Inside Bordeaux's Super Second Elite- Léoville Las Cases & Pichon Baron

When I was in Bordeaux recently, I had a chance to visit four wineries that are considered to be super-seconds. So in this video, I'm going to share what I learned as well as my collecting strategy for those producers. I'll cover two of the wineries in this video and two of them in a future video. Even if you can't buy the top wines for these producers, be sure to stick around because they also produce some additional wines that I'll discuss that are tremendous values and which you can purchase for as little as $50 per bottle. But first, what is a super-second Bordeaux? Well, these are wines that were not classified as first growths in the 1855 classification of Bordeaux, but which have outstanding reputations for quality and which in certain strong vintages can produce wines that rival or even surpass the quality of certain first growth Bordeaux. Many of these super-seconds were classified as second growths in the 1855 classification of Bordeaux, but not all super-seconds are second growths. Similarly, not all second growths are super-seconds. Typically, these wines will sell for a premium to second growths, but for less than the cost of the first growth wines. So while there's no formal definition and opinions may vary, the two producers discussed in this video, namely Léoville Lascasse and Pichon Baron, are widely considered to be super-seconds. Léoville Lascasse is a historic producer that dates way back to the 1600s. For many years, there was one massive Léoville estate that spanned more than 300 hectares. But after the French Revolution, some of this land was sold off and ultimately became Léoville In 1840, the rest of the land was divided in half, with the owner splitting the property equally between his son and his daughter. The son received what ultimately became Léoville Lascasse, and the daughter received what ultimately became Léoville Poiret. Interestingly, the administrative buildings for Léoville Lascasse and Léoville Poiret are still in the same area, and there's even a In fact, I parked at Léoville Poiret to visit Léoville Lascasse. Léoville Lascasse was classified as a second growth in the 1855 classification of Bordeaux. It's located in a prestigious area of Saint-Julien, very close to the Pauillac border. Lascasse has some extremely rocky soils, and so around two-thirds of their vineyards are planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, a little bit less than a quarter is planted to Merlot, and there's about 10% of Cabernet Franc. Some of the most prestigious parcels in the Lascasse vineyard holdings are located right next to Chateau Latour. In fact, only a small stream separates the vineyards of Latour and Lascasse in this area. In terms of winemaking, Lascasse is very much a traditional producer, and they use an extremely strict selection process for their top wine. They mature their wine in a high percentage of new French oak for around 18 months or so, but of course the precise amount of new French oak, as well as the length of the maturation, will vary a bit from vintage to vintage. The winery was undergoing renovations when I was there, so I wasn't able to tour that facility, but that winery should be finished in the summer of 2026. Beginning with the 2026 vintage, Lascasse should be able to use much more precision in its winemaking. This is so because in addition to having gravity flow, the new winery is going to have a large number of new fermentation vessels, as well as much more space than the previous facility. You've probably heard of parcel-by-parcel or plot-by-plot vinification, but Lascasse will take things one step further. It's my understanding that for some parcels, they will even divide their fruit into two or three smaller subparts, and they'll vinify and mature each of those subparts separately. So going forward, they'll have tremendous precision in their winemaking and blending. But what do the wines taste like? Well, Lascasse has been an extremely strong performer, and it's made consistently outstanding wine for many years. Even in the challenging 2021 vintage, Lascasse produced an excellent wine. The fruit profile tends to be a little bit dark, so you'll typically find blackberry and blackcurrant. The wines are also a little bit reticent in their youth, so you're not going to get a lot of flashy, flamboyant, or expressive fruit when these wines are young. When they're young, a lot of the vintages can have some serious structure and firm tannins. While there are certainly some exceptions that I'll discuss in this video, many of the Lascasse wines benefit from substantial aging, and I tend to wait at least 15 years or more before I start opening my bottles. While it's hard to go wrong with many of the top Lascasse bottlings over the last two or three decades, some standouts definitely include the 1996, which I've tasted a couple times in the past year, and which compares extremely favorably to some of the first growth wines from that vintage. In fact, a few months ago we did a 1996 Bordeaux tasting where we tried all the first gross, and we included Lascasse in that lineup as well. Lascasse had an extremely strong showing, despite the fact that it sells for a fraction of the cost of many of the first growth wines. Also, at the James Suckling Great Wines of the World event, Lascasse was generously pouring the 2016 vintage, which received at least four perfect 100 point scores. That's arguably one of the very best vintages of Lascasse ever produced, so it's well worth tracking down if you're able to find some well-preserved bottles. More recently, the 2022 was another standout vintage for Lascasse that received at least one perfect score. But as mentioned, Lascasse also made a very strong wine in 2021, and that's a vintage that's not going to require nearly as much age before you can enjoy it. And better still, I found that one selling for around $150 less per bottle than the 2022 vintage, so certainly excellent relative pricing for the 2021 Lascasse as well. While there's very few vintages of Lascasse that I have not enjoyed, some other standouts include 1986, 1990, 2000, 2009 and 10, 2015, 18, 19 and 20, and most recently 2023. When I was at the winery, we tasted both the 2001 and the 2017 vintages. I was particularly surprised at how fruit-forward and expressive the 2017 Lascasse was, so that's definitely a wine that you can enjoy sooner rather than later. In fact, not just Lascasse, but many other Bordeaux producers are also pouring their 2017s when you visit or at other trade events, for example, so that's definitely an earlier drinking vintage in Bordeaux. The 2001 Lascasse was also in a terrific place, and I definitely would not hesitate to open that bottle if you have it in your cellar. If you have any favorite vintages of Léoville Lascasse that you've tried over the years, or if you've had any bottlings recently, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. In addition to its top wine, Lascasse also makes two other wines that I'll be discussing in this video, the first of which is Clos de Marquis. This is not a second wine, rather it's a second label. This is so because the fruit that goes into this wine is not declassified fruit that does not make it into the top Léoville Lascasse wine. Rather, there's a small walled vineyard that itself has excellent terroir, and which produces the fruit that is always included in Clos de Marquis. This vineyard is located near Léoville Barton and Léoville Poivre. Clos de Marquis definitely bears a resemblance to Léoville Lascasse, but it's a little bit less concentrated. It is still extremely age-worthy though, and I've enjoyed some bottlings that have had more than 20 years or so of age on them, and they're still showing extremely well. This wine has matured in around 40% to 50% new French oak for about 18 months or so, depending on the vintage. This wine also offers tremendous value, and if you shop around, you can often find it for between $60 and $70 per bottle. I found that it definitely benefits from some additional aging. I like to wait at least 10 years after the vintage before I enjoy it, and in fact, when I was at the winery recently, they poured the 2016 Clos de Marquis. That was an extremely impressive wine, and definitely one that punched well above its price point. While I have not tried it yet, it's my understanding that Lascasse also began producing a second wine for Clos de Marquis, beginning with the 2015 vintage. But the third primary wine produced by Lascasse that I'll be discussing in this video is called Le Petit Lion. This is a wine that's been produced by Lascasse since the 2007 vintage. There's several categories of fruit that are included in this wine. First, there's some fruit from some younger vines that aren't yet old enough to be included in the top wine. There's also some parcels that are located in more sandy soils close to the water that are particularly expressive and which are included. And also, there's a high percentage of Merlot included in this wine. As such, it's extremely approachable in its youth, certainly relative to the other Lascasse wines, and you can enjoy it on the younger side, but it's certainly capable of aging 12 to 15 years or more as well. As with Clos de Marquis, this is a wine that you should be able to find for around $60 to $70 per bottle if you shop around. This wine is also a good way for you to get a feel for the house style of Lascasse, particularly if you have not yet tried the Lascasse top wine. Before I discuss Pichon Baron, just a quick word about visiting Bordeaux. Many people ask me about which wineries they should visit. It's getting a little bit more difficult to visit some of the top producers that are either first gross or even some of the second gross, but Pichon Baron assured me that they welcome visitors, so don't hesitate to reach out to them if you're interested in visiting, as they do a very nice job with their visits and you get to see the famous Chateau while you are there and probably try several different wines in their tasting room. As with Léoville Lascasse, Pichon Baron started out as part of a much larger estate, but in 1850, on the eve of his death, Baron Joseph de Pichon-Longville divided his large Pauillac estate among his five children. He wanted to be fair to everyone, so his three daughters received three-fifths of the vineyard, which ultimately became Pichon Comtesse, and his two sons received the other two-fifths, which ultimately became Pichon Baron. Five years later, both Pichon Comtesse and Pichon Baron were classified as second gross in the 1855 classification of Bordeaux. In the 1980s, the current owners of Pichon Baron acquired it, and they wasted no time implementing a number of important changes that greatly improved the quality of the wine. Among other things, they started harvesting later in the growing season so that the fruit was more ripe, they introduced a second wine, and made sure that they used a much more strict selection of fruit for the top wine. They also used a higher percentage of new oak for the maturation of the top wine. These efforts had a big impact on the wines, and Pichon Baron made some extremely strong wines in 1989 and 1990, which to this day is one of my favorite vintages ever for Pichon Baron. Back in the 80s, the new owners also greatly expanded the vineyards, and now Pichon Baron has around 73 hectares of vines. These vines are planted to 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and there's smaller amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Notably, however, only Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are used in the top wine. As with most top Bordeaux producers, the vineyards are divided into numerous different plots, and both farmed and vinified on not just a plot-by-plot basis, but also by grape variety. Beginning with the 2010 vintage, the selection used by Pichon Baron became even more strict because they started to implement an optical sorting machine. Just to give you an idea of how much more strict they are today with the selection for the top wine, back in 2000 they made around 30,000 cases of the top wine, but today they're producing around half that amount. The Pichon Baron top wine comes from fruit from some of their oldest vines that are grown in historic plots that were used to produce wine way back in the late 1600s. This wine is typically around 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot, although the precise blend will vary from vintage to vintage. Pichon Baron produces a wine that's both powerful and elegant, certainly a bit more powerful than Pichon Comtesse. Nevertheless, it's certainly capable of aging for up to a few decades as well. This wine typically has more of a dark fruit profile and additional descriptors that include tobacco, cedar, graphite, earth, and mixed spice. Not that long ago, Pichon Baron completed a comprehensive overhaul of its winery and the facilities are very much state-of-the-art. They mature the top wine for around 18 months in 75 to 80% New French Oak, although the precise percentages will vary by vintage. While I was there, the winemaking team was nice enough to also give me a demonstration of how they use traditional racking by candlelight. They also let me get an early taste of the 2025 Pichon Baron, which had impressive purity of fruit. With respect to some of my favorite vintages for Pichon Baron, I've already mentioned the 1989 and 1990, but I certainly also very much enjoy 1996, 2000, 2003, and 2005. But they really picked things up to a whole new level beginning with the 2009 vintage. 2009 and 10 were of course very strong, but beginning with 2014, you can pretty much buy with confidence every single vintage. Even in the challenging 2021 vintage, Pichon Baron made one of the very best wines on Bordeaux's left bank, particularly because they used one of the highest percentages of Cabernet Sauvignon for their top wine in their history, and 2021 was definitely a vintage where Cabernet Sauvignon shined on Bordeaux's left bank. Currently you can find both the 2022 and 2023 vintages in the market. 2022 is a little bit more highly regarded. Ratings tend to range between 96 and 98 points, compared to 95 to 97 points for the 2023, but both were excellent vintages. The 2023 will sell for about $25 less in the United States, right around $175 or so, whereas the 2022 will cost closer to $200 a bottle. When I was at the winery, I had a chance to do a comparison tasting between the 2017 and 2018 vintages. The 2017 vintage was definitely more approachable and getting close to the early stage of its drinking window. I think the 2018 was definitely the wine that I would score the highest if I was going to rate those two vintages, but that's definitely one that will take some additional bottle age before it reaches its peak. If you have any favorite vintages of Pichon Barone, or if you've tried it recently, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Pichon Barone also makes two other red wines that I'll be discussing in this video. Both offer excellent value at around $50 per bottle in the United States. The first of these wines is also my favorite, and it's called Les Graffons de Pichon Barone. This is a wine that's been produced since the 2012 vintage. It's typically a blend that consists of around 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot, although certainly that will vary by vintage. This wine matures in around 60% New French Oak, but they also use Amphora for the maturation. In fact, not only Pichon Barone, but also some other Bordeaux producers that I visited recently spoke very highly of the results that they're getting from maturing some of their wines in Amphora, so that's definitely a trend that I expect to see continue in the future. This wine is really a tremendous value at around $50 per bottle. I tasted the 2018 vintage when I was at the winery, and it was showing extremely well, but it certainly has a long life ahead of it as well. This is wine that can age up to 20 years in strong vintages. The other second wine made by Pichon Barone dates way back to 1983. Historically, this wine has been called Les Tourelles de Longville, but beginning with the 2023 vintage, the name is going to be changed to Les Tourelles de Pichon Barone. This is wine that definitely has a higher percentage of Merlot, often around 70% or so, and then the rest of the blend consists of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. This wine matures for about one year in Oak, 30% of which is New, and 70% of which had one previous use. The fruit for this wine comes from a specific plot of vines that's called Saint Anne. This is wine that's better with about three to five years of additional bottle age, and it will certainly last up to 15 years or so with no problem at all. While I was at the winery, I also had the opportunity to taste a very special white wine from Pichon Barone. They only made about 400 bottles of this particular wine. It's a bit of an experiment of sorts. It's 100% Semillon. It was certainly a very intriguing wine, and one that I hope they roll out on a broader scale in the years to come. If you'd like to learn more about Super Second Bordeaux producers, please be sure to watch this video that's linked above, where I discuss Ducroux-Beaucaillieu, Pichon Comtesse, Chateau Montrose, and Coste d'Esternal.