Bordeaux 2016: the best of Saint Estèphe?

Third growth Calon Ségur had the trade’s attention yesterday morning, but did the “best Saint-Estèphe” of the vintage make waves?

Released on 31 May at €62.40 a bottle ex-négociant, the 2016 Calon Ségur is on track to be the best rated wine from the estate of the last 10 vintages at least.

At £760 a dozen, it is one of the more expensive wines of the last decade as well, with only the 2005, 2009 and 2010 costing more.

On the other hand, the 2016 has a Wine Advocate score of 95-97, which is superior to the 94-points those three vintages boast. The critic there, Neal Martin, said the 2016 effort was a “serious step-up” from the 2015 and was, “easily the best Calon Ségur that I have tasted from barrel.”

Antonio Galloni meanwhile rated it 94-97 and said it was the, “best Saint-Estèphe of the vintage” and Jancis Robinson MW praised the complexity coming from the old vines. Saint Estèphe certainly had a strong vintage as a commune in 2016 and ‘best’ is always a tricky word to bestow on just one wine, especially as many seem to have placed Montrose and Cos d’Estournel in that position instead.

Since being bought by Suravenir Assurances in 2012 though, the estate has been working on the consistency of its output but it has also been repositioning with higher prices en primeur.

Previously it was the sort of wine merchants would tag as ‘good value’ if it came out at less than £500 a case. This year Liv-ex’s global members, perhaps a little hopefully, put it in that category but it cost £560 a case for the 2015 and prices were never going to come down after its good critical reception. And at £760 a case so it proved not to be.

On the other hand, that does not mean it is not a good buy or sold badly. Indeed, considering its score and price in relation to its recent back vintages it looks pretty good, a “tempting buy,” as was noted on Wine Lister.

Buyers clearly agreed. Tom Jenkins, Bordeaux buyer at Juserini & Brooks, told the drinks business that it, “worked really well – we have sold out already.”

“It was priced correctly so it flew,” said Goedhuis’ Georgina Crawley who added the rejoinder that “very little” had been released.

As ever, anticipating what will do well en primeur doesn’t always boil down solely to price.