2018 Château Phélan Ségur | Release 2024

Aromas of blackcurrants, spice and flowers follow through to a medium body with fine tannins and a delicious, savory finish. So lovely to drink now, but will improve nicely with age. Very refined and balanced. Try after 2022. (01/2021)

The flagship 2018 Château Phélan Ségur is a beauty based on 57% Cabernet Sauvignon and 43% Merlot. This was a great vintage for the Médoc, and the 2018 reveals a dense purple hue to go with powerful notes of blackcurrants, iron, smoked tobacco, chocolate, and earth. Rich, full-bodied, and concentrated, it has beautiful tannins, remarkable purity of fruit, and just does everything right. It has some up-front appeal today (no doubt due to the high Merlot content), yet it builds with time in the glass and shows more and more structure with air. It deserves 5-6 years of bottle age and will keep for 20-25. It's every bit as good as the 2016, if not better. (11/2021)

The 2018 Phelan Segur is deep garnet-purple in color. It leaps with scents of fresh blackcurrants, warm plums, and clove oil, plus suggestions of pencil lead, cedar, and wild sage, with a waft of crushed rocks. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has sturdy, grainy tannins and a lively line supporting muscular black fruits, finishing with an herbal lift. (02/2023)