2022 Rauzan Segla
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Tasting notes
The team at Rauzan-Ségla started picking on 2nd September in 2022, their earliest harvest to date. With the generous fruit, they found that oak worked less well, so the 2022 is only seeing 50% new wood for its 18-month élevage. The nose has floral lift and perfume with lush, high-toned fruit – crunchy blackcurrant. There’s such vibrancy to the fruit, with chalky, almost gravelly tannins, with a graphite minerality, floral freshness. It’s round, with a supple texture, yet beautiful tension. As Jean-Basile Roland said, it has “a self-confident power”. A huge success this year. Blend: 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot and 2% Petit Verdot
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
William Kelley, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The 2022 Rauzan Ségla has a complex bouquet, a mixture of red and black fruit, touches of violet and light Earl Grey, almost ash-like aromas, very engaging in style. The palate is medium-bodied with sapid black fruit, just a light touch of wild mint and fennel. Quite minerally in style, there is a liberal sprinkling of white pepper on the finish. Excellent. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting in London.
The 2022 Rauzan-Ségla is showing well in bottle, unfurling in the glass with aromas of dark berries and cherries mingled with licorice, burning embers and pencil shavings. Medium to full-bodied, ample and velvety, it's suave and seamless, with its dense core of fruit framed by powdery structuring tannins that lend a more evident backbone than it exhibited en primeur. As readers may remember, the 2022 is a blend of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot and 2% Petit Verdot; and in 2022, the east-facing sides of the vines, which see the afternoon sun, were picked separately, along with anything that showed signs of stress.
The flagship 2022 Château Rauzan-Ségla checks in as 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, and the balance Petit Verdot, all aged 18 months in 50% new French oak. It's much more focused and precise compared to the second wine and has brilliant aromatics of crème de cassis, crushed violets, graphite, and smoky oak. Gorgeously concentrated and full-bodied, with riveting purity and precision, this stunning Margaux has ripe yet building tannins, a terrific mid-palate, and flawless overall balance. I love it today yet 7-8 years of cellar are warranted and it will cruise over the following 3-4 decades in cold cellars. It's another sensational wine from this estate.
About the producer
The Chanel group purchased Margaux Second Growth Ch. Rauzan-Ségla in 1994. Under the iconic fashion house’s ownership and – since 2014 – the guidance of winemaker Nicolas Audebert, the estate has seen significant investment and rapidly become one of Bordeaux’s most desirable.