The glorious 2020 Château de Seguin Bordeaux Superieur!

Affordable, yet enough peppery, fruity body to impress you, especially after a long week! That’s how we would sum up the feeling from this very special bottle of wine. Château de Seguin is a historic estate with its very own authentic fairytale castle and a rather noble thousand year old back story. It produces and sells Bordeaux wines, but can also hosts weddings, events and provide accommodation, they even offer a Vitishow interactive museum. This is a fun and immersive sound and light show highlighting the original wines of the chateau, as they reveal the vinification process of the 1920s. The show winds its way to the vineyard tasting room with its panoramic terrace overlooking the Château de Seguin vineyards.

What makes it a Superieur? There are two appellations, Bordeaux and Beaujolais, which have adopted the ‘Supérieur’ title and they refer to higher quality wines made outside the smaller appellations or ‘crus’. So what this means is that Bordeaux Supérieur wines have stricter rules which must be rigorously followed in order to produce a wine under this classification.

History

The Château de Seguin winery the way it looks today, with its beautiful and sumptuous pointed towers, was originally built in 1780. The back story of Chateau de Seguin reveals it’s actually quite a bit older, in fact a thousand years earlier, to year 780 to be exact, where you’re able to find traces of the Count of Seguin, Administrator of the Emperor Charlemagne. Yes, that Charlemagne! As king and emperor, Charlemagne had pledged a number of reforms in administration, law, education, military organization, and religion which shaped Europe for centuries. The stability of Charlemagne’s reign saw the beginning of a period of intellectual and a cultural golden age in which his reign became known as the ‘Carolingian Renaissance’.

What’s immediately obvious is how this chateau is tied to the land, and the impressive number of out-buildings shows that the property was dedicated to agriculture, livestock and wine. As for the vineyard, an impressive 235 acres are dedicated solely to vine producing wines in the Bordeaux Supérieur and the Crémant de Bordeaux appellation. The ageing, is managed in French oak barrels over a 12 month period, and takes place in four magnificent cellars which can accommodate up to 1200 barrels.

Terroir

The terroir at the glorious Chateau De Seguin consists of a mosaic of soil types which would be typical for the wine geology of the Entre Deux Mers area. Along the naturally drained slopes with sun exposure, the soils are mainly clayey-calcareous layered on a stony subsoil. Depending on the parcels, this heavy clay gives Merlot its perfect expression when warmer, lighter, high filtering soils (sandy, rocky…) favor the perfect ripening of the Cabernets.

What grapes make up the Château de Seguin Red Bordeaux Supérieur?

• 57% Merlot
• 31% Cabernet Sauvignon
• 11% Cabernet Franc
• 1% Petit Verdot

Rating

3.7 on Vivino

This is a dark purple Bordeaux with vanilla and tobacco notes. Lots of dark fruit from the french oak, with a mixture of warming spices and earthy flavors. A good bit of after burn from the tannins. Prices can typically be found at under the $20 mark. We only recommend you let this wine decant before releasing it to your glass and as the french say, voila!