Château Calon Ségur Saint Estèphe 2019

As to the Grand Vin, the 2019 Château Calon Ségur checks in as 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Petit Verdot, brought up in new barrels. This full-bodied, spicy, complex, decadent beauty has building, polished tannins, terrific overall balance, and incredible aromatics of spiced red and black currants, lead pencil, cedary herbs, smoked tobacco, and flowery incense. Complex, ripe, and even sexy, it will need just 4-6 years to hit the early stages of its drink window and is going to cruise for 30 years if properly stored. It's another brilliant wine from this estate.

The 2019 Calon-Ségur, bottled in July 2021, has an alluring, very floral bouquet, the earlier crushed violet scents seemingly accentuated during the élevage. The palate is pure and poised, the fruit a little darker/blacker than I recall, and quite mineral-driven. There's lovely acidity and precision here, and a touch of spice toward the harmonious finish. This is a superb wine from Vincent Millet and his team.

Dark, firm with great intensity and rich fruits, this is a powerful wine. Its richness is opened up by the succulent acidity and fine freshness coming from the fruit. Together, the elements work well, power and fruit in harmony. Drink the wine from 2027.

Really packed, with dark currant, warmed fig compote and steeped blackberry notes tumbling together, harnessed by a bolt of cast iron. Delivers singed cedar, bay leaf and tobacco accents as well as a late tug of warm earth in the background, ending with a throwback feel. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Best from 2024 through 2040.

Vincent Millet (who can boast a doctorate in wine microbiology and who took up his post as Calon's technical director after a stint at Chateau Margaux) is doing everything right in terms of restructuring the estate's somewhat neglected vineyards with massal selections, higher density plantings, cover crops and precision viticulture. He's also cleaned up and modernized the winery. The 2019 Calon-Segur shows the impact of some of those changes already, offering up a rich bouquet of creme de cassis, licorice, warm spices and subtle hints of cigar box, followed by a full-bodied, broad and fleshy palate that's deep and concentrated, with lively acids and beautifully refined tannins. All this is very impressive, but the fly in the ointment is an alcohol level that flirts with 15% and makes itself felt on the warm, liqueured finish. Balance isn't a matter of mere numbers, of course, but despite its admirable qualities and the serious work behind it, I do have reservations about this wine's ultimate equilibrium. Time will tell. The good news is that Millet is actively exploring viticultural strategies to mitigate high alcohol levels. 93?