Alcohol: 13.5 %
Grape(s): Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot
Location: Saint-Estèphe AOC, Bordeaux, France
Tasting Notes: Deep garnet-purple. Leaps from the glass with fresh blackcurrant, warm plum and clove oil, over pencil lead, graphite and a saline Saint-Estèphe undertone. Full-bodied, rich and concentrated — riper and fleshier than cooler-vintage Saint-Estèphes — with a deep core of dark fruit, firm but ripe tannins and a long, fresh, mineral finish (92 pts Vinous). Drinking well now with a decant; it will hit its stride from 2028 and keep through the mid-2030s.
Notes: The 2018 blends roughly half Cabernet Sauvignon with a large share of Merlot and touches of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, from the estate’s gravel-over-clay vineyards beside Lafite and Cos d’Estournel. Aged 12-14 months in French oak, sustainable farming throughout. The warm 2018 vintage gave structured, concentrated reds on the northern Médoc’s clay soils.
Food Pairing: Excellent with rib of beef, braised short ribs, roast lamb, game birds, and aged Comté or Bleu d’Auvergne.
Winery Story: Château Phélan Ségur is Saint-Estèphe’s great Irish success story — founded in the early 1800s by Bernard Phelan, a merchant from Tipperary, and named for his son Frank (its second wine still honors him). After half a century under the Gardinier family, the estate passed to new stewardship in 2018, and critics have watched its rise ever since; it reaches the US through importer Monsieur Touton.
