As my budget does not
often allow me to taste these icons of wine with stratospheric price tags, I
will look to Bordeaux's leading château's less expensive "second
wines." What are second wines, you ask? They’re pretty much exactly
what they sound like: The second wines of major château labels that are
often just as seductive as the firsts. Second wines offer Bordeaux lovers an
excellent opportunity to buy wines from first growths at a fraction of the
price of a chateau’s Grand Vin. As vinification techniques and
technology improve, Bordeaux lovers (and even collectors) have been looking at
second wines from first growth wineries as a serious alternative investment as
you can buy multiple bottles of second wines for one bottle of grand vin.
For example, a 2018 Château Lafite Rothschild bottle costs around $1,160
compared to $250 for a bottle of Carruades de Lafite of the same vintage.
With prices of first growths not likely to fall, and in light of the very high
quality of the second wines, they are here to stay.
Bordeaux proprietors
and winemakers have been producing second wines since at least the early 20th
century and likely well before. The practice became widespread in the
early 1980s as producers strove for higher and higher quality. The second
wine represents a wine produced from the same vineyards as the grand vin
that serves as an introduction to the name but at a more accessible price than
their "older siblings." The same skilled
winemaker typically crafts them from fruit grown on the same estate soils, and
the wines then go through élevage (or are “raised” or “brought up” and
aged) in the same winery. Typically, they are made from fruit that didn't
officially make the cut for the flagship bottling. Many are also aged
differently, often spending less time in oak and offering an earlier drinking
window. That said, as many tasting notes show, they, too, can develop
marvelously with bottle age.
On the other hand, a
second label is wines from specific vineyard parcels that are never used in the
grand vin rather than a more approachable version of their older
sibling. Whether we are talking about second wines or second labels, each
offers a wonderful opportunity to buy wines from first growths. The five châteaux in Bordeaux known as
the “first growths,” or the premier cru classés, are Haut-Brion, Lafite
Rothschild, Mouton Rothschild, Latour and Margaux. While nearly all of
the 60 wines of the 1855 classification offer a second wine; the most famous
second wines in Bordeaux still belong to the first growths.
The Second Wines of
Bordeaux's First Growths:
Château
Lafite-Rothschild: “Carruades de Lafite”
Château Margaux:
“Pavillon Rouge”
Château Mouton
Rothschild: “Le Petit Mouton”
Château Latour:
“Les Forts de Latour”
Château
Haut-Brion: “Le Clarence de Haut-Brion”
The focus on
selection has also fueled the creation of third wines. For example,
Château Latour first bottled Pauillac de Latour in 1989 to increase the quality
of their already excellent second wine, which they introduced with the 1966
vintage. Pauillac de Latour is made primarily from young vines growing on
the less prestigious terroirs in the vineyard and from wines that do not meet
the selection criteria for Forts de Latour.
I asked Ronald Rens,
M.Sc., Wine Master, for his thoughts on the best second wines; he noted,
"Château LaTour was the first to make a second wine arguably equivalent to
a Second Growth. However, under Philippe Dhalluin, Petit Mouton vastly
improved and found its rightful place at the top of the second wine
hierarchy – providing the best value on the market."
Notably, many of the
top estate's second wines excel in great vintages. Case in point, the Les
Forts de Latour 2019 is more restrained than the grand vin but over
performs with its balance and concentration. It's a terrific stablemate
for its big brother. In the right vintage, many of these second wines
comfortably outperform the grands vins from lesser classed
growths. They also offer a chance to appreciate the potential and quality
of the first wine, perhaps compelling you to buy one in the future.
So much expertise is
now poured into the production of second wines that many wine shops are
offering them as futures; that is, they are sold in advance while still in
barrel, even though they won’t be bottled and shipped for a year or more.
With better and more stringent selection and smaller volumes of the top wines
being made, there has never been a better time to buy these wines.
Notably, the practice
of second wines originated on the Left Bank in Bordeaux and quickly spread
across other winemaking regions. Once you have experimented with the
second wines of Bordeaux, I recommend trying the second wines of the Super
Tuscans. The second wines of Ornellaia and Sassicaia are a
great place to start. If you prefer Spanish wines, try Valbuena by Vega
Sicilia.