- The wine is out at £798 (12×75) SEP.
- “Brimming with tension,” said Neal Martin.
- Several back vintages are less expensive but few have as strong a score.
Château Rauzan-Ségla 2020 has been released En Primeur at €66 per bottle ex-négociant, up 22% on the 2019’s opening price.
The wine is being offered for £798 per case, 16.7% higher than the current Market Price of the 2019. A number of the estate’s recent back vintages are cheaper than today’s release but the 2020 carries a higher score than many of them. See more Fair Value analysis below.
Critical Opinion
The Margaux estate has been popular with critics in recent vintages. Neal Martin at Vinous rated the 2020 95-97, saying it was “brimming with energy and full of tension from start to finish, this is a sophisticated and quite intellectual Margaux”.
It’s also, he continued, “flippin’ delicious”.
Antonio Galloni agreed and gave the wine the same score bracket. Although not as “showy” as some more recent vintages he noted, “this tightly-coiled, brilliant wine has the potential to be magnificent, but it needs time”.
The wine also picked up a 96-98+ from Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, who said that winemaker Nicolas Audebert and his team had, “knocked it out of the park this vintage”.
Fair Value
At face value today’s release looks slightly overpriced according to the methodology. Numerous back vintages such as the 2019, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 are available for, at times large, discounts.
The 2016 with the same score, for example, is currently 2% less expensive (£781 12×75) and the 2019 is 16% less expensive.
On the other hand, the 2019 was not scored by many critics last year and the 2020 and the 2016 are currently the best scored of any vintages dating back to 2005.
As an estate on the up and with very favourable critical scores behind it this year, perhaps that will be enough?
Buyers looking for value in back vintages, however, might consider those vintages mentioned above, which are all rated 92-points or higher.
Our Bordeaux En Primeur 2020 page contains everything you need to know about this year’s campaign. You can also sign up for our daily En Primeur email alerts using the form below.
