Plum colour, still intense right through to the core of the wine, this is just a near-perfect St Estèphe, concentrated yet finessed, with balance, less muscular than you would find in most vintages of Calon today, still with depth but also nuance, full of pleasure and joy, cocoa bean, cigar box, blackcurrant, smoked earth, oyster shell finish. Owned by Denise Gasqueton at the time, and makes me a little nostalgic for the old school charms of this era at Calon.

96 - The 2009 Calon-Ségur is deep garnet in color and opens with a beautiful fragrance of redcurrant preserves, cassis, black cherry compote and red roses plus nuances of cigar box and cinnamon stick. Medium-bodied and wonderfully elegant in the mouth, it has a compelling line of very ripe, fine-grained tannins and oodles of freshness supporting the fragrant layers, finishing long and perfumed. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, March 2019

94 - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate 29/02/2012

The 2009 has the highest percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon (90%) ever included in a Calon-Segur (the rest is Merlot and Petit Verdot). Completely different from its St.-Estephe brethren, it is more backward and structured with a dense purple color, lots of black cherry, black currant, loamy earth, forest floor and spice notes, excruciatingly high levels of tannin, and a wonderful inner core of sweetness and concentration. It could behave like the 1982, which, at age 30, is just becoming mature. The 2009 is an uncompromising, masculine, massive style of wine that needs 15-20 years of cellaring even in this luscious, flashy, flamboyant vintage. It is super-tight and needs lots of coaxing and aeration. Anticipated maturity: 2025-2050+.

Sadly, Madame Gasqueton, one of the great grands dames of Bordeaux, passed away recently. She was a no nonsense, always gracious lady who normally received me early in the morning, sometimes before the sun had even risen. I have many fond memories of her for her professionalism and her talent in making long-lived, traditional Bordeaux.

Made in a very different style for this estate, the 2009 is composed of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon (the highest I have ever seen here), 7% Merlot, and 3% Petit Verdot, and achieved 13.8% natural alcohol. It is a big, rich, tannic, structured, dense ruby/purple-tinged wine offering a sweet kiss of creme de cassis, loamy soil, and spice box. Remarkably, despite the use of 100% new oak because of the 2009's power and intensity, there is not a hint of wood in either the aromatic or flavor profile. Never that showy from cask, this traditionally made St.-Estephe should be forgotten for 10-15 years, and drunk over the following 40-50 years. My rating is very conservative, and I expect it to rise considerably as this wine comes out of its infancy. (Tasted two times.) (92-94+)

With a lot of fennel and earth character this is a classic St.-Estèphe, but on the palate it has a suppleness that's modern in the best sense. Needs time to soften. Drink or hold. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019) - Stuart Pigott, jamessuckling.com, March 2019

(a blend of 90% cabernet sauvignon, 7% merlot, and 3% petit verdot; 100% new oak) Bright ruby-red. Exhilarating nose awash with fresh blackberry, blackcurrant, mineral, violet and rose aromas. Absolutely seamless on entry, with a beautiful mineral underpinning to the pure red cherry, fresh blackcurrant and blackberry flavors. Long and very pure on the finish, showing extremely polished tannins. This is like an essence of almost weightless yet highly concentrated cabernet sauvignon as only (great) Bordeaux can deliver. The lively but harmonious acids make it seem almost too light and breezy for a wine that will age effortlessly for decades-proof-positive, by the way, that a wine does not have to be analytically monstrous (this '09 has an IPT, or indice de polyphenols totaux of 71) to be long-lived, as long as it's balanced.

Good dark red. Musky, highly complex nose offers plum, blackcurrant, camphor, menthol, violet and lavender. Remarkably silky and fine-grained, combining outstanding subtle concentration and terrific inner-mouth energy. This very rich but classically dry Saint-Estephe finishes with lush, noble tannins and outstanding complexity. A great vintage for this estate, and a classic claret in a traditional style.

The 2009 Calon-Ségur has a classic Saint-Estèphe bouquet with pencil box and freshly tilled earth on the nose, beautifully defined if not with quite the same pedigree that François Millet imparts into the Grand Vin nowadays. (Less Merlot here than other examples.) The palate is medium-bodied, masculine in style, a little closed at first, strict and detailed yet missing some flesh and density on the finish. Unlike the bottle poured blind a week later that was much more exuberant and higher-toned. It is a fine Calon-Ségur but it is shaded by say the 2014, 2015 and 2016. Tasted at BI Wines & Spirits' Ten Year On tasting. - vinous.com, March 2019

[90CS/7M/3PV] Dumb, but mineral and blackcurrant nose; taut, elegant, very finely tannic, fairly concentrated wine without being particularly dense; very ripe and very fresh and vital in fruit; complex, close knit, markedly mineral in aromas, long and graceful to taste, with lovely fresh, scented length. A finc Calon, packed yet elegant.