Château Calon-Ségur: History
Like its near neighbour Château Phélan-Ségur, Calon-Ségur was once part of the great Ségur estate, a substantial domaine which at one time or another encompassed not only Lafite but also Latour and Mouton. But this was in the 18th century, by which point Calon was already ancient, having been in existence for at least five hundred years, since the time of the fiefdom of the Lords of Lesparre.
But Calon may be even more ancient. Much earlier than this, the high mound of gravel on which Calon sits was the site of a Gallo-Roman port (fitting, as the etymology of Calon relates to water and stone), sited upon the network of channels and marshes that weaved their way around the higher ground. These channels connected the inner land of the Médoc with the waters of the Gironde estuary. Boats could come inland at St Estèphe and dock at Calon, or at other points dotted around the watery network, such as at Tour des Termes (which literally translates as Land’s End).
Some historians have postulated that the land bordering these bays and marshes were the site of Noviamagus, an ancient Gallo-Roman settlement on the Médoc, the location of which has been lost to time. It may well have been, as evidenced by significant archaeological finds nearby, including an ancient site at nearby Brion. Here there was a huge amphitheatre with seats for 2,000 people, as large as that found in the city of Burdigala – modern-day Bordeaux – to the south. This was no rural backwater, but was surely a large and thriving settlement, served by the port at Calon.
There is no evidence that there was viticulture here at this time though, unlike other parts of the Gallo-Roman landscape.
The earliest Medieval evidence relating to the modern-day Calon-Ségur comes in 1157, when there lived a Monseigneur de Calon, a Bishop of Poitiers. This admittedly seems a rather vague and tenuous piece of evidence; there may have been another Calon from whence he came. The evidence becomes a little more robust with the further passing of time. The Gombard family held tenure here for at least three generations during the 14th century, the property then passing to the de Pomés and then the d’Albret families. Alain d’Albret gave the land to Jéhan de Lur in 1481, before it passed through the ownership of Pierre de Marsan to Jean de Gasq.
It was not until the early years of the 18th century that the much celebrated Prince des Vignes, Nicolas-Alexandre de Ségur (1697 – 1755), acquired the property, following his marriage to a Gasq heiress.
