Le Petit Lion is indeed the ‘designated’ 2nd wine of Las Cases BUT it’s new having been around for less than 10 years whereas Clos du Marquis is a centurion at least IIRC. Of course Bahans de Haut-Brion is now called Le Clarence de Haut-Brion and still designated the second wine.
Prior to Le Petit Lion, Clos du Marquis was usually considered the 2nd wine of the estate even though it was [substantially] from its own separate ‘Clos’ although I recall several times over the years, before Le Petit Lion was created, when parts of the normal cepage of the Grand Vin e.g. the Cabernet Franc were ‘demoted’ to Clos du Marquis - just as today such decisions are presumably what also makes up Le Petit Lion along with parts of the vineyard that would not be used for the Grand Vin for reasons e.g. of vine age.
However one wants to designate it [similar 'arguments could be applied to other famous seconds] IMO Clos du Marquis was always one of the superior wines amongst the top ‘seconds’. Currently happily drinking the 96.
As for the rest the most reliably good and most expensive was, as others have mentioned, Les Forts de Latour although up to 2000 most of the second wines of the premier and deuxieme GCs including Les Forts were reasonable value. Of course since then we have seen insane values for Les Carruades [along with other wines in the Lafite Rothschild Group] while other wines have simply followed the Bordeaux spiral.
The only second I have bought since 2000 was the 2005 Dame de Montrose which, en primeur, was still good value and a very decent wine.
I’ve never found that to be a category worth pursuing - oddly high prices relative to the quality, yet I don’t really perceive much prestige factor to them either.
Clos du Marquis is good - I agree that it’s not really a “second wine” in the normal sense of the term, but I guess people have different opinions about that.
Actually the 3rd label of Latour, Pauillac de Latour, could be very nice too. The '09 vintage is really good but price accordingly, definitely no bargain.
The 2011 Moulins de Citrans is not outstanding. It is not excellent, or even very good. It is good. A discounter here had it for €4,99. At that price it is mighty enjoyable as a daily drinker.
I’ve been very enthused about the 2016 Le Marquis de Calon Segur [St Estephe] 14% abv. Better on day 2, but still darn good popped and poured. Vigorous, masculine (!) flavor depth, elements of oak, and hefty structure especially when cool. Merlot driven, but still a serious wine, and one I would expect to hold well for a decade after the vintage. Just as good as the 2000 La Dame de Montrose was. A- in my ledger.
Here’s a curiousity I had never seen/tasted before - the 2019 Folie de Chauvin [St Emilion] which is the second wine of Chauvin. I had purchased various bottlings from Chauvin in the 1998-2009 era, when it was more moderniste/garagiste leaning but had not any recent vintages. The estate had some ownership linkage with Cheval Blanc once upon a time, so the old labels, during the prior Ondet ownership era were very similar to Cheval Blanc. But after the Ondet sisters ‘sold up’ a decade or so ago, the new owners - the Cazes family of great Medoc fame - reverted back to a much older styled label so everything looks different packaging wise. In the winery, they downgraded some vats/plots to a second wine while also aiming for more freshness. The result here shows 13.5% abv on the label, which for 2019, suggests the changes had impact. I found this ruby red merlot to be a sound, generally balanced example. Oak is minimal/resolved, acidity is aligned with red strawberry fruit, and the tannin only starts to pull ahead on day 3 when the fruit starts fading. No sediment. Agglomerated cork, perhaps of some technical kind, but not DIAM. I enjoyed this and would assign this ready to drink right bank a B on my card; I suspect I will not see this again though. This bottle came over via RTM Imports, a Texan agent for some big chains (HEB, Albertsons, etc) – I think they are mostly a paperwork / service provider like MHW. And between tarriffs and the wine slump, I don’t think wine retailers want to allocate capital to niches like this.
I was a little surprised that Stephen Brook’s 3rd edition Bordeaux book didn’t cover the recent ownership chain here. Many years ago on the BWE board we had quite the discussion of the luxe / tete de cuvee here, which was one of the last flourishes of prior owners.
Don’t think that it has been mentioned but Ségla, the second wine of Rauzan Ségla, is very good and moderately priced, at least in Europe. Agree too regarding La Gravette de Certan, the second wine of Vieux Château Certan, another relative bargain. Whilst not strictly second wines, both Roc de Cambes and L’ Aurage are worth considering as alternatives to their much more expensive sibling, Tertre Rôteboeuf.
Nice little necro-thread here … looks like I didn’t chime-in when it was originally started, likely because that was about a year before my opinion about second wines started to change. Once upon a time, I pretty much across-the-board felt that second wines weren’t worth buying at all, instead favoring similarly-priced Grand Vin bottlings from “lesser” chateau. Even now, that is my general rule, but there are exceptions.
Le Dame de Montrose
L’Esprit de Chevalier blanc
Reserve de la Comtesse
Cantemerle’s second (pretty amazing how good this is, considering how affordable Cantemerle’s Grand Vin is to begin with)
Alter Ego
