2016 Chateau Rauzan-Segla Margaux 750 ml

Château Rauzan-Ségla is one of the greatest Second Growth properties in Bordeaux, and their near-perfect 2016—which boasts TWO 98-point scores—proves it.

“I continue to love the 2016 Rauzan-Ségla, a thrillingly complete, flawlessly balanced, and borderline perfect Margaux that should be snatched up by readers,” wrote Jeb Dunnuck in his 98-point review, citing “a level of purity and elegance that’s just about off the charts.”

The First Growth Château Margaux, with which Château Rauzan-Ségla is frequently compared, won 97+ points from Dunnuck and costs over $700 per bottle. That makes the Rauzan-Ségla one of the best Bordeaux blue-chip values you’ll see. You might never pay as little for an auction-worthy collectible.

One sip of the 2016 shows that winemaker and managing director Nicolas Audebert, who stepped into the large shoes of Latour veteran John Kolasa in 2015, has begun his tenure with a smashing success. The satiny, textured tannins, fine-grained minerality, and seductive aromas of leather, cocoa, blackberry, and cedar represent a benchmark of classical excellence. 

Founded in 1661, Rauzan-Ségla was originally owned by the same man who managed Château Margaux and Latour, and by the late 1700s it had attained international renown. In the 1855 classification, Rauzan-Ségla placed right behind Mouton Rothschild. Control passed through numerous families over the decades, and for many years the estate turned out wines unworthy of its pedigree. This all changed in 1994 when the Wertheimer brothers took over and thoroughly modernized the winemaking process from vineyard to bottling, planting new vines and investing in improved equipment in the cellar.

Vinous put it succinctly: “Rauzan-Ségla is finally back where it belongs—at the highest level in Bordeaux.”