Second wines stand out in 2009

A standout and ongoing trend that appears confirmed, even accentuated, by reports on Bordeaux 2009, is the rising quality of second wines from the leading chåteaux.

The likes of Les Pagodes from Cos d’Estournel; Pavillon Rouge from Château Margaux, Alter Ego from Palmer or Le Petit Lion from Léoville Las Cases are increasingly exciting commentators while offering a significantly cheaper price of the proverbial action than les grands vins.

An early tasting of the vintage by Berry Bros & Rudd’s sales director Simon Staples endorsed the development. After a visit to Cos d’Estournel he reported: “Cos itself was every bit as spectacular as the magnificent 2005 perhaps a tad fatter but with brilliant balance.

"Pagodes, with almost half the grand vin declassified into it, is off the scale. It’s without question the most impressive Pagodes I have ever tried and if you didn’t have the grand vin to compare it with you’d say it was a great Cos! Jean-Guillaume thought his second wine could have rivalled many of his grand vins from years gone by…”

Similarly, Simon Larkin MW, head of trading at Lay & Wheeler, reported on the Majestic blog: “I must add that for me, Palmer has registered two notable successes, I can’t believe I have ever tasted a finer vintage of Alter Ego.

"This seems to have been a common theme; the second wines of the great estates have delivered impeccable quality this year. I can’t recall having tasted a finer Pavillon Rouge du Ch. Margaux, Alter Ego de Ch. Palmer or indeed Pagodes de Cos…each is now the product of increased attention and a selection process that sees lesser fruit relegated to either a third wine or sold off on the market.

"The same exacting standards are applied as for the grand vin and it shows, particularly in vintages of the calibre of 2009.”

Christopher Davey, managing director at OW Loeb supported this sentiment. Referring to Lafite, Margaux and Palmer, he wrote: “All of them were truly brilliant, as were their second wines.”

Elsewhere, Michael Schuster, reporting for the World of Fine Wine described Léoville Las Cases’ Le Petit Lion as “a must have” and was impressed by Haut Brion’s Chapelle. “A good year for second wines?” he asked, adding that they would provide “a significant proportion of the pleasure, at a fraction of the price.”

Of course, the only second wine to have experienced the price appreciation of favoured first growths is Carruades de Lafite – despite past poor scores from influential commentators, particularly Robert Parker.

Patrick Schmitt, 01.04.2010