★說到適合情人節飲用的葡萄酒，總是讓人馬上連想到酒標上大大一顆心的Château Calon Ségur！
無論情人節要向情人傳達心意，或是珍藏一款珍釀作為兩個人的紀念，無疑的Calon Ségur是最佳的選擇！
Calon Ségur是波爾多St.-Estèphe產區的三級頂級酒莊(3ème Cru Classé)，它是早在12世紀就已經在生產葡萄酒的古老莊園；酒莊名字裡的Calon是指中世紀的時候用來運送木材渡過Gironde河上的小帆船，而Ségur則是源於十八世紀時被稱為「葡萄酒王子」而名滿天下的Ségur侯爵(Nicolas-Alexandre, marquis de Ségur; 1695–1755)。他當時除了本酒莊之外，還同時擁有Château Latour、Château Lafite、Château Mouton等名園！儘管他坐擁這麼多的名園，但是他卻說："I make wine at Lafite and Latour, but my heart is at Calon."，因而在酒標上以這個心形標誌來紀念這段佳話，Calon Ségur在台灣也就常被暱稱為「愛心酒」或「情人酒」。
本酒莊的莊園緊鄰St.-Estèphe村子北側，從1855年到現在一直維持同樣55公頃，完全被石牆包圍保護。葡萄種植的面積有50公頃，園內土壤表層覆蓋著Médoc招牌的礫石層，礫石層下面是黏土，這兩種截然不同的土壤造就了Calon Ségur酒中的力道和優雅。種植的葡萄品種是60% Cabernet Sauvignon、30% Merlot、7% Cabernet Franc和 2% Petit Verdot。Calon Ségur的酒的風格是強勁紮實，常常需要陳年10年以上才能達到適飲期。
在前莊主Denise
Gasqueton夫人的管理下，本酒莊的水準從1990年代中期開始有了卓越而穩定的表現，尤其進入21世紀之後，有多個年份的表現都相當精彩；夫人去世之後，在2012年由Suravenir
Assurances保險公司入主本酒莊，大手筆花費超過2000萬歐元、歷時5年將酒莊設備全面更新：使用重力流的釀酒廠房、搭配葡萄園區塊的不同尺寸的不銹鋼發酵槽、全新品酒室、重種葡萄園等，讓酒質有大幅顯著的提升，相當令人期待其今後的表現。
WA:NA
A brilliant effort that will delight Médoc purists, the 2021 Calon-Ségur wafts from the glass with aromas of rose petals, wild berries, plums, Indian spices, woodsmoke and pencil shavings. Medium to full-bodied, velvety and seamless, it's deep and lively, with beautifully ripe tannins and an exquisitely balanced profile. In spirit, this blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc, 7% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot is reminiscent of the 1996 vintage, though the 2021 won't go through such an extended period of hibernation and will attain a much higher peak of quality. It attained 12.9% alcohol without any chaptalization, saignée or osmosis. Tasted twice.
Calon-Ségur is in the midst of a renaissance. A true "clos," this walled 55-hectare vineyard, the first to be cultivated in Saint-Estèphe, was long planted at a low density of 6,000 vines per hectare. When the cahier des charges (appellation rules) for Saint-Estèphe changed in the recent past, mandating a higher minimum density, the Gasqueton family had already begun replanting at 8,000 vines per hectare. Now estate director Vincent Millet is replanting at 10,000 vines per hectare, and each individual vine has been geo-referenced so that treatments and amendments can be adapted on a vine-by-vine basis within each parcel: the latest in high-tech precision viticulture! The varietal breakdown is changing too, with Cabernet Sauvignon on the increase, currently amounting to around 60% of the estate's holdings and with a target of around 75%. In addition to clones, a massal selection, from parcels near the small chapel just to the east of the château, is underway. Winemaking, too, has been revolutionized: in an entirely new cellar and winery, the grapes are rapidly chilled by passage through a cold tunnel and undergo a three-day cold soak, before a co-inoculated 18- to 21-day maceration with micro-oxygenation. Maturation follows, in new barrels, for 20 months with a traditional racking every three. If all this sounds very detail-oriented, it's because Millet, who boasts a PhD in wine microbiology and spent several years at Château Margaux, is an extremely serious, forward-thinking estate director, and I have no doubt that he is going to unleash all of Calon-Ségur's latent potential.
