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2012 Calon Segur
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Review
Firm and structured, this beautifully concentrated wine has plenty of the dark tannins that come out of Cabernet Sauvignon in Saint-Estèphe while allowing room for juicy fruit. The wood aging is still showing, giving some spice to the wine. At the end, it's the density of the wine that's so impressive. Drink from 2024. Wine Enthusiast
Wine Enthusiast |
Critic Reviews
Firm and structured, this beautifully concentrated wine has plenty of the dark tannins that come out of Cabernet Sauvignon in Saint-Estèphe while allowing room for juicy fruit. The wood aging is still showing, giving some spice to the wine. At the end, it's the density of the wine that's so impressive. Drink from 2024.
Wine Enthusiast | 96 WE
This is the late-harvest year that the insurance group Suravenir acquired Calon Ségur. Picking began on October 1 and ended on October 13. Classy, elegant nose of ripe blueberry and black cherry with spicy overtones. Juicy, fleshy, satiny mouthfeel possessing elegant poise and freshness. This is a supremely elegant wine that is already approachable but ready to go the distance over the next decade. (Drink between 2022-2035)
Decanter | 95 DEC
(Château Calon-Ségur (barrel sample)) The 2012 Château Calon-Ségur is one of the best four or five wines to be found on the Left Bank in this vintage, clearly more successful than any of the First Growths in this year and a stellar value. The grapes were all harvested between October 1st and October 16th, with the teams making a serious push to finish up on the latter day, as the autumn rains started in earnest on the 17th. Vincent Millet noted that “2012 is really a cabernet sauvignon vintage, and in particular, the old vines really did well this year, so that we had few parcels of the old vines come in with potential alcohol over fourteen percent this year.” The wine ended up at a very respectable 13.5 percent alcohol and is a blend of seventy-eight percent cabernet sauvignon, twenty percent merlot and two percent petit verdot and was raised entirely in new barrels- though the use of new wood here is exemplary in its discretion and understatement and I would never have guessed that this is all new wood this year! The absolutely beautiful nose wafts from the glass in a blend of cassis, black cherries, Cuban tobacco, a touch of pomegranate, espresso, dark soil tones and a very judicious base of spicy new wood. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very pure and refined, with a great core of fruit, a youthful and seamless structure, ripe tannins and superb focus and grip on the ripely tannic, complex and very classy finish. This is the epitome of old school claret, with elegance, breed and potential complexity to burn! It is one of the finest young vintages of Château Calon-Ségur I have had the pleasure to taste and a stunning success in this difficult vintage. (Drink between 2025-2065).
John Gilman | 93 JG
A silky and polished red with currant, walnut and black truffle character. Full body, silky tannins and a fine finish. It reminds me of the excellent 1995. Better in 2017.
James Suckling | 93 JS
Dense but pure, offering suave plum, raspberry coulis and black currant fruit, and tobacco, tar and iron nuances. This is integrated and refined through the long finish, but lacks the vintage's austerity. Very nicely done. Best from 2017 through 2025. 6,665 cases made.
Wine Spectator | 93 WS
The 2012 Calon Ségur is dark, powerful and intense. Smoke, game, tobacco and dark stone fruits open up in a distinctly virile, imposing wine. Quite frankly, what stands out most is how much Calon Ségur has come in the years since French insurer Suravenir Assurances bought the property in July 2012. In 2012 the blend is 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 2% Petit Verdot. The wine spent 19 months in 100% new French oak barrels. In my view Calon Ségur is one of the most dynamic and exciting reemerging properties in Bordeaux today. It will be fascinating to see what the new team headed by Estate Manager Laurent Dufau does here over the coming years.
Antonio Galloni | 91 AG
The 2012 Calon Ségur, has an opaque ruby/purple color, very sweet black raspberry, black cherry and currant fruit, underlying forest floor notes, wonderfully sweet tannin, surprising up-front opulence and beautiful purity, texture and length. This is an outstanding effort and a strong wine in 2012. Drink it over the next 20 years, as the acidity is quite low and the wine already approachable.
Robert Parker | 91 RP
Wine Enthusiast | 96 WE
This is the late-harvest year that the insurance group Suravenir acquired Calon Ségur. Picking began on October 1 and ended on October 13. Classy, elegant nose of ripe blueberry and black cherry with spicy overtones. Juicy, fleshy, satiny mouthfeel possessing elegant poise and freshness. This is a supremely elegant wine that is already approachable but ready to go the distance over the next decade. (Drink between 2022-2035)
Decanter | 95 DEC
(Château Calon-Ségur (barrel sample)) The 2012 Château Calon-Ségur is one of the best four or five wines to be found on the Left Bank in this vintage, clearly more successful than any of the First Growths in this year and a stellar value. The grapes were all harvested between October 1st and October 16th, with the teams making a serious push to finish up on the latter day, as the autumn rains started in earnest on the 17th. Vincent Millet noted that “2012 is really a cabernet sauvignon vintage, and in particular, the old vines really did well this year, so that we had few parcels of the old vines come in with potential alcohol over fourteen percent this year.” The wine ended up at a very respectable 13.5 percent alcohol and is a blend of seventy-eight percent cabernet sauvignon, twenty percent merlot and two percent petit verdot and was raised entirely in new barrels- though the use of new wood here is exemplary in its discretion and understatement and I would never have guessed that this is all new wood this year! The absolutely beautiful nose wafts from the glass in a blend of cassis, black cherries, Cuban tobacco, a touch of pomegranate, espresso, dark soil tones and a very judicious base of spicy new wood. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very pure and refined, with a great core of fruit, a youthful and seamless structure, ripe tannins and superb focus and grip on the ripely tannic, complex and very classy finish. This is the epitome of old school claret, with elegance, breed and potential complexity to burn! It is one of the finest young vintages of Château Calon-Ségur I have had the pleasure to taste and a stunning success in this difficult vintage. (Drink between 2025-2065).
John Gilman | 93 JG
A silky and polished red with currant, walnut and black truffle character. Full body, silky tannins and a fine finish. It reminds me of the excellent 1995. Better in 2017.
James Suckling | 93 JS
Dense but pure, offering suave plum, raspberry coulis and black currant fruit, and tobacco, tar and iron nuances. This is integrated and refined through the long finish, but lacks the vintage's austerity. Very nicely done. Best from 2017 through 2025. 6,665 cases made.
Wine Spectator | 93 WS
The 2012 Calon Ségur is dark, powerful and intense. Smoke, game, tobacco and dark stone fruits open up in a distinctly virile, imposing wine. Quite frankly, what stands out most is how much Calon Ségur has come in the years since French insurer Suravenir Assurances bought the property in July 2012. In 2012 the blend is 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 2% Petit Verdot. The wine spent 19 months in 100% new French oak barrels. In my view Calon Ségur is one of the most dynamic and exciting reemerging properties in Bordeaux today. It will be fascinating to see what the new team headed by Estate Manager Laurent Dufau does here over the coming years.
Antonio Galloni | 91 AG
The 2012 Calon Ségur, has an opaque ruby/purple color, very sweet black raspberry, black cherry and currant fruit, underlying forest floor notes, wonderfully sweet tannin, surprising up-front opulence and beautiful purity, texture and length. This is an outstanding effort and a strong wine in 2012. Drink it over the next 20 years, as the acidity is quite low and the wine already approachable.
Robert Parker | 91 RP
Wine Details for 2012 Calon Segur
| Type of Wine |
Bordeaux Red
: Picture in your mind a combination of cedar, lead pencil, blackcurrant, plum and mineral aromatics, and texture that caresses your palate like a playful lover. The experience is thrilling from the first whiff to the final seconds of a tannic, generous finish - that is what you'll get from a Bordeaux Red |
|---|---|
| Varietal |
Red Bordeaux Blend
: The inhabitants of the Bordeaux region of France have been cultivating wine-grapes for thousands of years. Ancient Roman ruins litter the vineyards from Saint Emilion to Graves where the art of blending Bordeaux varietals has been practiced and perfected over a very long history. Bordeaux’s climate, terroir and soils, though varied, provide the optimal growing conditions for the red grape varietals planted in the region. Rarely listed on the labels as “blend,” the red wines of Bordeaux are perhaps the most artfully designed and celebrated in the world. The calculated art of blending the native Bordeaux varietals is impressively accomplished in the most famous winegrowing region in the world. The phrase Bordeaux Blend which seems to have been coined by British wine merchants in the 19th Century relates as much to wines made from the blend as to the grape variety combination itself. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec and occasionally Carmenere are the lead characters in the creation of Red Bordeaux Blends. Each plays a part in their own fashion and implemented in various combinations and percentages in each appellation within Bordeaux. Red Bordeaux Blends are majorly composed of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, roughly making up 90% of all Bordeaux Blends. Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec (occasionally Carmenere) are also important components and vital to the production of the region’s red wines. For simplicity, the winegrowing region of Bordeaux can be divided into three main appellations producing Red Bordeaux Blends; the Left Bank (Medoc), Right Bank and Pessac-Leognan (Graves). The Left Bank has a terroir comprised of a wide variety of gravel, stones, sand, limestone and clay soils on a natural terrain of gentle slopes. This sets the stage perfectly for the production of Cabernet Sauvignon, which is the dominant grape of the Left Bank. For example, Chateau Lafite (Paulliac) is composed of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon. The Right Bank is dominated by clay and limestone with sand and gravel, but the clay in the Right Bank is distinctly its own and adds to the health, growth and vitality of the vines of the varietals grown here. Right Bank wines are typically 80% Merlot-based, which are often denser, richer and mature earlier than those of the Left Bank (with exceptions – Petrus for example). Merlot is a vital component to Pomerol winegrowing and making. Cabernet Franc also plays a major role in the Right Bank, most notably, in Saint Emilion, where the infamous vineyards of Chateau Ausone and Chateau Cheval Blanc are planted to 55% and 52% Cabernet Franc, respectively. Chateaux that produce wines with a majority of Cabernet Franc are considered “old school” producers, but have perfected the use of Cabernet Franc, which was originally used as a blending grape. Pessac-Leognan (Graves) enjoys a temperate climate, natural hygrometry influenced by the ocean, and has a terroir composed of gravelly soil over a clay subsoil on sloping, hilly terrain. Natural drainage due to the hilly terrain as well as the gravelly soil structure are perfectly attuned to the Cabernet Sauvignon grape vine, which prospers under these conditions. Pessac reaps the benefits of having the terroir of both the Left and Right Bank as it contains gravel and clay. The clay sub-soil allows the growth and success of Merlot, as well as Cabernet Franc. It is home to the only First Growth not in the Medoc. The 50-hectare vineyard of Haut Brion is planted to 45.4% Merlot, 43.9% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9.7% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. The percentage of Petit Verdot and Malbec may be lesser in quantity, but not in quality. They are vital to the region’s creation of Red Bordeaux Blends. The combination of Bordeaux varietals is legendary in the region, around the world and has influenced winegrowers worldwide to plant and vinify wines which resemble those of Red Bordeaux Blends. |
| Country |
France
: Wine is the lifeblood that courses through the country of France, pulsing with vigorous pride and determination. Viticulture is not just a hobby or an occupation in France; it is a passion, a cherished tradition that has been passed down through generations of wine stained hands. Winemaking is a beloved art that has been ingrained in the culture, an aptitude instilled in sons by fathers and the hallmark for which France’s reputation was built, allowing it to be renowned as, arguably, the most important wine producing country in the world. For centuries, France has been producing wines of superior quality and in much greater quantity than any other country in the world. It boasts some of the most impressive wine regions, coveted vineyards and prestigious wines on earth. The regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone, Sauternes and Champagne have become the benchmark, for which others aspire to become. Legendary producers such as Chateaux Margaux, Domaine De La Romanee Conti, Chapoutier, d’Yquem and Dom Perignon are idolized world-wide. France has stamped its name on nearly every style of wine, from the nectar-like sweet Sauternes to hedonistic Chateauneuf Du Papes classic Bordeaux and Burgundy, to its sparkling dominance in Champagne. Many of the most infamous grape varietals in the world, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay originated in France and are not only beloved, but utilized in the creation of some of the greatest wines on earth. French wine production commands the attention of the wine market year after year. With over 860,000 hectares under vine, and numbers close to 50 million hectoliters of wine produced annually, France dominates the market and sets the standard for not only product quality, but also quantity. France’s many contributions to the world of wine have been absolutely indispensable. The country is the originator of the term “Premier Cru,” coined the term Terroir (a French term so complex there is no literal translation) and has laid the blueprint for a structured appellation system, which others have implemented in their own countries. French vineyard techniques and winemaking practices are mimicked world-wide. California vintners have been replicating Rhone style wines for decades, South America has adopted the French varietal of Malbec and countries around the world are imitating Burgundian styled Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. With vast diversity in terroir, France is home to some of the most hospitable winegrowing locations on earth. The combination of topography, geology, climate, rainfall and even the amount of sunlight combined with the long historical tradition of winegrowing and making, has allowed the vintners of France to not only hone their skills, but learn from nature to create a product that like the world in which it resides… is very much alive. |
| Subregion | Saint Estephe |