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Rauzan Ségla 2015

RegionBordeaux
Subregion France > Bordeaux > Left Bank > Margaux
ColourRed
TypeStill
Grape VarietyCabernet Sauvignon/Merlot

View all vintages of this wine | View all wines by Château Rauzan-Segla

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Tasting Notes

The 2015 Rauzan-Ségla has a very pure, charming bouquet of macerated dark cherries, blueberry and vanilla aromas; subtle violet and iris scents blossom with aeration in the glass. Quintessential Rauzan-Ségla. The clean, precise, medium-bodied palate offers supple tannin, a fine bead of acidity and a tightly wound but quite persistent finish. It feels more primal than its peers but there is huge potential here, testament to a château that is "going places." Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting.

95
Neal Martin, vinous.com, July 2019

Extremely aromatic with dried flowers, perfumed and sandalwood and blackcurrants. Full body, ultra-fine tannins, a gorgeous core of ripe fruit and blackcurrants and blueberries. Racy and very long. So impressive. This needs four or five years to come around but already so fine.

97
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, February 2018

The 2015 Rauzan-Segla is medium to deep garnet colored. It prances out with gregarious notes of redcurrant jelly, kirsch, and blackcurrant cordial, plus hints of rose oil and cloves with a waft of tree bark. The medium to full-bodied palate is chock full of fragrant red and black fruits, supported by plush, fine-grained tannins and beautiful freshness, finishing with fantastic length.

97
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Independent, November 2022

Packed full of blackberry, redcurrant, creme de cassis, chocolate shavings, slate, tar, supple yet muscular texture to the tannins, this tugs you back in, taking its time as it slowly unrolls. Great stuff, still a little subdued aromatically but has the texture and the grip to ensure decades of life. 65% new oak, 40hl/h yield, harvest September 10 to October 9. First year with Nicolas Audebert as director, taking over from John Kolasa.

97
Jane Anson, JaneAnson.com, March 2023

Tasted blind. Savoury, fresh with Oxo meat-extract notes. Rather hard on the end but probably trying not to be too sweet. Lovely texture and freshness. Leathery texture on the end. Just slightly sickly.
Drink 2024-2044

17.5
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com, February 2019

Now comfortably established in the super-second league. Huge efforts have been made by owners Chanel to make great wine at Rauzan, with production of the first wine only around half of the total harvest. The rest is used for their excellent second wine - Ségla. The 70 hectare vineyard is planted with 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot with a touch of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. In our view this 2nd growth is consistently the top wine of the appellation after Palmer and Chateau Margaux itself - and it is frequently the winner of the Margaux appellation in our blind tastings. This is the first vintage for new winemaker Nicolas Audebert who comes to Bordeaux following stints at Krug and making Cheval des Andes for LVMH in South America. The 2015 was produced from a blend of 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot with 1% Cabernet Franc. It will spend 18 months in oak - 65% of which are new barrels. Deep colour with a very perfumed, exotic nose of spring flowers and blackcurrant. The palate is silky, fleshy and soft with real polish to the floral black fruit core. There is sweetness of vanilla and new oak char and a touch of brown sugar to elevate the complexity further. This is a long and refined, elegant wine that maintains perfect poise on the finish.

95+
Farr Vintners, March 2016

I loved the 2015 Rauzan-Segla and it’s another sensational Margaux and is another data point showing Margaux was the most successful appellation in the Médoc. Deep purple/ruby-hued with an elegant perfume of currants, raspberries, dried flowers, and toasted spices, with ample background oak, this full-bodied, incredibly elegance, pure Margaux has sweet tannin, impressive mid-palate depth, and a great finish. It has awesome purity of fruit and promises to evolve for 30+ years. 2018 - 2048

95+
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com, November 2017

Sweet and ripe on the nose depth of flavour the palate has a rich mix of cassis and black cherry all backed by dark chocolate. Mid suppleness fleshy and velvety yet there is balance with fresh fruit at the back purity a mineral edge the finish sweet with rich fruit.

90/94
Derek Smedley MW, DerekSmedleyMW.co.uk, April 2016

A delicious wine from this good value château, which has touched new peaks in recent vintages. Scented, balanced and very pure, with plum and cassis fruit, stylish oak and the tannic structure to age further in bottle. One of the wines of the appellation. Drink: 2022-32

94
Tim Atkin MW, timatkin.com, April 2016

Powerful, structured and with considerable power and weight this is quite an arresting wine and it needs time to work itself out. Rather closed and oaky and also too introspective to shake any sense out of it in the glass this wine is a conundrum, but given recent successes I can imagine it unravelling on cue and softening nicely hence my seemingly generous score.

18+
Matthew Jukes, Matthew Jukes' Blog, April 2016
Read more tasting notes...

The 2015 Rauzan-Segla (Rausan-Segla) was a magnificent wine out of barrel, but what matters, of course, is how you and I find this Margaux in bottle. Well, it has a disarmingly beautiful, almost haunting bouquet with pure black fruit laced with cedar, orange blossom and violet aromas that blossom in the glass. I cannot recollect a Rauzan-Segla as delineated as this. The palate is medium-bodied but with ripe, quite bold tannin that lends this wine much more volume than in previous vintages. This just fills the mouth and satiates the senses. There is a fine line of acidity here and tints of black truffle. There is a wondrous mineral tension on the finish and yet this is a Margaux that is determined and succeeds in satiating all the senses...apart from sound. So put your favorite musician on and savor this exceptional wine over the coming years. A benchmark. Anticipated maturity: 2021 - 2060.

97
Neal Martin, March 2018

The 2015 Rauzan-Ségla, picked September 10 to October 9, has a lucid deep colour. No great surprise that this performed exactly as it did a few weeks earlier. The bouquet bursts from the glass with fragrant red berry fruit, crushed violets and iris, almost penetrating in its intensity. You can feel the energy coiled up inside this nascent Margaux. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin. This has such a backbone and structure, layers of sappy black fruit suffused with crushed stone, a seam of graphite that lends it a Pauillac-like allure. It feels very long and intense, a Rauzan-Ségla destined to last decades rather than years. Tasted at the Rauzan-Ségla vertical at the château.

96
Neal Martin, vinous.com, April 2019

The 2015 Rauzan-Segla is a blend of 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc cropped at 40 hl/ha between 10 September with the young Merlot vines and finishing with the Cabernet Sauvignon, which was picked between 22 September and 9 October. It is matured in 65% new oak for around 18 months. It has a very intense, almost crystalline bouquet with blackberry, briary, flint and just a touch of violet petal. There is incredible delineation here and the new wood is seamlessly integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with extremely fine tannin, perfectly judged acidity, otherworldly purity and a mineralité rarely seen in this Margaux estate. This is a brilliant Rauzan-Ségla, not necessarily more powerful than previous vintages, though enhanced by its precision, frisson and energy, perhaps longer on the finish. Winemaker Nicolas Audebert has conspired with the benevolent growing season to produce a benchmark wine for the estate. Drink 2027-2060.

96/98
Neal Martin, Wine Advocate (224), April 2016

This is so sexy with superbly polished tannins that gives the wine super length and definition. Compacted and tight. Full body, tight yet flamboyant at the same time. Loving it.

97/98
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, March 2016

The 2015 Rauzan-Segla (Rausan-Segla) is a blend of 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc and was matured in 65% new and 35% one-year-old barrels for 18 months. Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, it gives up a myriad of softly spoken fresh berry, floral and fragrant earth notes, including crushed red and black currants, black raspberries and menthol notes with touches of cigar box, lavender, violets, smoked meats, black truffles and chargrill. Medium to full-bodied with a firm frame of very finely grained tannins and seamless freshness, the palate possesses an arresting quiet intensity of many tightly wound, subtle layers, finishing on a lingering mineral note. Very polished and precise, this Rauzan-Ségla is truly a triumph! 2024 - 2047

97
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate (Interim Fe), February 2018

Bright lustrous crimson. Very carefully made with real vitality. Fresh and much more lifted than most. Long with a wonderful undertow. Already quite complex. No rough edges.
Drink 2023-2040

17.5+
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com, November 2017

Very dark. This is turbo Margaux! By which I don’t mean that it's forced but it has extraordinary concentration and impact. Very much set for the long term. Juicy and chock full of fruit that almost disguises the tannin. Amazing persistence.

17.5+
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com, April 2016
Please note that these tasting notes/scores are not intended to be exhaustive and in some cases they may not be the most recently published figures. However, we always do our best to add latest scores and reviews when these come to our attention. We advise customers who wish to purchase wines based simply on critical reviews to carry out further research into the latest reports.