Château Calon Ségur

The château

Taxes were paid on the wine of Calon in the 12th century. The Ségurs arrived by marriage in 1670, when Jeanne de Gascq married Jacques de Ségur, and the family went on to assemble the greatest holding in the Médoc: Lafite in 1715 and the lands of Mouton in 1718, with Latour alongside. Nicolas-Alexandre, Marquis de Ségur, owned Latour and Lafite and said his heart was at Calon, which is why a heart is on the label. He died in 1755. Calon passed from the Ségurs to the Dumoulin family and then to Firmin de Lestapis: William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, records in his edition of 1845 the sale of Calon for 600,000 francs in 1825, and gives Lestapis 120 to 160 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels).

The rank moved with the century. Franck’s first edition made Calon a third growth, in the tier at 1,500 to 1,800 francs the tonneau. Then it slipped: Charles Cocks, in Bordeaux: Its Wines and the Claret Country of 1846, wrote that the wine, formerly the first of the parish, was now among the fourths, and Franck’s edition of 1853 put it in the fourths too, with a footnote that it had sometimes sold as a third and that some connoisseurs ranked it there. The brokers of 1855 moved it back up to the thirds.

Georges Gasqueton bought the growth in 1894 with his uncle Charles Hanappier, and the family held it for more than a century. Denise Gasqueton took over in 1995 after her husband Philippe died, and died herself in September 2011, on the first day of the harvest. In 2012 the family sold Calon Ségur and Capbern to Suravenir, the life insurance company of Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, whose chairman Jean-Pierre Denis went into partnership with Jean-François Moueix and his son Jean, of the Videlot group. Laurent Dufau has been managing director since 2013 and Vincent Millet, who came from Château Margaux, estate manager since 2006, with Éric Boissenot as consultant.

The vineyard runs to 55 hectares, 50 of them planted and 45 in production, at 8,000 vines a hectare, with vines 20 years old on average, planted 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. The grand vin (the estate’s first wine) spends 20 months in new oak. Le Marquis de Calon Ségur is the second wine and Le C de Calon Ségur, formerly La Chapelle de Calon, the third. Since the 2018 vintage every bottle carries a secure visual mark that traces it individually.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Estèphe Terroir of Saint-Estèphe →

Classification

Troisième Cru Classé 1855; Michelin Guide, 1 grape (2026)

Owners

Suravenir, of Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, with the Videlot group, since 2012; the Gasqueton family from 1894

Direction

Laurent Dufau, managing director, since 2013; Vincent Millet, estate manager, since 2006

Consultant

Éric Boissenot

Vineyard

55 hectares, 50 planted, 45 in production; 8,000 vines a hectare; vines 20 years old on average

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon 57%, Merlot 34%, Cabernet Franc 7%, Petit Verdot 2%

Cellar

The grand vin 20 months in oak, 100% new

Wines

Château Calon Ségur; Le Marquis de Calon Ségur; Le C de Calon Ségur, formerly La Chapelle de Calon

In history

A third growth in 1824, among the fourths in 1846 and 1853, a third again in 1855; sold for 600,000 francs in 1825