Phélan Ségur 2019

This is a very classically structured Bordeaux with blackcurrant, walnut, cedar and hints of toasted oak. It’s reserved now, but shows very serious, polished tannins. Persistent and powerful with fantastic length. Very precise. Try after 2025.

The 2019 Château Phelan Segur from Véronique Dausse is another brilliant Saint-Estèphe in the vintage, and this estate plays in the top handful of Saint-Estèphes out there. Offering lots of darker currants, spiced plums, Iron, tobacco, and damp earth on the nose, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a concentrated, tannic, yet balanced mouthfeel, and a great finish. It needs to be forgotten for a good 5-7 years and will be a brilliant wine over the following two decades.

Is this the most over-performing estate in the Médoc? Director Véronique Dausse would surely riposte that it's simply performing at the level to which its well-situated vineyards and detail-oriented team entitle it; but in any case, the 2019 Phélan Ségur is a brilliant wine. Offering up aromas of cassis, sweet wild berries, rose petals, violets, licorice and spices, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and concentrated, with tangy acids, powdery tannins and a long, penetrating finish. This is another 2019 that en primeur purchasers can feel very pleased with.

Another impressive vintage at this estate, one that is regularly turning out wines to sit up and take notice of. A touch more austerity than was seen at this stage in the 2018, but the same level of intensity and concentration and just sheer confidence without trying too hard. Undertow of crushed granite and liquorice root, with real precision in the cassis fruits, and a wall of tannins that manage to be both present and unobtrusive. Great winemaking going on here. 56% new oak, 3.8pH, 1PT81. Could go higher when retasting in bottle. Tasted twice two weeks apart. Drinking Window 2026 - 2042