Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
The second bottle opened shows clear depth and punch to the fruit - one of the best in the lineup. It sings with liquorice, slate, pencil lead, grilled bacon and slick black fruits. It may still be extremely young but it's starting to unfurl, revealing a floral note on the finish that beckons you to it. Rauzan Ségla tends to do extremely well in vintages like 2001, and now 2011, where the grace and elegance of the wine can be given full expression. 70% new oak.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is typical of the ripe and opulent style of this property with superripe black currant fruit. It's concentrated in flavor, but also structured with smooth tannins. It's a wine both for short-term fruitiness and long-term power and density. Drink from 2017. Cellar Selection
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2011 Rauzan-Ségla is more red-fruited and spice-driven, with complex tobacco, dried earth, flowers, and cedar notes in the background. Medium to full-bodied, beautifully balanced, and elegant on the palate, it has the firm edge to its tannins that’s common in the vintage, yet it has more than enough sweet fruit as well as impressive mid-palate depth and a great finish. A blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot, it’s another rich yet elegant wine from this estate that will continue offering ample pleasure for another two decades or more.
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James Suckling
A wine with a beautiful aromas and flavors of dark fruits, minerals and dried flowers. Full body, integrated tannins and a fresh finish. A little chewy but will soften with age. Better in 2017.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet colored, the 2011 Rauzan-Ségla displays a series of earthy notes to begin—truffles, moss-covered bark, fungi and tilled soil—over a core of redcurrant jelly, blackberry pie and mincemeat with hints of sandalwood, new leather and fallen leaves. Medium-bodied with a firm line of chewy, slightly rustic tannins, it has a great core of earth-laced black fruits with provocative freshness and a long mineral-tinged finish. The blend this year is 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot and 2% Petit Verdot, harvested between September 8th and 28th, at an average yield of 28 hectoliters per hectare. It was aged for 18 months in French oak, 70% new. The alcohol is 13.5%.
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Wine Spectator
Lush and frankly ripe, with alluring plum sauce, fig paste and currant confiture flavors, layered with dark cocoa and black tea notes. The long, velvety finish has some serious latent grip. An impressive effort for the vintage. Best from 2017 through 2028.
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.
Silky, seductive and polished are the words that characterize the best wines from Margaux, the most inland appellation of the Médoc on the Left Bank of Bordeaux.
Margaux’s gravel soils are the thinnest of the Médoc, making them most penetrable by vine roots—some reaching down over 23 feet for water. The best sites are said to be on gentle outcrops, or croupes, where more gravel facilitates good drainage.
The Left Bank of Bordeaux subscribes to an arguably outdated method of classification but it is nonetheless important in regards to history of the area. In 1855 the finest chateaux were deemed on the basis of reputation and trading price—at that time. In 1855, Chateau Margaux achieved first growth status, yet it has been Chateau Palmer (officially third growth from the 1855 classification) that has consistently outperformed others throughout the 20th century.
Chateau Margaux in top vintages is capable of producing red Cabernet Sauvignon based wines described as pure, intense, spell-binding, refined and profound with flavors and aromas of black currant, violets, roses, orange peel, black tea and incense.
Other top producers worthy of noting include Chateau Rauzan-Ségla, Lascombes, Brane-Cantenac, and d’Issan, among others.
The best wines of Margaux combine a deep ruby color with a polished structure, concentration and an unrivaled elegance.