Harvest at Château Phélan Ségur

Monday 18 September saw the first snip of the secateurs on our plots of Merlot. A week later, we picked our Petit Verdot in glorious sunshine and summer-like temperatures. We then took a break to allow our great, late-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon to reach perfect maturity. The last grapes were brought in on 11 October. A total of 17 days of harvesting (the longest on record at the estate) were needed to pick our 70 hectares. A fi ne crop, and finally a generous one!

For the fourth year running, we have used the indigenous selected plot yeasts of the vintage to vinify plots with a “strong temperament”. For the first year, this involves all four of our grape varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. These plots represent two-thirds of our production. It’s all a question of identity. To express our terroir and the personality of the vintage as closely as possible, it seemed obvious to us that vinifying our grapes with their own yeasts would bring precision, purity and brilliance: a real “boost to the soul” of our wines.

Running-off the wine from the skins started with the Merlot on 16 October. The Merlot is concentrated, smooth and elegant, with verywell-balanced flavours and plenty of volume. The Cabernet Sauvignon promises to be intense, with lovely freshness and finely sculpted tannins of great precision and finesse. As for the Cabernet Franc, it has a lovely floral nose and discreet spicy notes. This grape variety expresses all the elegance of the vintage. Lastly, our Petit Verdot, planted in 2013, has reached the phase of “maturity”. It suggests subtle aromas of blackcurrant, blueberry and violet, and has gained in tannic structure!