[*PLEASE NOTE: today’s wine is only available on pre-arrival and will ship from California the week of Monday, 7/2. Limit 12 bottles per customer.]

Danielle Meunier works the same modest farmstead her family has owned in Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux, since the early 1800s. She has a bold and direct manner, and the philosophy behind her property is similarly straightforward. Château Haut-Segottes is essentially a one-woman show with winemaking done in the basement and all grapes grown in the “backyard.” Of course, this is no ordinary backyard—the property is within a designated Grand Cru and a mere 300 meters from its most famous estate, Château Cheval Blanc. Danielle’s reds rely on the classic Saint-Émilion Grand Cru appellation marriage of Cabernet Franc and Merlot and fermentation occurs slowly in steel tank, followed by 18 patient months in small oak barrels (20% new) and hand bottling without filtration. This simple, defiantly old-school approach produces wines that faithfully telegraph Bordeaux’s golden age while promising nearly endless improvement in the cellar. I’ve enjoyed numerous Haut-Segottes Saint-Émilions from the 1980s and ’90s and no matter the vintage—even in “off” vintages—these wines always seem to burst with youth, gorgeous aromatics, and undeniable grandeur. This is a special property.

In 2015, Meunier has created a true treasure. “La Dame” is one of those great wines that looks as good as it tastes, with brilliantly reflective magenta and crimson tones cascading from the bottle and into the decanter. Especially by Haut-Segottes standards, this is a demonstrably full-bodied and powerful red. Every sip communicates a sense of perfectly etched minerality, broad-shouldered dark fruit, and a windfall of the inimitable graphite/gunpowder/black truffle aromatics that, for me, make this one of the most recognizable and beloved properties in this region. I’ve said before that, aromatically, Haut-Segottes is always a chameleon: one moment its Cabernet Franc savor draws parallels between Clos Rougeard or Olga Raffault, then the next moment its sexy angles and soft fruit could easily be mistaken for nearby Cheval Blanc. This 2015 “La Dame” has all these qualities, except they are turned up to 11!  The one thing I will stress is that this wine demands some patience. Like any top-tier 2015 red Bordeaux, you will not regret hiding some in your cellar until it begins to peak in another 5-8 years. For those who need a sneak preview of this blockbuster today, please decant the bottle the morning before drinking it (perhaps with a slow-braised Sunday pot roast), and don’t hesitate to stretch for 2-3 days after. As with many young wines built for the long haul, this bottle has stamina and delivers the goods for long after the cork has been pulled!