Andrew Jefford | Dark, deep black-red and still opaque at the core. Wonderful blackcurrants here, to the extent that we might even call them cassis, since they are fragrant and creamy-sweet, as a liqueur might be. Lifted and enchanting. Full, deep, and exciting, with plunging, searching fruits (sour damson and sloe as well as blackcurrant) and plenty of tannin flavors, as well as textures. Any inner sweetness and fat? Almost but not quite—it is still very much of its vintage; indeed, its sibling Capbern has a slightly sweeter style of fruit for me. This is always going to be a very stern Calon-Ségur, but it will pace through a decade with no difficulty, and those who love the severity and rigor of St-Estèphe will find it memorably captured here. | 93

Michael Schuster | Dense, backward, and aromatic to smell, also surprisingly blackcurrant-ripe; medium-full, fairly concentrated wine, firm and (oakily?) tannic, a very long-term constitution—though I think the fruit will triumph over the tannin in the long term. At the heart of this severe frame though, is a ripe, complex fruit, long to taste and long to finish. Difficult to determine quite when it will be “ready” but a refined reward will be there for the patient, I guess. 2030–40+. | 91