc in the Grand Vin this year). It was picked from 8 September until 5 October at a yield of 47 hl/ha and is matured in 100% new oak for the next 20 months. The Cabernet Sauvignon dominates the aromatics with blackberry, cedar and graphite aromas: quite linear, nicely focused and reserved compared to the 2014 last year. The palate is understated on the entry, the tannin very fine and the acidity very well judged. Like the nose, the Cabernet drives this wine forward: structured and a little "brittle" in the mouth, perhaps the most Pauillac-like Calon-Segur that I have encountered over many years of tasting. Afford this several years in bottle. Drinking range: 2022 - 2040 Rating: 91-93 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2016)
The 2015 Calon Ségur is super-polished, silky and exceptionally beautiful, especially for the vintage and appellation. Creamy, expressive and inviting, the 2015 possesses striking nuance and delineation throughout. Dark blue and purplish fruits, lavender, herbs, menthol and licorice add the closing shades of nuance. I don't think the 2015 will match the superb 2014, but it is a very pretty, if somewhat smaller-scaled, wine. Rating: 90-93 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Apr 2016)
A solid effort, with plum and dark cherry fruit showing the fleshier side of the vintage. Shows silky tannins underneath and a pleasant tobacco edge on the finish. Rating: 89—92 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Apr 2016)
This is very fine and integrated with black currant, walnut and fresh tobacco. Full body, pretty polish. Sophisticated. Well done for the vintage for this appellation Rating: 93-94 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Mar 2016)
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.