Château Phélan Ségur

33180 Saint Estèphe


Tél. +33 (0)5 56 59 74 00

phelan@phelansegur.com

www.phelansegur.com

Château Phélan Ségur, great wine from Saint-Estèphe

Find out all about Château Phélan Ségur, Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel in the Saint-Estèphe appellation 

The estate is historically Irish, having been founded by Bernard Phélan (an Irishman by birth). It was his son, Franck Phélan (who gave his name to the property's second wine), who significantly developed the cru, making it a benchmark in the Saint-Estèphe appellation since the 19th century. Classified as an exceptional Cru Bourgeois in 1932, a status and position it has maintained ever since, Phélan Ségur underwent significant development under the ownership of the Gardinier family (owners of luxury hotels and the famous Legrand cellars in Paris). In 2018, the vineyard changed hands and Philippe Van de Vyvere, a Belgian entrepreneur and Bordeaux enthusiast, is now the proud owner. Working alongside Véronique Dausse, the estate's emblematic director for many years, the new owner's ambition is to perpetuate the estate's achievements, while accentuating the precision of the wines and integrating the estate even further into environmental issues.

Phélan Segur: originally an Irish signature.

Perched on the heights of the prestigious Saint-Estèphe appellation, facing the Gironde estuary - which provides oxygen and a beneficial micro-climate - Phélan Ségur is a cru with a fine pedigree. The first significant viticultural steps of this elegant neo-classical estate were taken at the end of the 18th century, when a young Irishman and wine broker, Bernard O'Phelan, decided to settle in Bordeaux in 1785. Motivated to produce his own wines, he succeeded in acquiring, with the support of his father-in-law Daniel Guestier (a leading Bordeaux wine merchant), two properties: “Clos de Garramey” in 1805 and, five years later, Domaine Ségur de Cabanac. On Bernard O'Phelan's death in 1841, the estate passed to his son, Franck Phelan. Irish but Médoc by heart, Franck Phelan was to become fully involved in local life - he was mayor of Saint-Estèphe for thirty years - devoting his life to raising the reputation and quality of the estate's wines ever higher. In 1841, Franck united the two properties, Château Ségur de Garramey and Clos de Garramey, to form a single entity: Château Phélan Ségur. Franck Phélan was a charismatic owner, rigorous and passionate about his land right up until his death.

The property would later become the jewel in the crown of the Delon de Ségur-Cabanac family. More than a century and a half later, the château and its vineyards have once again been restored to their former glory, allowing the intrinsic qualities of these 70 hectares of vines, strongly marked by the presence of Cabernet, to express themselves.

The 20th century as a new turning point with the Gardinier and Van de Vyvere families.

When the Gardinier family - owners of luxury hotels and the famous Caves Legrand in Paris - sold their Pommery and Lanson champagnes in 1979, they fell in love with Phélan Ségur. In 1985, they bought it from the Delon de Ségur-Cabanac family. Xavier Gardinier took the opportunity to sell some 20 hectares to his prestigious neighbor, Château Montrose. He and his three sons thus became the new guardians of this temple dedicated to wine. The family is highly committed to the personality of the vineyard, to finding the best way to sublimate the qualities of the best plots to produce racy Cabernet Sauvignon on the beautiful gravelly hilltops (on clayey subsoils) with which the property is endowed, benefiting from a micro-climate linked to the proximity of the Gironde estuary. Thierry Gardinier, one of Xavier's three sons (along with Laurent and Stéphane Gardinier), has achieved a great deal under his presidency, notably by putting the estate back on track alongside a talented new general manager, Véronique Dausse, who took up her post in 2010. Thierry Gardinier has also been a fervent advocate of the Crus Bourgeois classification system (in which Phélan Ségur also occupies a prominent place). These regulations, first introduced in 1932, have gone through many ups and downs over the years as the classification has been updated (for it is not as inert as the imperial classification of 1855), particularly when regulations from Brussels, and therefore the European Union, get involved. On the property side, and with the support of a dynamic team, Thierry Gardinier has long watched over the well-being of this renowned cru, hiring oenologist Michel Rolland in 2006 and Véronique Dausse in 2010.

In January 2018, Phélan Ségur changed hands. A Belgian businessman with a background in port logistics bought the beautiful estate and its vineyard. Philippe Van de Vyvere, a true wine enthusiast who buys here out of conviction, not to play the role of a late-blooming gentleman farmer, intends to continue the efforts made over the years by the Gardinier family, while setting himself the goal of raising the already well-established reputation of Phélan Ségur even higher. The new owner was introduced to wine from an early age by his grandfather, a great connoisseur and collector of Bordeaux wines, as he himself admits.

A wine-growing environment conducive to greatness.

To fully understand the context of Château Phélan Ségur, and the potential of this estate, we need only point out that it's located on the heights of the appellation, in the village of Saint-Estèphe and a stone's throw from the Gironde estuary. But that's not enough. First and foremost, the estate and its vines are situated between two internationally renowned behemoths: Château Calon-Ségur (3rd Grand Cru Classé in 1855) and Château Montrose (2nd Grand Cru Classé in 1855). Such close proximity can naturally put pressure on you, but above all, it “gives you wings”. To want to be a challenger and to challenge oneself, to approach the well-established reputation of these two stars while remaining oneself, promoting a style of wine unique to Phélan Ségur.

The château's 70 hectares of vines overlook the Gironde estuary - a situation that protects them from harsh winters and sometimes scorching summers - and are divided into four large groups of plots or 4 “îlots”. The whole area, organized into hilltops and plateaus in the Saint-Estèphe appellation, constitutes a very fine terroir of clayey gravel for the parts closer to Calon-Ségur, and slightly sandier gravel for the areas near Château Montrose. As throughout the Médoc, planting densities are very high, and the grape varieties are unique to Phélan Ségur: 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot, 1.5% Cabernet Franc and 1.5% Petit Verdot. In the wines, Cabernet Sauvignon brings power and structure: its role is to build the wine, its backbone. Phélan Ségur also likes to use Petit Verdot (which it has been using since 2015) in its blends, bringing freshness and spicy notes. Generally speaking, the clayey gravels give Phélan Ségur its power, while the sandy gravels give it elegance.

Since the 90s, Phélan Ségur has also been practicing integrated farming to respect the soil and the environment, banning all pesticides in favor of the prophylactic method (reducing the use of phytosanitary products). The consumer will be all the more delighted. Stéphane Rougé, the vineyard manager, has studied the subsoils to best adapt the grape varieties and rootstocks. The vines are also worked and ploughed to avoid the use of weedkillers. On other plots, however, the choice of grass cover is favored, all to better regulate the vines and their natural vigor. Harvesting is carried out exclusively by hand and in crates, to respect the grapes and avoid crushing them in hoods. The grapes are sorted on site and then on a sorting table before being transferred to the vat house. Moreover, since 2011, Phélan Ségur has been using optical sorting at the end of the process, to ensure that only perfectly ripe grapes are retained for gentle crushing.

The vat-room and cellar approach.

As with any estate of this stature, tradition is often the ally of innovation. 39 temperature-controlled vats make up the vat room's arsenal, to which were added, in 2010, 8 vats of 45 hl to refine the specific expression of certain parcels. Under the watchful eye of Fabrice Bacquey (the in-house cellar master), vinification lasts around ten days and is punctuated by regular pumping-over, délestage or pigeage (punching down of the cap), totally adapted to each plot. As part of this parcel-by-parcel management, the wine is tasted daily - skin maceration lasts around twenty days, depending on the profile of each vintage - to help decide on the best date for run-off. The wine is then transferred to the cellar, where it perfects its style during around 12 months of ageing in new barrels and one-wine barrels (having already been used for the previous vintage).

The Phélan Ségur style of wine.

The Phélan Ségur terroir has worked wonders in the past, with vintages such as 1955, 1959, 1961, 1964, 1970, 1975, 1982, etc. But it has to be said that in the 2000s, the Gardinier family made a huge contribution to developing and sublimating the terroir - by restructuring the vineyard and seeking out the best grape ripeness - enabling us to produce even more consistent, chiselled and therefore higher-quality wines than in the earlier vintages mentioned. In 2010 and subsequent years, the wines have become ever more elegant and precise. As a result, Phélan Ségur is very much appreciated by critics, who often praise its remarkable value for money, while underlining its status as one of the Médoc's finest non-classified crus. It has to be said that the cru is improving every year, and this is visible in the glass. The wines bear the hallmark of Cabernet Sauvignon, giving them freshness, elegance, suavity, aromatic richness and, let's face it, a character as strong as that of the Saint-Estèphe wines found in the appellation. The appellation effect (style) and terroir have a lot to do with it. Blends vary from vintage to vintage, but remain stable enough to guarantee the originality of Phélan Ségur. For example, the blend is 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 50% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. The wines (while retaining their own signature) - and without exaggerating - are not far off those of neighboring Saint-Estèphe tenors such as Calon-Ségur, Cos d'Estournel and Montrose estates. In other words, the challenge is a fine one: to resemble them without apeing them.

To satisfy wine lovers all over the world who appreciate Left Bank wines, Phélan Ségur produces its grand vin, Château Phélan Ségur; a second wine launched in 1986, Franck Phélan (a tribute to one of its prestigious owners) and a “third wine”, more Merlot-oriented and more accessible earlier to consumers, La Croix Bonis.

Château Phélan Ségur 2022

Château Phélan Ségur 2022 is made from 56% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc. In this vintage, where the grapes are quite small (and therefore highly concentrated, but with a lower juice-release potential), the Merlot harvest begins on September 14th, followed by the Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, and ends with the Cabernet Sauvignon. Harvesting lasted from September 14 to September 26, making this a fairly rapid and short harvest, which is rare. All the plots reached maturity simultaneously: even rarer! The wine is a dark, almost inky color. The nose expresses itself with great clarity, with exuberant aromas of violet, blackcurrant and cedar (an aroma often found in the estate's wines like an indelible signature). Notes of mocha and spices follow. The palate, with its lively attack, has a noble structure, with well-extracted tannins that hint at a solid backbone and a definite wine weight. The whole is sheathed, velvety and deserves to melt further, but at this stage, it's all there. A solid, balanced, well-built wine, with plenty of freshness and an appreciable length on the palate. Time will do its work.

Franck Phélan 2022

This second wine was launched in 1986 and pays tribute to the son of the estate's first owner, Bernard Phélan. Although a second wine in the château's range, it is nonetheless a wine in its own right, since it comes from both old vines and a selection of vines less than 10 years old. The wine is usually one of the best representatives of the Médoc's second wines, and has also gained in confidence and precision year after year. The nose is very fresh, with a beautiful aromatic purity of black and red fruits, leaving a sensation of a breath of oxygen when you breathe it in. The fruit is generous, intense and greedy. The palate, which is not intended to have the depth and complexity of a great wine, is nonetheless elegant and silky.

Great vintages from Phélan Ségur:

1945-1947-1949-1953-1955-1959-1961-1970-1975-1978-1981-1982-1983-1985-1986-1988-1989-1990-1996-2000-2003-2005-2009-2010-2015-2016-2018-2019-2020-2022