We recently got a request from one of our community members asking about second wines, so we pulled together an article to explain second wines and share some great bottles. These are all great wines and are significantly more in reach price wise.

Second wines, also known as &quot;second labels,&quot; have become increasingly popular among wineries over the past few decades. These wines are made by wineries to offer a more affordable and approachable option to their consumers, while still maintaining the high quality and standards of their flagship or first wines. In this article, we will explore the concept of second wines, why wineries do it, and highlight some of the best examples from top wineries.

Why do wineries make second wines?

The primary reason for wineries creating second wines is to maintain the consistency and excellence of their first wines. For a wine to be considered a first wine, it must meet specific criteria set by the winery. This includes using only the best grapes from the estate, adhering to strict winemaking techniques, and aging the wine in the finest barrels. However, not every grape from a vineyard will achieve the same level of quality, and therefore, some grapes may not make the cut for the first wine. Instead of discarding these grapes, wineries can use them to create a second or even third wine, which still reflects the quality and style of the winery&#39;s top wine at a more affordable price point.

Additionally, some wineries also produce second wines to introduce new consumers to their brand. The cost of a first wine can often be out of reach for many wine enthusiasts, but a second wine offers a more accessible option to experience the winery&#39;s style and expertise. These wines provide an excellent entry point for consumers to discover a winery&#39;s portfolio and potentially become loyal customers.

What are the differences between first wines and second wines?

There are several key differences between first and second wines. Firstly, the grapes used for the first wine are often from the winery&#39;s best and oldest vines, whereas the grapes for the second wine may come from younger vines or different parts of the vineyard. This can result in a difference in flavor and complexity between the two wines.

Secondly, wineries tend to use different aging techniques for their first and second wines. First wines are typically aged in new oak barrels, which can impart more intense flavors and tannins to the wine. Second wines, on the other hand, may be aged in older barrels or for a shorter period, resulting in a softer and more approachable wine.

Finally, there is often a difference in price between the two wines. First wines are usually priced higher due to their superior quality and limited production, while second wines offer a more affordable option for consumers.

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Examples of the Fantastic Second Wines

1. Alter Ego de Palmer, Margaux, Bordeaux, France

Alter Ego de Palmer is the second wine of the prestigious Ch&acirc;teau Palmer in the Margaux appellation of Bordeaux. Made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot, this wine offers a glimpse of the quality and style of its first wine, Ch&acirc;teau Palmer. The 2016 vintage, with its elegant tannins and notes of black fruit, cedar, and tobacco, received a 94+ rating from wine critic Robert Parker and can be found for around $80 per bottle.

<a href="https://www.grapesthewineco.com/wines/Alter-Ego-Alter-Ego-de-Chateau-Palmer-Margaux-2020-w5970382gc">Alter Ego 2020</a>- $79.99

2. Le Petit Mouton de Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac, Bordeaux, France

Le Petit Mouton is the second wine of one of Bordeaux&#39;s most iconic and legendary wineries, Ch&acirc;teau Mouton Rothschild. This wine is only produced in exceptional years, and the quality is a testament to the winery&#39;s excellence and attention to detail. The 2015 vintage, with its concentrated flavors of blackcurrant, plum, and spices, received a score of 92 from Wine Spectator and can be purchased for around $335 per bottle.

<a href="https://www.grapesthewineco.com/wines/Le-Petit-Mouton-de-Mouton-Rothschild-Pauillac-2020-w8840018d3">Le Petit Mouton de Mouton Rothschild &nbsp;2020</a> - $335

3. Echo de Lynch-Bages, Pauillac, Bordeaux, France

Another Pauillac gem, Echo de Lynch-Bages, is the second wine of Ch&acirc;teau Lynch-Bages. This rich and complex wine is made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc, and has been praised for its refined tannins and flavors of blackberry, cassis, and cedar. The 2014 vintage, with its 91-point score from Wine Enthusiast, can be found for around $65 per bottle.

<a href="https://www.grapesthewineco.com/wines/Chateau-Lynch-Bages-Echo-de-Lynch-Bages-Pauillac-2019-w6428939kd">Echo de Lynch-Bages 2019</a> - $58.99

4. Les Hauts de Smith Blanc, Pessac-L&eacute;ognan, Bordeaux, France

Les Hauts de Smith Blanc is the second white wine of Ch&acirc;teau Smith Haut Lafitte, a top estate in the Pessac-L&eacute;ognan appellation of Bordeaux. This wine is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and S&eacute;millon, creating a refreshing and vibrant wine with notes of lemon, white peach, and a hint of minerality. The 2017 vintage received a score of 91 from Wine Enthusiast and can be purchased for around $40 per bottle.

<a href="https://www.plummarket.com/store/2019-chateau-smith-haut-lafitte-les-hauts-de-smith-blanc-pessac-leognan.html">Les Hauts de Smith Blanc 2019</a> - $38.99

5. La Dame de Montrose, Saint-Est&egrave;phe, Bordeaux, France

La Dame de Montrose is the second wine of Ch&acirc;teau Montrose, a historic and renowned producer in the Saint-Est&egrave;phe appellation of Bordeaux. Made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc, this wine offers a balance of power and finesse, with flavors of blackcurrant, plum, and savory spices. The 2015 vintage, with its 93-point rating from James Suckling, can be found for around $60 per bottle.

<a href="https://www.grapesthewineco.com/wines/La-Dame-de-Montrose-St-Estephe-2019-w24071707e">La Dame de Montrose 2019</a> - $52.99

6. Les Forts de Latour, Pauillac, Bordeaux, France

Les Forts de Latour is the second wine of the iconic Ch&acirc;teau Latour, one of Bordeaux&#39;s five First Growth estates. This wine is only produced in exceptional years, and it delivers the same level of quality and complexity as its first wine at a fraction of the price. The 2010 vintage, with its opulent flavors of blackberry, tobacco, and graphite, received a perfect 100-point score from Wine Enthusiast and can be purchased for around $500 per bottle.

7. Le Serre Nuove dell&#39;Ornellaia, Bolgheri, Tuscany, Italy

Le Serre Nuove dell&#39;Ornellaia is the second wine of Tenuta dell&#39;Ornellaia, one of Italy&#39;s most esteemed wineries in the Bolgheri region of Tuscany. Made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot, this wine offers a glimpse into the excellence and elegance of the estate&#39;s flagship wine, Ornellaia. The 2016 vintage, with its intense flavors of black cherry, plum, and spices, received a score of 94 from wine critic James Suckling and can be found for around $80 per bottle.

<a href="https://www.wine.com/product/ornellaia-le-serre-nuove-2020/1050279">Le Serre Nuove dell&#39;Ornellaia 2020</a> - $69.99

8. La Pignan, Ch&acirc;teauneuf-du-Pape, Rh&ocirc;ne, France

La Pignan is the second wine of Domaine de Marcoux, one of the top producers in the renowned Ch&acirc;teauneuf-du-Pape appellation of the Rh&ocirc;ne Valley. Made from a blend of Grenache, Mourv&egrave;dre, Syrah, and Cinsault, this wine offers a velvety texture and complex flavors of blackberry, cherry, and garrigue herbs. The 2016 vintage, with its impressive score of 96 from Wine Spectator. Very hard to find but a gem if you can.

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Second wines offer an excellent alternative for wine lovers to experience the quality and style of top wineries without breaking the bank. As your local wine shops or restaurant sommeliers to help guide you. These wines showcase the versatility and expertise of winemakers in producing high-quality wines at various price points. Whether you are a seasoned wine connoisseur or a curious beginner, trying a second wine can be a great way to explore new styles and regions while still enjoying exceptional quality.

We recently got a request from one of our community members asking about second wines, so we pulled together an article to explain second wines and share some great bottles. These are all great wines and are significantly more in reach price wise.

Second Wines Primer and Bottle Guide for affordable options

Wines from grapes grown in higher altitude areas with cooler climate has become quite the trend recently. This specific growing environment gives intense flavor but elegance and freshness to the final wines. To highlight and champion these conditions more and more winemakers are starting to use alto as a marketing and labelling term to show their grapes were grown in high altitude vineyards.

Decoding the wine label: Alto

Brut is a word often seen on labels for different kinds of sparkling wine. As you may have discovered when drinking these wines, it indicates that the wine is dry, meaning there is no perceived sweetness in the wine. But how about Extra Brut or Dry, what do they mean and are they the same as Brut?

Decoding the wine label: Brut

Semi-sweet Riesling, a type of wine falling out of style. It’s a shame, since these wines are perfect to pair with flavorful cuisines like Asian or Mexican, or simply drink as they come under the summer sun. The higher level of sugar left in the wine also means that the alcoholic fermentation was stopped before finishing, providing a wine with lower alcohol level and therefor easier grabbing a second glass of.

Decoding the wine label: Spätlese

Have you ever heard the word Xinomavro? Most have not. It is however a word on many sommeliers’ lips today, as it happens to be considered the grape variety with the highest quality in Greece, and one that is trending at the moment. The fact that Greece have been making wine for a long time comes as no surprise, but they have never exported an amount to make sure wine lovers around the globe tried it. With the growing wine tourism many have discovered these wines and are serving them in wine bars and restaurants in many countries today.

Decoding the wine label: Xinomavro

Chianti Classico, Valpolicella Classico, Soave Classico… Why do all these Italian wine regions have the Classico addendum and what does it mean? What is the difference for wines labeled as Classico?

Classico is a wine term in Italy seen on a few wine labels and it indicates that the wine’s from the historic center of the region, the heart. Using Chianti and Chianti Classico and their Sangiovese-based red wines as an example, Chianti is a rather large wine district within the Tuscany region. Chianti Classico is located withing Chianti as the central part and the one that originally existed. Back then this smaller region was actually called Chianti, but as the region grew the quality of the wine plummeted and the well-known characteristics of these red wines were watered down. The reputation took a hit and sales diminished. Eventually this led to the creation of Chianti Classico, which would be drawn from the original Chianti borders to recover the typicity of these wines. Today the quality of both Chianti and Chianti Classico have risen a lot due to modern techniques and knowledge about pruning, planting and temperature control in the winery.

Decoding the wine label: Classico

In the rarefied world of fine wine, where bottles can command prices equivalent to luxury cars, authenticity is everything. Laurent Ponsot's gripping memoir "FBI: Fake Bottle Investigation" reads more like a high-stakes thriller than a traditional wine book, chronicling his relentless pursuit of one of the wine world's most infamous counterfeiters, Rudy Kurniawan.

From Burgundy's Vineyards to the FBI's Most Wanted: A Winemaker's Quest for Justice

Chablis – one of the more popular styles of wine today and a region known by many. Most are familiar with the word Chablis and the light, fresh white wine with a touch of minerality it brings. Even though it’s a renowned wine, few knows what it really is.

Decoding the wine label: Chablis

Many grape varieties around the world of wine have names local to the region or country they’re grown in, even though they’re exactly the same. The most famous example would be Syrah in France where the same grape is named Shiraz in Australia. Another variety with two names is Pinot Grigio, or Pinot Gris.

Decoding the wine label: Pinot Grigio

Have you ever seen the term sur lie on a wine label? It’s not a grape and not a wine region, but a winemaking method used to give certain styles of white wine a rounder texture and a more complex flavor profile.

Decoding the wine label: Sur lie

Grant Wood

Lazy Bear

Lazy Bear

RT: Hello and welcome to CorkRules!&nbsp;

A podcast where we review a wine list from your favorite restaurants. I&rsquo;m your host Robert Tas along with Grant Wood, wine educator and certified sommelier.

Hello Grant, great to have you back for another great wine list.

GW: Hello Robert!

RT: Before we jump in, let&rsquo;s talk about CorkRules.

We created CorkRules to demystify wine lists because we know from experience, that sometimes wine lists can be intimidating, and even a little daunting.

Our aim is to help prepare you to navigate that list, find those hidden gems, value wines or that special bottle that will take your dining experience over the top.

RT:&nbsp;So, sit back and listen as we review your favorite wine list.

Lazy Bear is a modern American Dining experience located in the mission. They&rsquo;re best known for a communal dining experience, though, these days are separating individual parties but still crafting a unique dine out.

Let me start by saying just how compelling and deep this wine list goes. Led by Master Sommelier Andrey Ivanov with an impressive team of a team of gifted Somms, their passion world view of wine is quite moving.&nbsp; With over 1,700 selections and 135 pages to sift through, you are in for a journey of taste and place. They also have an impressive depth of vintages to choose from which of course is great for celebrating birth years, anniversaries, etc. so don&rsquo;t be afraid to ask your sommelier for particular years.

Let&rsquo;s dive in, however, because this is quite the list to go over!

Let&rsquo;s start with Champagne of course. I like that they split it up from grower Champagne and then move into the big house producers. Right away, the Pierre Peters &lsquo;Reserve Oubli&eacute;e Extra Brut Grand Cru from the village of Bouzy is a favorite of mine but of course, you can&rsquo;t go wrong with any of the Egly-Ouriet on their list as well.

Moving to big house bubs, I think the Cuv&eacute;e 738 by Jacquesson is a great bottle to consider but also the 2008 Billecart-Salmon &lsquo;Cuv&eacute;e Louis&rsquo; is a banger at a fair price as well. There&rsquo;s other great big names to look for as well so don&rsquo;t hold back by any means.

As for aromatic whites on their list, I would go for the 2005 Alzinger Loibenberg Smaragd from the Wachau which has some good age on it, and these are really amazing examples of Riesling from the best sites on the region. Fun fact: wines that say Smaragd tell you that the wine is at least 12.5% abv Smaragd literally means &ldquo;emerald&rdquo; named for the little green lizards that can be found sunning on the stone terraces along the Danube River.

Another favorite of mine on their list is the 2021 Zarate Albari&ntilde;o from Spain&rsquo;s Rias Baixas which always has a fresh ocean breeze aromatic with stone fruit and a natural freshness on the palate and a great value wine to seek out.

There is a great white Burgundy section as well so if you&rsquo;re looking for big names like Roulot, Duvissat, Raveneau, of Coche-Dury then you&rsquo;re covered. But if you want great white Burgundy on a budget then I love the 19&rsquo; Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin 1er Cru which is fantastic.

If you want chardonnay from California, I&rsquo;d go for the 2018 Racines from the Santa Rita Hills which is a much leaner, mineral-driven California Chard that&rsquo;s much more restrained which I love but a solid choice here is the 2016 Hirsch which is an amazing vineyard in Fort Ross Seaview.

Moving on to reds, let&#39;s get into it because there is a lot of ground to cover. There is of course a great Burgundy selection but let my shift focus to some stunning Pinot Noir from beyond that excites me. I like the 2015 Ceritas &lsquo;Costalina&rsquo; from the Sonoma Coast or the 2017 Whitcraft from Santa Barbara as far as Cali goes.

I really like the 2019 By Farr &lsquo;Sangreal&rsquo; from Geelong in Australia which is an amazing wine if you want to go down under.

Moving on to bigger reds, a great splurge, at least for me, would be the 92&rsquo; Domaine Jamet which happens to be my birth year and Jamet is an icon for Syrah in Cote Rotie and is worth the splurge.

They also happen to have a 1992&nbsp;Truchard Syrah from Carneros which is a great value from a winery literally a mile away from my house and is a classic and underrated producer in Carneros.

One other Syrah that I have to mention is the 2015 Mullineux &lsquo;granite&rsquo; Paardeberg from South Africa&rsquo;s Swartland. 

There is a great Italian selection as well but this being a great California establishment, they&rsquo;ve curated a great selection of Zinfandel which is a variety to hits home for me so let&#39;s take a moment to point out some great gems on this list.

I would definitely check out the 1996 Ravenswood Old Hill Ranch from Sonoma Valley. Old hill is one of Joel Peterson&rsquo;s favorite vineyards in Sonoma owned by Will Bucklin who&rsquo;s an amazing farmer and I&rsquo;ve been lucky to try some of Joel&rsquo;s Old Hill Ranch wines from the 90&rsquo;s that really stand up with age.

Also, they have a 1969 Lodi Zin from Ridge which would be a real treat to try something with that much age from a side bar region in California.

Also, the 83&rsquo; Ridge Lime Kiln Valley from the central coast would be very interesting to try. Lime Kiln AVA is a fascinating region with a lot of limestone and old, somewhat forgotten area with very interesting varieties like Cab Pfeffer. But the list goes on.

They have all the classics from Bordeaux as well but I&rsquo;m going to stay on the theme of classic California that excites me starting with the 07&rsquo; Cain Five from Spring Mountain which of course was a great year but Cain Five is an amazing wine from Spring Mountain.

I also love the 2011 Cardinale which was not regarded as a great year in Napa since it was unusually cool and wet, but these wines are ageing beautify. I had the Cardinale 11&rsquo; just last year and it was stellar. Cardinale was my first winery job when I turned 21 and their wines are exemplary of my start in the wine business.

Also, the 2000 Corison Napa Valley cab in Magnum would be a great splurge as well. Finally, the 82&rsquo; Dunn Vineyards is a revelation and always stands the test of time.

The list goes on and I&rsquo;m sure I&rsquo;ve gone a little overtime here, but I think this list is worth going a bit extra.

Final thoughts, this is an incredibly well thought-out list that really invites you to explore vintage depth and your inner curiosity. I can&rsquo;t wait to go back to Lazy Bear and I hope you get to go soon and explore.

Cheers!

Grant, Thank you so much for all your great suggestions and helping us navigate Lazy Bear&rsquo;s wine list. I can&rsquo;t wait to go try your great suggestions.&nbsp;&nbsp;

To our audience, thank you all for Joining us here on CorkRules.

If you would like us to review one of your favorite restaurants, please send us email to: <a href="mailto:Info@CorkRules.com">Info@CorkRules.com</a> or visit our web website where we have a request form available and we will do our best to get it in the queue as quickly as possible.

We are looking forward to being with you on another CorkRules episode soon. In the meantime, please check out our website for other episodes of your favorite restaurant wine lists.&nbsp;

And finally, drink what you love and please make sure you drink responsibly.

Thank you.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

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Ziggy Mahoney's

Available Wines
Total Wines - 7

J Vineyards

Pinot Gris NV

Pinot Gris

California, USA

Storypoint

Cabernet Sauvignon NV

Cabernet Sauvignon

California, USA

Canyon Road

Cabernet Sauvignon NV

Cabernet Sauvignon

California, USA

Canyon Road

Chardonnay NV

Chardonnay

California, USA

Copper Ridge

Vineyards Pinot Grigio NV

California, USA

Copper Ridge

Cabernet Sauvignon NV

Cabernet Sauvignon

California, USA

Copper Ridge

Merlot NV

Merlot

California, USA