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Chateau Rauzan-Segla

2012
Blend
1% Cabernet Franc
60% Cabernet Sauvignon
37% Merlot
1% Petite Verdot
Country
France
Region
Bordeaux
Appellation
Margaux
UPC
0 15643 42684 1
Other
Verified Stock
1692-12
Product Ratings
James Suckling 93pt

A full and silky wine with a slightly hollow center-palate now but it's very pretty and chewy. Needs two or three years to soften. Very persistent and structured.

by James Suckling, 2015
Wine Advocate 94+pt

The 2012 Rauzan-Segla (54.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Merlot and 1.5% Petit Verdot) is a classic Rauzan-Segla, still relatively backward and tannic, but concentrated and extremely promising. Dense blueberry, blackberry and cassis fruit along with some licorice, vanilla, foresty notes and spice are all present in this full-bodied yet structured and big, beefy style of Rauzan-Segla . It may turn out to be somewhat atypical for this château in its size and masculine structure, but this is impressive wine, and one of the great successes of the vintage. Give it 5-7 years of bottle age and drink it over the following three decades.

by Wine Advocate, 2015
Wine Enthusiast 94pt

This firmly structured, beautifully crafted wine has a solid backdrop of tannins and plenty of concentration. Beyond that, it is already well balanced, bringing together its dark texture and blackberry fruit flavors with generous acidity. It needs to age, drink from 2020.

by Wine Enthusiast, 2015
Wine Spectator 91pt

A toasty, fleshy style, with a cocoa note pulling and pushing the core of blackberry, black currant and plum fruit. Picks up more range through the finish, with black tea, alder and loam accents, boding well for cellaring.

by Wine Spectator, 2015

Harvest

The harvest, late and careful benefited from the autumn sunshine.
Merlot: September 27 to October 11
Petit Verdot: October 12
Cabernet Franc: October 8
Cabernet Sauvignon: from 11 to 20 October
Hand harvested in small crates. This year, to continue our commitment to handle the harvest with the most caution, berries are moving under gravity in cuvons of 5Hl after two prior meticulous sorting and after stemming.
2011 Performance / 2011 Yield: 36 hl / ha

Vintage

A by constant vigilance vintage
It is through uncompromising caution that we have responded to the unusual weather that marked the 2012 vintage.
After changing winter (January sweet, frosty February sec March) April was particularly rainy. Although conducive to mineralization of soil, the persistent rain until late June led to a late flowering, long and heterogeneous. Our teams then ground the phenomenon of work specific thinning, which left beautiful soft Clusters in small concentrated berries.
Veraison thus offset by the delay of the vegetative cycle was followed by a serene maturation under the sun of August and September.
From the end of September, the historic plateau Rauzan revealed the magic of its Cabernet Sauvignon, while the old vines of Cailloux Rouges sector awaited us the power of Merlot. If the thick film reduced the juice yields, they gave generously presses that proved particularly interesting for assembly: the magic of the Grand Vin was running

Vinification

20 to 25 days on average fermentation, a total of 40 vessels:
Alcoholic fermentation 8 days in stainless steel vats controlled. Pumping and manual punching down, depending on needs assessed daily; temperature 28 °.
Post-maceration, about 12 days at a controlled temperature of around 27-28 ° C according to specific to each tank needs.
Malolactic fermentation vats few selected batches in barrels.
Aged in barrels, French oak, medium toast, racking to dodge every 3 months, sticking to traditional egg whites.