Why this vintage
- 94/100 from James Sucklingand 5 other scores above 90/100.
- The 2021 vintage in Saint-EstèpheFrost, mildew, then a cool summer brought back Bordeaux of old: taut, vibrant wines, shorter but elegant.
Critic scores
- James Suckling94
- Wine Advocate92-93
- Decanter93
- Vinous92
- Jeb Dunnuck92
- Wine Spectator91
The 2021 vintage in Saint-Estèphe
Vintage benchmark: 86/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)
Vintage character: Frost, mildew, then a cool summer brought back Bordeaux of old: taut, vibrant wines, shorter but elegant.
Overall reading of the year’s season across Saint-Estèphe. An estate can depart from it sharply, in frost or hail years, where two neighbours did not make the same vintage. What this particular wine actually gave is on its technical sheet and in the scores above.
Tasting
The 2021 vintage has a ruby red colour with purple reflections. The nose fascinates, with its intensity and complexity. Notes of juicy red fruits, spices and the intoxicating fragrance of old roses, alternating endlessly. Perfectly timed on the palate, dazzling and with great refinement. The density and concentration are there. The tension, taste and delicacy of the tannins are the mark of Phélan Ségur in its most timeless style.
Blend of the 2021 vintage
- 75 % Cabernet Sauvignon
- 21 % Merlot
- 4 % Petit Verdot
Shares for this vintage, as recorded on the 2021 technical sheet. The vineyard itself is planted with 58 % cabernet sauvignon, 39 % merlot, 1.5 % cabernet franc, 1.5 % petit verdot — a vintage blend departs from the area under vine as the year dictates.
Figures from the 2021 sheet
- 13.5 % vol.Alcohol
- 35 yrsVine age
Winemaking
Harvest: from September 29 to October 13. The Merlot harvest began on 29 September. The yields were desperately low. This was followed by the Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot and then the early plots of Cabernet Sauvignon. We took the gamble to interrupt the harvest, which turned out to be the right choice, to allow our great Cabernet Sauvignon to ripen to the required phenolic maturity in beautiful sunshine and with a drying north wind.
Terroir
The terroir of Phélan Ségur, in the eastern part of the commune of Saint-Estèphe bordering the estuary, is made up of gravelly alluvium deposited when the Garonne was a torrential river 650,000 years ago. It consists of pebbles and above all of gravel coated in clayey sands. The varying thickness of these deposits is readily apparent, since it is what determines the rolling landscape of much of the Saint-Estèphe area. The alluvial layers rest on a marine formation of limestone dating from the period when the tip of the Médoc, close to the ocean, lay beneath the sea.
An offer on Château Phélan Ségur 2021
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Texts and documents 2021
The texts below copy in one click for your product sheets, catalogues and social channels. The printable sheet condenses the whole page onto a single A4 page.
Visuals
This wine’s visuals are grouped in the media library. High-definition packshots, labels, back labels and lifestyle photos are reserved for clients and partners, on the Compagnie Médocaine’s VinCod media library.
Sheet checked on September 28, 2026. Technical data: the estate’s VinCod sheets. Critic scores: sources cited above, with their date. Vintage benchmarks and character: Compagnie Médocaine’s own editorial read. Soils and relief, where shown: the Compagnie Médocaine’s parcel survey and the Mapbox/IGN terrain model.