Rauzan Ségla 2010

Inky depths of colour and fruit on the nose, a wine to pause over and then dive into. What a brilliant example of the vintage that is just revving up to showcase slate, liqourice, crayon, cassis, grilled earth. Supremely Left Bank, supremely impressive. 60% new oak, 37hl/h yield, harvest September 23 to October 19. John Kolasa director.

Light but subtle and intriguing nose. Sweet start and delightfully fresh after that. An energetic Margaux. Definitely not from further north in the Médoc. Well constituted. Good for now and for a long life with admirable drive. 14%Drink 2018 – 2042

Flashy style of Margaux, with alluring warm cocoa and black tea aromatics followed by cashmere-textured plum sauce, steeped fig and blackberry confiture notes. The well-integrated structure makes this seem almost accessible now, but the ample length and a smoldering tobacco note make a case for cellaring. Best from 2014 through 2030. 9,666 cases made.

The nose is packed out with ripe fruit lovely and lush. Black fruits intermingle with red on the palate all feeling ripe giving fleshy power in the middle and sweetness towards the back. The layers of fruit give complexity with lots of rich fruit packing out the back palate.

Deep expression of complex Cabernet fruit and fine aromatic lift of wild violets, the ripeness backed by perfect tannis, all in depth and harmony, a very exciting wine with a great future. Drink 2020-45.

One of the top Margaux wines, this is in top form, finely balanced and as elegant as it is powerful. It is darkly structured, dense yet balancing tannins with ripe black plums. It expresses the complexity of the vintage. A wine for serious, long-term aging.

Only 45% of the crop made it into the 2010 Rauzan-Segla, which is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. This wine has an average pH of 3.6, but at 13.9%, the alcohol is the highest ever measured. The tannin levels in this wine suggest the great 1986 Rauzan-Segla, while the personality of the wine comes close to mirroring the 2005. Dense purple, with hints of menthol, blueberry, black currant and sweet, earthy notes, the wine is full-bodied and displays terrific purity, texture, and overall precision. The tannin levels are high, but the wine balances them out with its impressive level of concentration. This wine will probably need 5-10 years of cellaring when released and drink well for 30 or more years, given the fact that the 1986, at age 25, is still an adolescent.

The 2010 Rauzan-Ségla is extraordinary deep, almost opaque in colour compared to the other vintages at this vertical. It was picked from September 23 to October 7. The bouquet is incredibly intense: potent blackberry and boysenberry fruit, a little richer than I recall, perhaps borrowing some of the luxuriance of the 2009 Rauzan-Ségla. With time, there are touches of pencil lead that become more conspicuous. The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannin and a fine line of acidity. This is the most masculine Rauzan-Ségla in recent years, a little drier and more serious. The palate is very closed at the moment, a Margaux with a large sign declaring that it is unwise to approach for another few years. Brooding and introspective, you can admire its balance and breeding, though it does not go out of its way to give pleasure at the moment, so I would recommend the previous vintage for that. Outstanding, but don’t touch for now. Tasted at the Rauzan-Ségla vertical at the château. Drink 2022-2055.

Tasted at the château, the Rauzan Segla has a delightful bouquet, tight at first but opening in the glass, offering gorgeous blackberry, cassis, violet and dark plum scents that are beautifully defined and are quintessential Margaux. The palate is very representative of how the wines showed in barrel. Svelte tannins, pitch perfect acidity, caressing texture, plenty of ripe black fruit infused with immense minerality. This is a magnificent Margaux, certainly one of the greatest Rauzan Segla's to date...even if it does lack a crayon drawing on the label. Tasted November 2012.

Cropped over four weeks instead of three because of the uneven flowering of the Merlot, the Rauza-Segla delivers 14% alcohol with a pH of 3.6, a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 35% Merlot 3.5% Petit Verdot and 1.5% Cabernet Franc. Tasted three times, it has a very "strict", tightly wound bouquet. It takes time to open up, with faint notes of shellfish inflecting the very fresh blackberry and graphite fruit. The palate is very well balanced with saturated tannins, vibrant acidity, that Cabernet Sauvignon (yet again) imparting graphite and mineralité into the wine. Quite linear towards the finish, long in the mouth. A great wine...though I suspect that the 2009 may turn out to be the pick of the two. Tasted April 2011.

What a wonderful wine with flower, currant and hints of minerals and wet earth with some smoke. Full bodied, with chewy and creamy tannins. The texture is incredibly long with notes of citrus, dark fruits, and ripe raspberries. Super distinguished style

Deep garnet colored, the 2010 Rauzan-Ségla comes prancing out of the glass with gregarious notes of baked black cherries, mulberries and blackcurrant pastilles plus hints of star anise, cigar box, fragrant soil and lavender. Full-bodied, the palate has wonderfully ripe, velvety tannins supporting the generous, multi-layered fruit, finishing very long and beautifully perfumed. 2020 - 2050

Exceptional wine, tasted a few times this year. I almost chose the 2005, another vintage of Rauzan Ségla that has delivered at the top of expections over the year, but where the 2005 is a little more old school in feel, the 2010 really sums up the progress at this property over the past decade or so. Today Rauzan Ségla sits right at the top of the Margaux appellation, and this shows you why - silky, deftly-finessed tannins that are confident but yield to the blackberry and damson fruits.

Very sweet, purple-fruited notes on the nose. Sweet and simple and open with some minerality. Dry finish. There is lots to love here! Cool finish. 2022 - 2035