Reserve de la Comtesse 2015 (750ml)
$127.00
The 2015 Reserve de la Comtesse is a blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. It has a very fine, quite sophisticated, and pure bouquet with black cherries, cedar and violet aromas, perfumed and sensual. The palate is medium-bodied with supple, rounded tannin that is cloaked by layers of tobacco-tinged black fruit that segues into a long, lightly spiced finish. This is a delightful, quite serious deuxième vin that I suspect will age much longer than drinkers will afford it. Try to give this five years and you will be rewarded.
France, Bordeaux, Medoc, Pauillac
Bordeaux Blend Red
In the Bordeaux region, the classified crus have mixed soils, but large enough tracts of land to make very rigorous selections. It is only the quest for excellence during the XVIIIth century that led the owners to elaborate several wines of different quality. Severe selecting is the guarantee of the quality of great wine, but also of a second wine.
Today, the second wines represent between 20 and 50 % of the total production of the Chateau. From the same soil, the second wine benefits from the same technology as the great wine, and also its reputation. They are generally excellent wines, though less robust and long-lasting than their elders.
The archives kept at Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande mention the existence of a second wine as early as the XIXth century: 27 April 1890, shipping of four bottles of the vintage 1874 second wine to the Moscow exhibition.
