Chateau Rauzan-Segla 2eme Cru Classe, Margaux

This was an ex-chateau bottle so provenance was as pristine as it gets and was really good. Felt youthful still. I would not have pegged it as a 35 (or 36) year old wine and it certainly has more life ahead. Plenty of fruit still although secondary and tertiary notes are evident. About as good a pairing for lamb chops as you can get!

1990 vintage

Copy the last notes here on CT! First I thought this could be an off bottle, because after PnP there where some balsamic and vegetable notes. With air there was more expression on the nose, blind I would have guessed right bank beause of the red fruits and a little bit of tomato paste. With more and more air the wine began to sing and everyone on the table was fascinated by the freshness and the mix of tertiary notes …

1990 vintage

Great colour still. Classic claret nose. Blood, iron, tobacco, woodshop, white pepper, smoke, some violets. Not much fruit on the nose. On the palate, this is very much alive and kicking. Perfectly fresh, red fruit, very ripe, prunes, great (!) tannin structure supporting a long after taste with alit of tobacco. Very, very good. 93-94. This bottle was in near perfect condition. High neck ullage. Such bottles can easily go for another 10 years.

1990 vintage

A real mess. Not corked or heat damaged, didn't smell bacteria-compromised either. The flaw here is something I don't know the name for. The wine smelled like menthol for a while and then entirely of toffee and brown sugar. A wreck.

1983 vintage

PnP - from Magnum. Gradually opened up over the course of the evening. Found its balance after 90 minutes or so of slow-ox in the bottle. Expressive, evolved nose of dried cherries and plums, leather, forest floor, truffles, tobacco leaf, dried herbs and cocoa. On the plate, the wine was well-balanced and seamless, with fully resolved tannins and excellent acidity providing lift to the aromas of burlat cherries, plum preserve, autumn leaves, dark chocolate, truffle and dried herbs. Lovely wine. …

1985 vintage

Medium deep brick red. Aromas of prune, tobacco, cedar, forest floor, cloves and roasted chestnut. Vital and dry yet energetic structure. Finely sanded tannins. Black currant acids and black tea bitterness. Palate of cassis, cardamon, dried cranberry, wet wood, stock cube and smoke. Another wonderful Margaux from 1983. A vital, mature and elegant Medoc with fading yet lively fruit, well-balanced acidity and a long spicy and mineral finish. Drink now. Tasted alongside Kistler, Kistler vineyards, Pinot Noir, 2009 and the …

1983 vintage

As perfect a fill as one could reasonably expect. Initially bitter but only took ten minutes to settle down. Floral nose, bit of orange blossom and raspberry, soy sauce and damp earth. Really very fine indeed. Fresh and complex. Tasty as well, but not quite in the same league as the nose. Just slightly dilute, and not the longest finish. Overall very pleasurable, but as a package there are better Margaux wines this year.

1983 vintage

Château Rauzan-Ségla Dinner - Table 2 (Noizé) : Bricking. Expressive nose. Full palate, some chocolate powder, green leaf. Tablemates reported that this was in much better nick than a bottle shared recently. Perfectly decent but not terribly exciting.

1990 vintage

This bottle dominated by tertiary notes, with the redolence of old red carpets and décor in a country manor, but still with some residual red fruits. It was a lot better than one we tried a couple of weeks earlier. It is smooth and easy going on the palate, with no residual tannin and not much grip, and is relaxed in its own skin and has a decent finish. Like many 1990s this is approaching the end of its life. …

1990 vintage

Alino's 1990 Bordeaux Horizontal (Piccolino, Exchange Square, London) : 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc & Petit Verdot. Caper with some ripe raspberry fruit and a touch of white chocolate on the nose. Palate has a red fruit core with some clotted cream fudge and later coffee sponge in the margins. A touch jagged for me.

1990 vintage

At a 1990 Bordeaux horizontal dinner. This tasted a bit rough and raspy and was overwhelmingly tertiary, with not particularly pleasant mushroomy notes. Not only did it taste a bit tired and knackered, it didn’t seem to be very clean either. Get past all that and it had reasonable mouthfeel and length on the palate but clearly not a good bottle, and a notable disappointment 62%/36%,2% - CS/M/CF-PV).

1990 vintage

Not a great bottle - upon opening the cork was semi-saturated and this had clearly had some air exposure. Quite tertiary and certainly nothing to suggest a Margaux on either the nose or the palate.

1990 vintage

Nose bursts with red cherry, damp earth, some green herbaceous notes, tobacco and cedar. Full body, med acid, med+ tannin. This is stunningly delicious on the palate. The fruit is so pure and mature but not dried at all. Wow, impressed this time around. Drink now and over he next 10-15+ years.

1990 vintage

1985 Bordeaux Horizontal - London, April 2025 (Piccolino, Exchange Square, London) : 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. A little reticent on the nose compared with its flight mates for me but when it gets going this is a charming wine; some spiced plum compote, some Margaux florals and a little Tabac 1970s aftershave sandalwood. Palate has good acids, a texture that is a step from this wine's flight mates and a touch of …

1985 vintage

Bordeaux 1985 anniversary dinner. Relatively subdued entry, but some trademark Margaux floral notes, a lovely mouthfeel, and a superb finish. Neat and tidy, light on its feet, and nuanced, this wine just exudes finesse and is a bit classier than its two graves flight mates. A super bottle…94 pts…we often comment on the estates which really had a purple patch in the 1980s - Pichon Lalande and Gruaud Larose of course - but one which is less often mentioned is …

1985 vintage

Neil’s 85 Claret (Piccolino, Liverpool Street Stn, London) : Full garnet. Blackcurrant leaf. Red fruited. Light and florally fragrant. Pretty. Again, a little inconsequential but there’s a lingering persistence and beauty. One of the better bottles of this, but a clear step behind a Noizé bottle. ***1/2

1985 vintage

Neil's 40th anniversary 1985 dinner (Piccolino) : An interesting combination of notes on the nose: both vinegary and savoury, like gravy, but also powdery and perfumed, like a maiden aunt's bosom. Moreish and digeste, and still had some tannin as well as a hint of violet. Long and succulent on the finish, with cassis and tomato. Quite characterful, and fun to drink.

1985 vintage

Vinklubben Dionysos 2025; 1/1/2025-12/31/2025 : Godt moden, rødbrun med mustens kant. Godt moden duft av tørket frukt, kryddertoner, mahogny, solbær og pipetobakk. Slank, avslepet og veldig behagelig smak. Ren, middels stram og ganske fascinerende smak av tørket frukt og kamfer!

1990 vintage

Still at its prime! Super ready to drink once it’s opened. Kinda died after an hour in the glass

1983 vintage

Monthly Tasting Group HWS December 2024 Margaux (@ RvD) : Autumn forest, mushrooms and cedar in the delicate and luxurious bouquet. On the palate juicy red berries still, sweet spices, tobacco, fresh acidity, chocolate and some stable smells. Really beautiful and fully mature now. Great!

1990 vintage

Decanted for 30 min and started drinking after an hour. As the glasses were refill several times the comments were common. Good color and good nose, earthy, leather. Just a darn good glass of wine with grilled lamb chops.

1990 vintage

A bit muted nose that develops with time in the glass. Cranberry, boysenberry. Palate is still holding together with no signs of decay. Persistent fruit with tertiary notes of soy and sage. Deeply concentrated and persistent. Tannins integrated. A good bottle.

1990 vintage

Next to the 1985 Las Cases, this was rather thin and a bit lackluster. On its own quite a pretty, classic mature Margaux

1983 vintage

Richard's BWC and Friends Monday Night Supper Club (Hawksmoor Guildhall, London, UK) : Lovely. This balances the substance and structure of a mature classed growth claret from a stellar vintage with all its cassis and savoury greenness with the floral exoticism of a Margaux. This is beautifully perfumed with some lime oil and florality around the plum fruit core. Very correct and classy. With an hour's air, just a few hints of vanilla fudge. My 2nd favourite wine of the …

1990 vintage

Richard’s Hawksmoor Dinner (Hawksmoor, Guildhall, London) : Lovely nose with tobacco, smoke, leather, some blackcurrant fruit. Medium bodied, cool dark fruit, spice, smoky mineral - classic claret - tobacco again, soft tannins, fresh acids, great length. Perhaps tired a touch after an hour or so showing some toffeed notes but lovely, mature claret. Drink up.

1990 vintage

A bit of a polarizing wine at this dinner. It's possible that I shouldn't have double decanted it beforehand. I really enjoyed the nose. However when allowed to sit in the glass for more than 10 or so minutes, it fell off and got a bit astringent and thin. Probably not a perfectly stored bottle even though the fill and cork were great. It's also possible that this wine is just started to be past its peak. A bottle 5 …

1990 vintage

Home-drinking, Singapore. The best 83 Bdx I have had so far ahead of Talbot, Cantemerle and VCC. Only Latour was superior with the power fitting of a Pauillac. This Rausan is a medium weight beauty with not a hair out of place and feeling seamless from nose to finish. The nose is faint pot pourri, minty freshness, campfire note but there is no charachteristic here sticking out in strength. Midpalate has some matching intensity, medium complexity and a fruit imprint …

1983 vintage

I think this case was damaged somehow. Second bottle, same as the first. Not bad but definitely not perfect and doesn't live up to the hype of the other notes. Bummer.

1983 vintage

Drinking beautifully, soft and elegant. Earthy with leather notes, really just silky.

1983 vintage

[Tasted Double Blind] This pours light garnet in the glass with medium plus bricking. The nose is of pipe tobacco, leather, dried red currants, dried red cherry, dried mint, wet soil, and a touch of autumn foliage. The palate enters on the bright and fresh red current with low tannin and medium acid. The finish shows just a touch green but nicely replays the pipe tobacco of the nose. For a bit here I wondered if this was from California …

1985 vintage

Coravin from the bottle, needed a good hour+ to open up, once it did a lovely wine, soft and supple with earthy leather on a long finish. Not the punch in the face of a modern one, but you can still feel the force of it relaxed somewhat.

1983 vintage

11th of 12, opened an hour then decanted an hour, perfect cork and level, in all material respects as my superb last bottle noted in detail in August '18 just a little diminished, hence marginal downgrade, wonderful layering and exquisite Margaux nose, silky texture and fine fruit, tannins now fully resolved, no rush now but plateau and hard to see any upside as wine beginning to lose power. VF (18.5).

1990 vintage

Lovely, red fruit and velvety palate, still rocking.

1990 vintage

Excellent with cigar box and earthy notes; well balanced with a medium soft finish

1990 vintage

Tobacco, spearmint, cigar box, black currants and forest floor pops in the nose. The palate is equal to the perfume with its chewy, sweet, peppery currants. It’s fully mature do, drink up. Drink from 2024-2029.

1985 vintage

Drank from own cellar, dinner at Stephane's - Paris. Nose initially opened a bit metallic/rusty (see mention of 'dust' in previous note that I believe speaks to the same impression). This later blew off to reveal beautiful and complex red-fruited aromas. I remember the palate as marginal step down from the nose but the whole middle-bodied package was very consistent. A Bordeaux from a bygone era, eminently drinkable. I echo EnglishMan's Claret 's comment that this wine 'whispers' and may …

1983 vintage

This was a sensational bottle. Beautiful bouquet, highly expressive with strong florals and undertones of earth and beef jus. A big, layered, rich palate with classic ‘90 roasted notes, giving this an almost a tapenade quality (from the sur maturite). The finish was a touch bitter and rustic, and so a step behind the nose and palate, but overall a real treat. Probably at peak. 94-95 pts.

1990 vintage

Opened at a wine tasting, penultimate bottle of the night. Very funky farmyard-y nose but not entirely unpleasant. Definitely one for the latter stage of a tasting or the end of the night

1969 vintage

Purchased on release ($26) when the property was owned by others. Good color without any browning. Some of the fruit has dropped out to be replaced by complex aromas and taste. At a nice place and will hold for some years ahead.

1990 vintage

Too far gone and basically vinegar water. Straight down the sink

1969 vintage

Bought at an auktion 3 years ago. TS and cork in perfect shape. At first it smelt of dust but it evolved very nicely in the glass. Very elegant, subtle and delicate. I think this is a wine you need to listen to carefully, if that ever makes sense.

1983 vintage

This continues to drink well.

1990 vintage

Light with earth and berry; resolved; elegant finish.

1990 vintage

Took to dinner to celebrate daughter Ana's 38th birthday at 6Smith in Wayata. I gave this a 2hr slow-ox before leaving for the venue. Cork was in excellent shape. Fill in the neck and not a lot of sediment. This was not the rockstar it has been previously. I suspect a lot could be attributed to drinking it in very, so so red glasses from the venue. I'd normally bring my "go to" Reidel Burgs. This seemed more compact tonight. …

1985 vintage

Jason’s 85 Claret @ Noizé, table 2 (Noizé, London) : Light mid-garnet. Savoury, really quite meaty. Robust with a sweet-fruited core. There’s quite a lot here. Sweetens and becomes more elegant with air. A clear step up from a couple of bottles a decade ago. ****

1985 vintage

1985 Bordeaux-o-rama (Noize) : Some concern as to whether this wine would wither in the company of the Palmer, but it put in a good performance. That said, it was certainly mature, with a soft and resolved texture and lovely scents of cassis, menthol and pine forests. Seamless and pretty long finish, too. Any Bordeaux-lover would enjoy this.

1985 vintage

A spectacular showing for this wine. Seductive nose of pot pourri, sous-bois, red currants, mint and graphite. Creamy textural impression with terrific energy and intensity through the mid-palate leading to a long grippy finish. The depth of flavours in the red-fruit spectrum became more pronounced after a couple of hours. I was struck by how youthful this wine showed and its pleasing twists and turns on the palate over a 3 hour drinking window. Excellent.

1990 vintage

This 1937 bottle, now 85 years old is the oldest wine I’ve tried. I picked up the bottle a couple years ago from a reputable wine store in Bay Area. Rausan Segla (Rauzan Segla since 1994), is a second growth from Margaux, France; only second to Chateau Margaux itself. Now owned by the family behind Chanel, the wine has been improving in recent years. Bottle was in overall good shape, some wear to the label. Wine level at the mid …

1937 vintage

Double decanted. Aromas of red currant, pomegranate and graphite. Still a little zip with tannins revolved. Rounded mouthfeel with red fruits. Not quite as lucious and deep as other wines from the vintage but defintely in its peak drinking window.

1990 vintage

Enjoyed over 3 hours, the ‘83 Rausan Segla perhaps shows best just after it is decanted. And if it’s living dangerously, it is really LIVING dangerously. Very much in the form of the beautiful, classic vintages of the 1982-1990 era (a style commendably resuscitated in 2016), this shows a supremely elegant yet intense, powdery, red-fruited, floral nose, slightly estery and perhaps faintly volatile, complemented by leather and red cedar. Succulent, satisfying. I can easily see this being dramatically underestimated if …

1983 vintage

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Chateau Rauzan-Segla 2eme Cru Classe, Margaux

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