Chateau Calon Segur, Saint Estephe 2020 - OWC of 6 bottles x 75cl

"

The 2020 Calon-Ségur is a brilliant wine from an estate in the ascendant. Wafting from the glass with aromas of cassis, red berries, fresh mint, pencil shavings, violets and rose petals, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, with a vibrant core of fruit, powdery structuring tannins and a long, perfumed finish. Integrated and harmonious, this pure, concentrated and dynamic wine is one of the finest vintages that Vincent Millet and his team have produced to date."

The Wine Advocate 97

"Calon-Ségur is in the midst of a renaissance. A true "clos," this walled 55-hectare vineyard, the first to be cultivated in Saint-Estèphe, was long planted at a low density of 6,000 vines per hectare. When the cahier des charges (appellation rules) for Saint-Estèphe changed in the recent past, mandating a higher minimum density, the Gasqueton family had already begun replanting at 8,000 vines per hectare. Now estate director Vincent Millet is replanting at 10,000 vines per hectare, and each individual vine has been geo-referenced so that treatments and amendments can be adapted on a vine-by-vine basis within each parcel: the latest in high-tech precision viticulture! The varietal breakdown is changing too, with Cabernet Sauvignon on the increase, currently amounting to around 60% of the estate's holdings and with a target of around 75%. In addition to clones, a massal selection, from parcels near the small chapel just to the east of the château, is underway. Winemaking, too, has been revolutionized: in an entirely new cellar and winery, the grapes are rapidly chilled by passage through a cold tunnel and undergo a three-day cold soak, before a co-inoculated 18- to 21-day maceration with micro-oxygenation. Maturation follows, in new barrels, for 20 months with a traditional racking every three. If all this sounds very detail-oriented, it's because Millet, who boasts a PhD in wine microbiology and spent several years at Château Margaux, is an extremely serious, forward-thinking estate director, and I have no doubt that he is going to unleash all of Calon-Ségur's latent potential."