1970 Phelan Segur 
St Estephe Cru Bourgeois

Sandwiched in between Montrose and Calon Segur, Phelan Segur has a natural advantage of being blessed by two big brothers of Saint Estephe, thus quality must have at least some minimal expectations. I have drunk many 1970 wines, a lot were unimpressive, not many gave me a good impression, but I must confess Phelan Segur left me a good impression. Being a Cru Bourgeois, it could rival any St Estephe classified or non-classified growth; right at the start, the 52 year old wine already showed that it has the same aging capability as top Bordeaux wines, which was very impressive. The content was big and bold, very flavourful, with a good elegance and finesse to wrap it up. I do highly recommend Bordeaux lovers to look beyond classified growths and explore a bit on these well-known Cru Bourgeois, it’ll give you definitive surprises, not to mention the prices were certainly a fraction of classified growths!