Château Phélan-Ségur Retrospective, 2011
The rain was beating down heavily as I ran back to my hire car. I was en route to Phélan-Ségur, but could not resist the urge to pull over in order to take a few photographs of the imposing château I had just passed on the outskirts of Pez, one of several little hamlets that encircle St Estèphe, like miniature moons around a planet. It seemed to me that the moment I had stepped out of my car the intensity of the rainfall had been turned up a notch, but now back inside my car it was obvious that what had once been little more than a grey drizzle was now bashing the windscreen with some ferocity. I checked my mirror and pulled away, the windscreen wipers doing little to improve visibility, and I now inched my way towards my destination.
A minute or two later I pulled into the gate at Château Phélan-Ségur, and picking up on the little signpost for the bureau I pointed my little hire car, its waspish engine buzzing away, in the requisite direction. Strangely this ran downhill, seemingly away from the château which was now coming into view on my left. Indeed, the road curved round in a huge arc some distance from the property, and it soon became apparent why. Some examples of architecture or sculpture are best viewed from a certain aspect, or from a certain distance. And here at the apex of the curve, looking up the grass slope, was the perfect spot with which to appreciate this very fine château.
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