Bordeaux second growth Chateau Leoville Las Cases has announced it is to produce a second wine.
Yorick D'Alton of the Delon family, owners of the St Julien property, said this week it was the wish of Leoville Las Cases director Jean-Hubert Delon 'to make a real second wine.'
He added, 'The trend at the property is to select more and more, and if we make a second wine this will improve our top wines.'
Currently the property produces two wines, the grand vin from the original walled 'clos' vineyard, and Clos de Marquis, from a separate plot to the west of St Julien, with very different terroir.
D'Alton said, 'This will be a common second wine from both vineyards, made from young vines and vats that are not of the right quality level.'
The first release of the new wine, to be called Petit Leon de Léoville, will be from the 2007 vintage.
No further details on pricing or release date have been announced.
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I'm sure that all understand that English is not M. D'Alton's first language - and in no way do I mean this as a criticism. But one can't help but feel that in his final quote above, he wasn't communicating precisely what he wished to convey. Things sometimes go awry or get lost in translation. Steven Drotos, Hamilton, Canada
I am a fan of both Leoville Las Cases and Clos du Marquis. I have maybe a dozen bottles of Leoville of different vintages and a few cases of Clos du Marquis from 1998 to 2005. I can no longer afford Leoville so I look forward to a real second wine, at hopefully a reasonable price, as many second wines are of very good value
(examples including Les Forts de Latour, Pavillon Rouge, Carruades de Lafite etc.) for those of us who are unable to afford the Grands Vins. Ivan Filanti, Canada
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Caroline Gilby
I'm sure that all understand that English is not M. D'Alton's first language - and in no way do I mean this as a criticism. But one can't help but feel that in his final quote above, he wasn't communicating precisely what he wished to convey. Things sometimes go awry or get lost in translation. Steven Drotos, Hamilton, Canada
