On Sale: $99.94 (was: $119.94)*
Rauzan Segla has been one of the best buys in top tier Margaux recently, as this formerly underperforming second growth has done a complete about face, and is now challenging the supremacy of Chateau Margaux and Palmer within the appellation. There’s no better vintage to stock up on than this perfectly stored 2011, as it was a real overachiever in the vintage, and is now entering its prime years. Per Robert Parker, this 2011 possesses a “nobility, complexity and richness...that could be mistaken for a first-growth.”
John Kolasa (formerly of Chateau Latour) was brought over to help rejuvenate the 360 year old estate back in the '90s, and by the mid 2000s it was rapidly becoming the sleeper hit of Margaux. It shouldn’t be a surprise either, given it is right across the street from Palmer, and down the ‘block’ from Margaux. This vintage really showed the more joyful side of Margaux, “so elegant and refined” (Vinous) with typical floral quality of the AOC. The 2011 vintage put many producers on their back foot, but Rauzan Segla knocked it out of the park. For Bordeaux expert The Wine Cellar Insider, their grand vin would be “a nice wine in any vintage, but it's a true accomplishment in 2011.” Cheers to that!
94 points & Cellar Selection, Wine Enthusiast: "This is typical of the ripe and opulent style of this property with superripe black currant fruit. It's concentrated in flavor, but also structured with smooth tannins. It's a wine both for short-term fruitiness and long-term power and density."
93 points, Robert Parker: "The grand vin, the 2011 Rauzan Segla, is a beauty. Aromas of spring flowers, graphite, creme de cassis and kirsch jump from the glass of this dense purple-colored 2011. Lots of nobility, complexity and richness characterize a wine that could be mistaken for a first-growth in 2011. This medium to full-bodied, concentrated, gorgeously pure, well-balanced beauty should be forgotten for 2-4 years and drunk over the following 15-20. Kudos to administrator John Kolasa and his team."
*Offer publication date September 1, 2021. Pricing and availability subject to change.