Château Rauzan-Ségla Retrospective, 2015: Recent Vintages
As already noted the vineyard expansion seen in 2008 was the only one of note during the tenure of John Kolasa, and so in more recent vintages he has continued to work with the 60-plus hectares. Taking a quick look at these more recent vintages, 2011 was the topsy-turvy season, with a warm spring and autumn, but a cool summer, but overall the year was the warmest on record. There was therefore a very early harvest, the Merlot coming in between September 8th and the 18th, the Cabernets between September 19th and the 28th. The élevage was in 70% new oak, the blend 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot and 2% Petit Verdot. The 2011 Château Rauzan-Ségla is a good wine, but it is the lesser of the two when it is stacked up against the following vintage. The 2012 growing season saw horses return to the Rauzan-Ségla vineyards for the first time in many years, with two full-time shire horses named Titus and Lionel. It was rather a cool season and a late vintage, with the picking of the Merlot running from September 27th to October 11th, and the Cabernets from October 8th to the 20th. Once again the wine was deemed big enough for 70% new oak, and the blend for the 2012 Château Rauzan-Ségla was 54.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Merlot and 1.5% Petit Verdot.
This finishes my rundown of finished wines, but my notes below conclude with the two wines from 2013 and 2014. The 2013 Château Rauzan-Ségla is a decent effort for the vintage, while the 2014 Château Rauzan-Ségla is impressive, with plenty of promise, and it may ultimately warrant a higher score than that I have given below. Further words are probably unnecessary though, as both wines have already been described in detail in my recent 2013 Bordeaux and 2014 Bordeaux reports, so I won’t pick them apart any further here. (4/8/15)
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