I just returned from Bordeaux, spending the week tasting some of the world’s finest wines. I had this great fortune thanks to Ronald and Margaret Rens, Founders of the Bordeaux Wine Experience, who perfectly curated a trip highlighting the region’s quality, heritage, and pedigree. It was the first and likely last time I will enjoy all the first growths across multiple vintages in a week’s time. It was a remarkable, eye-opening, and educational experience I could have never attained on my own.
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.