Château Phélan Ségur

History

The story of Phélan Ségur begins with Bernard O'Phelan (1770-1841), a young Irish wine merchant from Tipperary, who settled in Bordeaux at the end of the 18th century, then an important commercial crossroads with the British Isles. His links with local merchants led him to marry a daughter of Daniel Guestier, which allowed him, supported by his father-in-law's experience, to consider producing his own wine. In 1805, he acquired the Clos de Garramey in Saint-Estèphe, then in 1810 the Ségur de Cabanac estate, laying the foundations of the current vintage. On his death in 1841, the estate, then named Château Ségur de Garramey, was passed on to his son Frank Phélan (1820-1883), who devoted his life to the notoriety of the property and became mayor of Saint-Estèphe for thirty years. At the beginning of the 20th century, the estate adopted its modern name of Château Phélan Ségur. After more than thirty years at the head of the estate, the Gardinier family handed over the reins of the property to Philippe Van de Vyvere, who thus realized one of his dearest dreams by taking over this prestigious vintage.

Château Phélan Ségur, Exceptional Cru Bourgeois of the Saint-Estèphe appellation, dominates the Gironde estuary from its Palladian-style castle built in the very heart of the vineyard. The estate, whose origins date back to the early nineteenth century, passed through four families before being taken over by Philippe Van de Vyvere, who succeeded the Gardinier family after more than thirty years at the head of the property.

The Vineyard

The Château Phélan Ségur vineyard covers 70 hectares of clayey gravel slopes and plateaus in Saint-Estèphe, whose plots adjoin those of the Montrose and Calon Ségur castles. The grape variety, dominated by the Medoc tandem Cabernet Sauvignon (58%) and Merlot (39%), is complemented by a touch of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot (1.5% each), the latter having entered the vineyard in 2015. The subsoil, shaped by several hundred thousand years of river deposits, consists of humiferous gravel on hilltops, clayey gravel in Chanchot and sandy gravel in the middle of slopes. The proximity of the Gironde estuary moderates the oceanic climate and protects the vines from winter and summer excesses.