2nd wine of Leoville Las Cases bought in my "study" of 2nd labels. I will say that if this is what Las Cases' 2nd tastes like, I must taste the big brother some day. Too bad I can't afford the 2000s.

A medium wine in all depts. Med tanninns, med acidity, med body. Dark red color with tinges of purple. Cassis and black currant on the nose which follows through on the palate with subtle oak. One of the classier wines I've had recently as it was well balanced. Decanted for 1 hour before drinking and it really hummed at the 3 hr. mark.

I don't think there would be any harm in drinking these now but it probably could use another year or two(?) in the bottle. 89 pts.

Sorry to all who are interested...paid $26 not too long ago.

In my opinion this may be the best second label on the market. In actuality it isn't a 100% second. What I mean is that the juice is not made up only of declasified wine. There ar especific vinyards at the Chateaux that are grown and tended to specifically for this wine. That makes it a great purchase and an educated buy year in and year out. The 2000 is on my watch list, but I haven't seen it yet.

TCK

You might want to try a few vintages of, at a minimum, Les Forts de Latour before making that rather bold statement.

Jones,

It is true that I have had much more experience with the Clos du Marquis then with the Les Forts De Latour. My only experience with the latter was the 96 vintage, and that was fantastic! That prompted me to do a little research and it turns out that I found a passage from Parker where he lists his three favorite seconds as -Bahans Haut Brion, Les Forts De Latour, and Clos du Marquis. Not that this makes me right or wrong, because it's not about that, but it does show that we both are backing winning horses. I will make an extra effort to try Les Forts more often, but as for now I'm sticking to my statent on this one. For the record I have had the Bahans once (95) and really didn't think it was very special.

TCK

If Parker is the arbiter then see page 252-253 of Parker's latest edition of Bordeaux. ""[I]n more objective terms, [Les Forts de Latour] is comparable to a fourth-growth in quality, which still establishes this wine as the finest "second" wine produced in Bordeaux...Because Les Forts de Latour is widely regarded as the finest of all the "second wines" and, in tastings, frequently rated above more famous Pauilliacs, its stature is such that it merits seperate coverage".

Re 2000 Alter Ego. It was enjoyable and at $40 relatively reasonably priced for a 2000.

Very interesting,

I would be interested in your top five list of seconds. And your thoughts on the wines in general from a quality and value perspective. I find that they rarely deliver the goods based on the prices they go for, with the exception of Marquis and Les Forts (based more on reviews by others then personal experience).

TCK

Jones,
if you would expand some, I am also curious about the seconds and to build on that.....besides a ranking which may or may not be useful.........for the prices they fetch, I am curious if you actually buy any of the seconds for your cellar or is this just a discussion that as seconds, they aren't pretty good.

oops....i meant at the end there...that as seconds they ARE pretty good.