Chateau Lassegue St. Emilion Bordeaux, Complete Guide

Learn everything about Chateau Lassegue St. Emilion with wine tasting notes, wine and food pairings, best vintages, a history of the property, information on the vineyards, and winemaking. If you want to read about other important, Bordeaux Chateaux: Links to all Bordeaux Wine Producer Profiles

Chateau Lassegue History, Overview

While Chateau Lassegue has a long history in St. Emilion, with a chateau that was constructed in the mid to late 1600s, the modern era for the property starts quite recently.

This can be dated to when the vineyards were purchased by the famed, California vintner, Jess Jackson in 2003 from the Freylon family. After Jess Jackson passed away in 2011, his wife, Barbara Banke took over managing the estate full time, along with Pierre Seillan. However, Nicolas Seillan, the son of Pierre, and Christina Seillan, the daughter-in-law of Pierre have been taking a more active role in managing the estate.

Chateau Lassegue Vineyards, Terroir, Grapes, Winemaking

The large, 24-hectare, Right Bank vineyard of Chateau Lassegue is planted to 60% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon. The terroir is deep clay, chalk, and limestone soils. The vines are old, with an average age of more than 40 years.

Chateau Lassegue is vinified in stainless steel tanks. The wines are aged in an average of 50% to 70% new, French oak barrels for 15 months, prior to bottling. The oak barrels used at Chateau Lassegue are unique because the cooperage is owned by the Jackson family.

In 1997, Jess Jackson formed a partnership with the Boswell family. In the beginning, this was to simply produce the oak staves needed to make barrels.

Slowly, over the years they expanded their relationship, and eventually, they began producing their own oak barrels in America and in France. In Bordeaux, they own Tonnellerie Quintessence. Tonnellerie Quintessence is a forest-specific, designated barrel producer. Each barrel is labeled with GPS coordinates letting the winemaker known where the tree used for that specific barrel was pulled from in the forest.

The best vintages of Chateau Lassegue are: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2012, 2010, 2009 and 2005.

There is a second wine, Les Cadrans de Lassegue. There is also a third wine produced from vines planted in the sandier soils of their vineyards, Chateau Vignot. The average annual production at Chateau Lassegue is close to 10,000 cases of wine per vintage.

When to Drink Chateau Lassegue, Anticipated Maturity, Decanting Time

Chateau Lassegue needs some time before it can be enjoyed. Young vintages can be decanted for an average of 1 hour or more. This allows the wine to soften and open its perfume.

Older vintages might need very little decanting, just enough to remove the sediment. Chateau Lassegue is usually better with at least 4-6 years of bottle age. Of course, that can vary slightly, depending on the vintage character. Chateau Lassegue offers its best drinking and should reach peak maturity between 4-15 years of age after the vintage.

Serving Chateau Lassegue with Wine and Food Pairings

Chateau Lassegue is best served at 15.5 degrees Celsius, 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The cool, almost cellar temperature gives the wine more freshness and lift.

Chateau Lassegue is best paired with all types of classic meat dishes, veal, pork, beef, lamb, duck, game, roast chicken, roasted, braised, and grilled dishes. Chateau Lassegue is also good when matched with Asian dishes, rich fish courses like tuna, mushrooms, and pasta.

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