Château Calon Ségur 2000

Tasting characteristics and advice for Château Calon Ségur 2000

Tasting

Color
A deep ruby-red hue with garnet highlights dresses this wine, reflecting its fine evolution after more than two decades of aging. The visual intensity remains remarkable, with slight development at the rim, a sign of harmonious maturation.

Nose
The bouquet is complex and captivating, requiring one to two hours of aeration to fully unfurl. It reveals aromas of ripe black fruits—particularly blackcurrant and black cherry—alongside notes of fresh red fruit. With time, secondary nuances emerge: tobacco, cigar box, cedar, and graphite. Tertiary touches of truffle, dried leaves, and fresh herbs add an extra dimension to this sophisticated bouquet.

Palate
This wine offers a medium- to full-bodied profile, structured by firm tannins that have softened considerably over time. The attack unveils black-fruit flavors wrapped in tobacco, supported by remarkable acidity that brings freshness and balance. The mid-palate develops notes of bitter cherry through to a persistent finish, leaving an impression of bitter cherry, minerality, and subtly toasty notes.

Food and wine pairings

Château Calon Ségur 2000 pairs perfectly with grilled or roasted red meats, notably a rack of lamb or a rib of beef. It also elegantly accompanies a boeuf bourguignon or coq au vin. Mushroom-based dishes, particularly Bordeaux porcini, create a remarkable harmony with the wine’s forest-floor notes. Black truffle dishes—whether meats or truffled potato gratins—also find an ideal match with this vintage.

Serving and cellaring

Château Calon Ségur 2000 is best enjoyed at a temperature between 15 and 17°C. Decanting for one to two hours is recommended to allow the bouquet to open fully and to remove any potential sediment. This wine can be enjoyed now, having reached its first plateau of maturity, and will continue to evolve favorably until around 2040, or even beyond for perfectly stored bottles.

An outstanding Saint-Estèphe from the legendary 2000 vintage

The estate

Calon was the name given to the boat used in the Middle Ages to transport wood from one bank of the Garonne to the other. And at the beginning of the 18th century, the Marquis de Ségur who received the estate on the occasion of his marriage, added his name to it, and thus was born the label of this Third Classified Growth of Saint-Estèphe.

The Château Calon Ségur remained in the Capbern-Gasqueton family throughout the 19th century, until 2012, when the estate was acquired by Suravenir Assurances, which continues to craft wines with an inimitable style bearing the hallmark of the appellation.

Château Calon Ségur also became famous for the label adorning the estate’s bottles. Since the 18th century, the heart has in fact been the symbol of the property, paying tribute to this phrase by the Marquis de Ségur: « I make wine at Lafite and at Latour, but my heart is at Calon ». For nearly three centuries, lovers of Château Calon Ségur have remained faithful to this iconic estate of the appellation.

The vineyard

The Château Calon Ségur vineyard covers 55 hectares at the extreme northern end of the Saint-Estèphe appellation, making it the northernmost classified growth in the Médoc. Entirely enclosed by a stone wall built in the 18th century, the estate benefits from an exceptional terroir of deep gravel topsoils over a subsoil of clay and marl. This unique combination of blue, yellow, and black clay gives the wine its distinctive minerality and remarkable aging potential.

The vintage

The 2000 vintage is considered legendary in Bordeaux. After a challenging start to the year marked by strong downy mildew pressure in spring and a cool, wet July, a high-pressure system settled in at the end of July, bringing warm, dry conditions through to harvest. This spell of dryness and heat allowed grape skins to thicken and phenolic ripeness to reach exceptional levels. Harvest took place in ideal conditions in September and early October, producing grapes of remarkable maturity with good sugar levels and balanced acidity.

Vinification and aging

Vinification of Château Calon Ségur 2000 took place in temperature-controlled enameled steel tanks over three weeks. The wine was then aged in French oak barrels for 18 to 20 months, with 40 to 50% new oak. This extended aging period allowed the wine to develop its complexity while harmoniously integrating the oak’s contribution. The wine was fined with egg whites according to the traditional method before bottling.