Winemaker Notes
The Grand Vin of Château Phélan Ségur comes from this magnificent terroir of Saint-Estèphe where power dominates. Strengthened by its origins, Château Phélan Ségur has created its identity based on elegance and finesse. With a certain restraint and great precision, it reveals the purity of the fruit, the accuracy of its structure, the silkiness of its tannins, all with a natural freshness. After long ageing, it reveals a bouquet of a rare complexity, the oak harmoniously integrated. This subtle and authentic balance creates an intense emotion. Château Phélan Ségur is known for its potential to age over several decades. An old vintage opens new aromatic horizons with an unexpected richness: the warmth of spices, the generosity of ripe fruits and the nobility of leather. Its texture is refined, its power is calmed. This fullness is a testimony to the passage of time and this blossoming is the reward of astute patience. Exceptional vintages born of the generosity of Nature transcended by the talent of man. Beyond these undisputed landmarks, there are vintages dear to the team at the Château. They are witnesses to the life of the property and the expression of great emotions.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Phélan Ségur is medium to deep garnet-purple colored with pronounced cassis, black raspberries, kirsch and violets with notions of cedar, earth and cigars. The palate is medium-bodied and elegant with great intensity, fine-grained and firm, finishing long and perfumed.
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Wine Enthusiast
The oak is currently quite forward and powerful in this young wine, which needs time for the fruit to come through. But the fruit is there, with black currant acidity and freshness showing in the background. Let the wine soften and don't drink before 2024.
Barrel Sample: 92-94 -
Decanter
New owner, Philippe Van de Vyvere as of 2017. This is a wine that settles into the glass. It has confident, firm and rich fruit, good aromatics and structured tannins that have been well extracted. Bristling, young and a clear life ahead of it. The tannins vibrate through the palate but are very much at the front of the mouth right now, raring to go. Exceptionally good for the vintage. Retasted several times.
Barrel Sample -
Jeb Dunnuck
Showing nicely, the 2017 Chateau Phelan Segur is a textbook Saint-Estephe that plays beautifully in the vintage. Classis Saint-Estephe earthy dark fruits, spice box, cedary herbs, and hints of chocolate all emerge from the glass, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a rounded, seamless texture, loads of sweet fruit, and a great finish. It's a beautiful effort that readers should snatch up. Drink bottles over the coming 15-20 years.
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James Suckling
A firm, silky red with lovely tightness and depth, offering currant, blueberry and hazelnut aromas and flavors. Shows layers and beauty. Bright and vivid. Lovely length. Better in 2022 or later.
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Wine Spectator
Focused, featuring a beam of black cherry and plum fruit, backed by well-embedded charcoal and iron notes. A light floral accent curls around the finish as the fruit and minerality meld together. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Drink now through 2031.
Located in the village of Saint-Estèphe, Château Phélan Ségur has proudly overlooked the Gironde estuary since the early 19th century. Founded by Irishman, Bernard Phelan, the estate was developed by his son, Frank, and renamed Phélan Ségur in the early 20th century. The cellar and the vat room are integrated into the Château in a highly unsual architectural ensemble.
The property is spread over 114 hectares, including 44 hectares of parks, forests, meadows, streams and ponds, forming a remarkable biodiversity reserve. Its 70 hectares of vineyards benefit from the temperature regulation provided by the proximity of the River; they are divided into four very distinct islands and express the diversity of the clay-gravel soils of the appellation. This produces powerful wines often characterised by their tannic structure. The Phélan Ségur style stands out for its elegance, its pure and complex aromas, its finesse and precision, the quality of its tannins and its balance.
Philippe Van de Vyvere is the owner since January 2018. Initiated by his grandfather at an early age, this great connoisseur of Bordeaux was really taken with the Château Phélan Ségur. He intends to apply his entrepreneurial values in pursuit of aesthetic and technical while respecting environmental balances.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Deeply colored, concentrated, and distinctive, St. Estephe is the go-to for great, age-worthy and reliable Bordeaux reds. Separated from Pauillac merely by a stream, St. Estephe is the farthest northwest of the highest classed villages of the Haut Medoc and is therefore subject to the most intense maritime influence of the Atlantic.
St. Estephe soils are rich in gravel like all of the best sites of the Haut Medoc but here the formation of gravel over clay creates a cooler atmosphere for its vines compared to those in the villages farther downstream. This results in delayed ripening and wines with higher acidity compared to the other villages.
While they can seem a bit austere when young, St. Estephe reds prove to live very long in the cellar. Traitionally dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, many producers now add a significant proportion of Merlot to the blend, which will soften any sharp edges of the more tannic, Cabernet.
The St. Estephe village contains two second growths, Chateau Montrose and Cos d’Estournel.