The vignot, a collaboration of California's Jess Jackson and wife Barbara Banke and Frenchman Pierre Seillan and wife Monique is robust, with that French gusto behind the flavors and tannins. IT's a blend of predominantly MErlot and Cab Franc, with a dollop of Cabernet Sauvignon. It has precocious fruit, a la California, but the acidity and tannin to remind you it's grown in France. It's certainly a novelty to be such an international production. It's made at Chateau Lassegue, on the right bank of the Gironde River in Bordeaux, in Saint Emilion. It's sister wine is Lassegue Grand Cru. Catch the Review on April 3.

Bottle shot of Chateau Vignot on Cover with $35, 2003 Chateau Vignot St-Emilion Grand Cru Review-A joint venture between Jess Jackson and Barbara Banke of Kendall-Jackson and winemaker Pierre Seillan that returns Seillan to his Bordeaux roots. The hot 2003 growing season shows through in the slightly baked plum. Black cherry, red currant and coffee aromas. Good acidity balances the ripeness and soft tannins round it out. -Tim Teichgraeber

This Grand Cru from Saint-Emilion gathers up great bunches of fresh violets into a massive bouquet that heightens the rich plum fruit when the wine is tasted. Traces of leather also emerge, as does the odd but highly appealing scent of waxed wood. An exceptionally accessible Bordeaux

Vibrant, spicy, with lovely flavors of cranberry, dried berries, herbs and white pepper. A great food wine. Balanced

2003 Chteau Vignot, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru: light, dry and aromatic with flavors of raspberry and cinnamon; soft tannins; intensely fruity; $35. Miami Herald July 20, 2006 WINE Wandering but grounded, he's `a servant of the soil' Fred Tasker ftasker@MiamiHerald.com Pierre Seillan seems a little too down-to-earth to be a globe-trotting, jet-setting ''Flying Winemaker'' -- one of those charismatic characters who flits about the world running winemaking operations at a dozen wineries in half a dozen countries. But he seems like one to his wife, Monique, who says she seldom sees him at their homes in California and France. ''If his mistress were a woman, I could compete with that,'' she sighs. ``But his mistress is his job. What can I do?'' Seillan began to wander in 1997 after 30 years of winemaking in France's Bordeaux region. That's when he met Jess Jackson, who, with his wife and fellow lawyer, Barbara Banke, has create a far-flung empire of wine operations in the United States, France, Italy, Chile and Australia, including notably Kendall-Jackson in California. The winemaking styles of Jackson and Seillan proved sympathetic, and Seillan today oversees red wine operations at several of Jackson's wineries as consultant or winemaker. He makes a red wine called ''Le Désir,'' a blend of cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and merlot, at Jackson's Vérité winery near Healdsburg in California's Sonoma Valley. He makes the red wine called ''Arcanum,'' of the same grapes, at Jackson's Tenuta di Arceno, in Italy's Tuscany region. Now Jackson and Seillan have teamed up to buy Chteau Lassgue, a 60-acre grand cru vineyard and winery in Bordeaux's Saint-Emilion region. ''Saint-Emilion is the most serious appellation in Bordeaux,'' Seillan says. ``It's not one of your generic Bordeaux areas.'' Seillan and Jackson were impressed with the vineyard's limestone soils, which give wine that French hint of minerality, and its perfect southwest sun exposure, which is crucial to getting grapes fully ripe. There's also a beautiful old chteau on the property, where the Seillans live part of the year. At the chteau, Seillan is turning out two wines from different plots with different soils. One is $35, the second is $50. Neither is a ''second wine,'' he insists, simply ``another wine.'' Reflecting Seillan's style, both are subtle wines based on merlot, with a French restraint and minerality. ''I am a servant of the soil,'' he says. ``It's not the other way around. I want wines that are fruity, with power but finesse and elegance, not too much tannic astringency.'' Visiting Miami, Seillan also was showing off wines he has made at Jackson's Verité and Tenuta di Arceno wineries. Both show his subtle touch, his ability to create intensity and complexity without bombast. And next year -- maybe later -- Monique hopes to slow down her flying winemaker and spend more time in France, fixing the plumbing and redoing the paint on their 18th century chteau. ''It needs repair, but all the money must go into the wine,'' she says, sighing again. ``Someday . . . ''

The 60 acres (24 hectares) of vines of this château are located less than two miles from Saint-Émilion and are operated both by Californian and French wine devotees. The 2016 has a light fruity nose with a hint of chocolate and tar, and is a coherent and well-balanced stream of juice in the mouth.

The Château Lassegue 2015 is a wine that doesn’t just express its place of origin with clarity and brilliance—it’s a St.-Emilion Grand Cru, after all, so that’s to be expected—but it also represents the importance of family. It’s co-owned by the Seillans as well as the Jackson / Banke family, a relationship that also bears fruit in Sonoma with Vérité and Tuscany with Arcanum, for both of which Pierre Seillan serves as vigneron. Over the years, I’ve had the great fortune of getting to know the Seillans—Pierre, Monique, Helene, Nicolas, and now his wife Christina, all of whom are involved in the family business—on both sides of the Atlantic, and have always been struck by the similarities between them and their wines: The generosity of spirit, the joyfulness of the juice. That doesn’t happen by mistake. The property may be situated in one of the best neighborhoods of St.-Emilion—Château Pavie, Château Ausone, and more are all within a ten-minute drive—but it’s also about an obsessive focus on the details: Vinification and aging take place using a system of micro-crus—that is, individual parcels are separated out from one another and treated in the unique way that the Seillans feel is best. That might mean aging in a barrel charred to a medium-plus toast from Allier, or in a medium toast from Tronçais. By the time any particular vintage is in barrel, there can be as many as a hundred-plus different parcel-and-barrel combinations to choose from and work with for the final blend. The results speak for themselves in a year like 2015: The wine is shimmeringly expressive, a blend of 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon that rises from the glass with aromas of cedar, blackberry liqueur, and blueberry, all of it wound up with sweet spice. It glides across the palate with waves of warm black licorice, figs, hoisin sauce, cedar, and a hint of incense, and keeps on changing with every passing minute in the glass. That layered evolution promises to happen in the cellar for at least another three decades, if not more. This is a wine of balance, terroir, and joy, and a steal at the price.

With its noble expression, the 2012 Lassègue shows a beautiful palate of hillside Merlot with spicy oak notes from the Cabernets. A brilliant finish.

With the Lasségue Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2011 ($64-$66) you can splurge a little and still get that great Bordeaux flavor. It is a beautiful deep red in the glass with powerful aromas of ripe black fruit. The first sip will tell you why so many people make a fuss about Bordeaux wine. It has layers of blackberry and black cherry flavors that keep getting better as you sip the wine, with some interesting herbal notes. The tannins are still strong, but they don’t overpower the wine. I suspect this wine will keep getting better for at least another 5-10 years as the tannins fade, leaving even more fruit flavor. French wines usually don’t tell you the blend, but this is a Right Bank Bordeaux, so merlot is the predominant grape. This blend is 62 percent merlot, 30 percent cabernet franc and 8 percent cabernet sauvignon.

This powerful 2011 shows meaty and smoky notes. With a fresh entrance, this wine delivers a fruity and chalky expression with present but civilized tannins. Well integrated oak.

The Best Wines For A Date Night At Home Sumptuous with red-black fruits and a savory edge, this beautifully structured Merlot-dominant red blend is perfect with any grilled meat. Winemakers Pierre and Nicolas Seillan (father and son, respectively) release vintages when they agree the wine is ready for prime time—hence the 2011 in our midst. This is not a wine that will pummel you with power; rather it’s a silky-smooth landing into black cherry, dark forest floor and warm spice. Buy one to enjoy tonight and one to cellar.

What to Drink Now: Cabernet Franc In Sonoma, Tuscany and Bordeaux, celebrated winemaker Pierre Seillan reveals the beauty and structure of the grape while allowing each individual micro-climate to shine...Chateau Lassegue St. Emilion Grand Cru ($100) highlights Right Bank Bordeaux terroir giving a mineral note to the concentrated Cabernet Franc and old-vine Merlot-based wine.

Lassegue-Exceptionally well made wine Three out of Three Glasses (only others listed for Saint Emilion are Cheval Blanc and Chateau Ausone) Wine with a high finesse, voluptuous and harmoniuos.

2005 vintage, one of the finest vintages in Bordeaux history, but most of the vintage has already been sold. Not winemaker Pierre Seillan’s. He held onto his wine all this time because he felt it needed time to develop more. If you missed the Super Vintage Boat, sigh no more…Chateau Lassegue is here.

Very good body, complex nose, excellent tannins. Drink From 2013. Three Stars, 16/20

Blacksih purple. Tarry, inky aromas and a suggestion of over-ripeness on the palate. Lots of quite aggressive tannin, but I'd like to see a little more acidity and freshness of fruit, especially on the rather heavy finish. Picked 26 sept to 11 oct apparently with a record long post fermentation maceration of up to five weeks. Drink 2012-2018. 15.5/20 pts.

Very oaky in the nose, with a good smoky backnote. Posh, mostly oak-driven wine.

Jess Jackson and wife Barbara Banke teamed up with Pierre Seillan to revive Chateau Lessegue on the right bank of the Gironde River in Bordeaux. This most worthy wine is a blend of mostly Cabernet Franc and old-vines Merlot and some Cabernet Sauvignon. It's quite the taste: gorgeous silky ripe tannins, intense concentration of flavors, and a long, rich finish. The nose is licorice, herbs and vanilla; tannins coat the mouth; and flavors are cherries, cassis, dark chocolate and espresso. It's such a showy wine, it would take quite the show-stopping dish to match with it -- a thick, grilled veal chop or chateaubriand. It's a flavor experience to taste the intensity of the Caberent Franc!

During their search for a property in Bordeaux, California vintner Jess Jackson and his business partner, French vigneron Pierre Seillan, were particularly impressed with Saint-Emilion's Chateau Lassegue. The estate's roughly 83 acres of vineyards boast nine different soil types (one of the region's most diverse plots) and 30- to 45 year old vines. Both vintners felt the property could produce wines of first-growth quality. In the Chateau Lassegue Saint Emilion Grand Cru 2004, their instincts are vindicated. Seillan's exacting method of separately harvesting, vinifying and blending small blocks of vineyards known as micro-crus has resulted in a complex and unusually detailed wine in a vintage that challenged most producers. The nose is redolent of strong roasted coffee and spicey licorice, while the velvety and voluptuous palate reveals ripe black plum, wild berries and vanilla bean before the lengthy finish of orange zest and cardamom.

Big bouquet, vigorous in the mouth, round and fruity, this is a Saint Emilion with personality

Lovely, classic, luscious fruit exploding from the glass. Drink from 2010.

Collectible gift wine! A Customer - New York Right up there with the 1st Growths - Lafite, Latour, Margaux, etc. And at a fraction of their cost :) A Customer - San Francisco, CA Opulent, rich, delicious. A Customer - San Antonio, TX Tried blind next to Opus One - it blew it out of the water. I rated the Opus 91, this was a solid 95+ pointer in my book. A Customer - Seattle, WA Great stuff - try with rack of lamb, match made in heaven. A Customer - Naples, FL Extremely good value in Grand Cru Bordeaux. Tastes like many $100+ bottles I've tried in the last year. A Customer - Boston, MA Received this as part of my Build Your Cellar wine club shipment - all I can says is WOW. What an incredible bottle of Bordeaux.

Predominantly composed of Cabernet Franc, with a touch of Cabernet Sauvignon, this Saint-Emilion layers voluptuous plum fruit against a sweet, sultry smoke

A vibrant wine, notes of black cherry, cassis, herbs, cedar and rose petal. Integrated tannins. Elegant.

2003 Lassegue, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru: intense flavors and aromas of black cherries, minerals and spice; firm tannin; tart, fruity finish; $50. Wandering but grounded, he's `a servant of the soil' Fred Tasker ftasker@MiamiHerald.com Pierre Seillan seems a little too down-to-earth to be a globe-trotting, jet-setting ''Flying Winemaker'' -- one of those charismatic characters who flits about the world running winemaking operations at a dozen wineries in half a dozen countries. But he seems like one to his wife, Monique, who says she seldom sees him at their homes in California and France. ''If his mistress were a woman, I could compete with that,'' she sighs. ``But his mistress is his job. What can I do?'' Seillan began to wander in 1997 after 30 years of winemaking in France's Bordeaux region. That's when he met Jess Jackson, who, with his wife and fellow lawyer, Barbara Banke, has create a far-flung empire of wine operations in the United States, France, Italy, Chile and Australia, including notably Kendall-Jackson in California. The winemaking styles of Jackson and Seillan proved sympathetic, and Seillan today oversees red wine operations at several of Jackson's wineries as consultant or winemaker. He makes a red wine called ''Le Désir,'' a blend of cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and merlot, at Jackson's Vérité winery near Healdsburg in California's Sonoma Valley. He makes the red wine called ''Arcanum,'' of the same grapes, at Jackson's Tenuta di Arceno, in Italy's Tuscany region. Now Jackson and Seillan have teamed up to buy Chteau Lassgue, a 60-acre grand cru vineyard and winery in Bordeaux's Saint-Emilion region. ''Saint-Emilion is the most serious appellation in Bordeaux,'' Seillan says. ``It's not one of your generic Bordeaux areas.'' Seillan and Jackson were impressed with the vineyard's limestone soils, which give wine that French hint of minerality, and its perfect southwest sun exposure, which is crucial to getting grapes fully ripe. There's also a beautiful old chteau on the property, where the Seillans live part of the year. At the chteau, Seillan is turning out two wines from different plots with different soils. One is $35, the second is $50. Neither is a ''second wine,'' he insists, simply ``another wine.'' Reflecting Seillan's style, both are subtle wines based on merlot, with a French restraint and minerality. ''I am a servant of the soil,'' he says. ``It's not the other way around. I want wines that are fruity, with power but finesse and elegance, not too much tannic astringency.'' Visiting Miami, Seillan also was showing off wines he has made at Jackson's Verité and Tenuta di Arceno wineries. Both show his subtle touch, his ability to create intensity and complexity without bombast. And next year -- maybe later -- Monique hopes to slow down her flying winemaker and spend more time in France, fixing the plumbing and redoing the paint on their 18th century chteau. ''It needs repair, but all the money must go into the wine,'' she says, sighing again. ``Someday . . . ''