Château Phélan Ségur

The château

Bernard O’Phelan, an Irish merchant from Tipperary, bought the Clos de Garramey in 1805 and the domaine Ségur de Cabanac, once the comte de Ségur’s, in 1810, and made 1 estate of them. William Franck, whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared in 1824, records the change that year: the old proprietor Mercier Terrefort, the new one Phélan, at 200 to 250 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels). His son Frank Phélan inherited in 1841 and was mayor of Saint-Estèphe for 30 years. For 75 years the wine went out as Ségur-Garramey; in 1874 it was an estate of 140 hectares, 65 in vines, 50 in meadow and 25 in oak coppice. Only at the beginning of the 20th century did it take its present name, which reached print as Château Phélan-Ségur in 1901.

Phélan also changed the way the Médoc built its vat houses. In 1834 he built vat houses on a new plan on his 3 Médoc properties, to keep the wine from losing its essence, and the agricultural society of the Gironde gave him a medal for it. The plan was argued over and even laughed at for years, and then copied: by 1883 Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, name Mouton-Rothschild, Giscours, Issan and Ségur-Garramey together as examples of the new kind of vat house.

The Gardinier family held the estate for some 30 years, Thierry Gardinier taking over the management on September 1, 1993, and it now belongs to Philippe Van de Vyvere, a Belgian shipowner. Véronique Dausse directs it, with Stéphane Rougé in the vineyard and Fabrice Bacquey in the cellar; Michel Rolland was its consultant until his death in March 2026.

The 70 hectares sit on the rises and plateaus of Saint-Estèphe, next to the vineyards of Montrose and Calon Ségur, on 3 soils: gravel rich in humus at the top of the rises at Fontpetite, clay and gravel at Chanchot, and sandy gravel on the middle of the slopes at Fontpetite. They are planted at high density, 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot, 1.5% Cabernet Franc and 1.5% Petit Verdot. The soil is plowed, which all but removes the need for herbicide, the fertilizer is usually organic, and moths are kept down by mating disruption instead of insecticide. About 100 pickers bring in the harvest by hand in about 12 days; the fruit is sorted by hand, on vibrating tables and, since 2011, optically, ferments about 10 days and macerates about 20 more, and goes through its malolactic fermentation in barrel. New oak never passes 50% of the barrels, which come from 5 coopers loyal to the house. Frank Phélan is the second wine, and the estate also makes La Croix Bonis. I tasted the 2015 in February 2024. A little harsh at first, it improved in the glass: bold aromas of blackberry and wood, concentrated flavors, the tannins starting to find their balance, and it may improve with more age. The 2014, which I tasted at the château and wrote about in October 2025, is structured, aromatic and built to age gracefully.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Estèphe

Commune

Saint-Estèphe

Classification

No classification

Owner

Philippe Van de Vyvere; the Gardinier family for some 30 years before him

Direction

Véronique Dausse, director; Stéphane Rougé, vineyard; Fabrice Bacquey, cellar master

Consultant

Michel Rolland, until his death in March 2026

Vineyard

70 hectares on the rises and plateaus of Saint-Estèphe, at high density

Soil

Humus-rich gravel and sandy gravel at Fontpetite; clay and gravel at Chanchot Terroir of Saint-Estèphe →

Grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon 58%, Merlot 39%, Cabernet Franc 1.5%, Petit Verdot 1.5%

Farming

Plowed soil; mostly organic fertilizer; mating disruption instead of insecticide

Cellar

Picked by hand by about 100 pickers; optical sorting since 2011; malolactic in barrel; new oak never more than 50%

Wines

Château Phélan Ségur; Frank Phélan; La Croix Bonis

The name

Ségur-Garramey until the beginning of the 20th century

In history

200 to 250 tonneaux in 1824; the new vat houses of 1834