1982 Calon-Segur
By Chateau Calon-Segur
1982 Calon-Segur from Chateau Calon-Segur, St-Estephe, Bordeaux
In weary times, one turns to a vintage that epitomizes the providence and the fortitude of Bordeaux, and the 1982 Calon-Segur from Chateau Calon-Segur is precisely such a beacon. The way in which this exceptional vintage has persevered to relay the narrative of its illustrious year is a testament to the very soul of St-Estephe.
An Endearing Vintage with an Exceptional Provenance
1982 was bespoken by vintners and connoisseurs alike as a year that saw an alignment of exceptional climatic conditions. As a St-Estephe stalwart, the wine weaves together an affable complexity and an imperishable structure—a composition that magnifies the virtues of its growing season and terroir with grace and veracity. My evolving relationship with this vintage never ceases to surprise; even four decades on, there persists a vital freshness beneath its mature surface.
Cultivated Complexity: A Wise Investment in Taste
The 1982 Calon-Segur brings forth a confluence of opulent fruit borne from a warmer than average growing season that transcended into a milder harvest allowing for judicious ripening. The tannins, now genteelly integrated, have softened without surrendering their breadth, bestowing upon each sip an authoritative but affable embrace. With a nose boasting of blackcurrant brushstrokes and cedar wood nuances, it’s the palate's evocative synergy of aged leather and tobacco leaf against a backdrop of plums and figs that vests it as a venerable masterpiece.
As wines wane and ebb through the rigours of time, investment insight becomes enshrined in vintages which demonstrate both storied lineage and steadfast character. The 1982 Calon-Segur aligns such qualities, offering a captivating narrative pour after pour. For collectors and investors alike, it represents an anchorage within portfolios—an emblem of market resilience and enological finesse.
Chateau Calon-Segur's 1982 vintage encapsulates not only a remarkable season but stands as an archetype of Bordeaux's ability to craft legacies rooted in the immutable bedrock of time-tested viniculture. It behooves the astute investor to recognise the ensconced value inherent within each cork-sealed reliquary.
Market price (CAD)
$2,480.00
12x75cl
Highest score
94
POP score
106.43
Scores and tasting notes
Like Certan de May, I bought this in both half and 750 ml bottles. Only recently have the half bottles reached full maturity, and the 750 ml remains a massive, backward wine for long-term aging. A dense, opaque garnet color is followed by notes of roasted meats, herbs, black currants, incense, and damp earth. Full-bodied, still extremely tannic (sweet but noticeable tannins), rich, and backward, where perfectly stored, this 1982 will last for another 50 years. The estate has always compared it to their 1947, which is still a vibrant wine, and the 1982 should be just as profound. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2040. Release price ($110.00/case)
Robert Parker Jr - Wine Advocate #183
The Château Calon-Ségur 1982 continues to be a delightful fully mature Saint Estephe. It has a similar bouquet to the bottle tasted in Hong Kong in 2012, with Chinese tea and leather, roasted herbs and here, just a suggestion of cocoa. The palate is medium-bodied but fuller than the Batailley 1982, tasted alongside. It exerts a gentle grip and like last time, perhaps there is a hint of brettanomyces towards the finish. But otherwise, this continues to drink well, albeit in an old-fashioned way. If you can abide a bit of rusticity in your 1982 Claret, then this Calon-Ségur will fit the bill. Tasted July 2014.
Neal Martin - The Wine Advocate, 28 July 2016
Tasted at Pebbles/Zachy's 1982 dinner in Hong Kong. The Calon-Segur 1982 has a lifted nose, still mellow like previous bottles and not overly complex. But it offers delightful scents of mulberry, leather, Chinese tea and leather. It actually improves in the glass: sultry at first but opening over 15 to 20-minutes. The palate is medium-bodied with firm grip. There is just a touch of brettanomyces here that imparts that animally tincture, although it is less pronounced than on previous bottles with a linearity and graphite notes that brings you back closer to Bordeaux, not so much to Saint Estephe but Pauillac. This was replicated in another bottle tasted in Basel three weeks later. It constitutes an 'upstanding' Calon-Segur that should drink well for another decade. Tasted November 2012.
Neal Martin - Wine Journal Jan 2013