1996 Château Rauzan-Ségla
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Tasting notes
The 1996 Rauzan-Ségla is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot. Medium to deep brick colored, the nose is fully mature with notes of old leather, dried herbs, unsmoked cigars and cedar chest plus a waft of menthol and dried figs. Medium-bodied, firm and chewy with some good dried berries and exotic spice flavors left to give on the mid-palate, it finishes just a little puckering and rustic. It makes for a nice glass now, for those that like wines on the mature side, but needs drinking-up within the next 5-6 years.
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Wine Spectator
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
Anther elegant wine from this estate is the 1996 Rauzan-Ségla, based on a 60/40 split of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Its medium ruby color is followed by a complex bouquet of cedar spice, menthol, saddle leather, and earth, and it has sweet, mature fruit. Nicely balanced on the palate, with a resolved, elegant texture, it’s certainly drinking at point today yet will keep nicely going forward.
The 1996 Rauzan-Ségla is a vintage that has not matured as well as I hoped. It offers a slightly smudged bouquet with undergrowth infused black fruit laced with tar, this particular bottle a little more citric than others that I have encountered over the years. The palate is better, as I have found before, with cedar and white pepper infused black fruit, and refreshingly saline. Yet, it feels a little surly towards the finish, the tannins a little dry. I cannot see much upswing in this Rauzan-Ségla after 22 years. Not bad, but surpassed by subsequent vintages. Tasted at the Vinous 1996 Bordeaux tasting at Berry Brothers & Rudd.
About the producer
The Chanel group purchased Margaux Second Growth Ch. Rauzan-Ségla in 1994. Under the iconic fashion house’s ownership and – since 2014 – the guidance of winemaker Nicolas Audebert, the estate has seen significant investment and rapidly become one of Bordeaux’s most desirable.