Chateau Calon-Segur Grand Cru Classe Saint-Estephe 2000 (750 ml)

Tasted from an ex-château bottle at BI Wine & Spirits Calon-Segur dinner in London. The 2000 Calon Segur is one of those wines that reminds you how great the millennial vintage could be. Now at fifteen years old, it has a brilliant, vivacious red berry nose infused with ash and cigar box aromas. The detail here is a beguiling and it just "sings" Saint Estèphe. The palate is medium-bodied with dense, firm tannin that provide a rigid backbone, but it is swathed in copious tobacco-drenched black fruit and a superb line of acidity. It finishes with a twist of bitter cherry on the finish that completes what is a deeply impressive Calon-Ségur; it might just outclass the 2005. Tasted March 2015.

94 points from Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate

On this superb Saint-Estèphe terroir, power is a given. There’s no need to add any more. The cellarmaster’s job is to preserve the softness in the tannins, the freshness of flavour and the natural character in the aromas. In short, he must respect the raw material picked from the vines. The wine is aged in new oak barrels for 18 to 20 months. Fining with natural egg whites was reintroduced a few years ago. The Grand Vin of Calon Ségur is the mirror image of its terroir: rare, authentic, moving. With great ease, it reveals both lovely softness and amazing intensity. All the magic of Calon is in this balance.