What is a third wine in Bordeaux?

A third cut of the same harvest

A Bordeaux estate that makes a grand vin sorts its harvest after the wine is made, vat by vat. The best lots make the grand vin, the next best make the second wine, and what remains has traditionally left the estate in bulk, without its name. A third wine is the decision to keep part of that remainder, age it properly and bottle it at home.

Château Margaux (opens in a new tab) spells out the whole ladder: the grand vin, then Pavillon Rouge, then Margaux (opens in a new tab) du Château Margaux, and last a fourth selection that is sold in bulk. The third wine was itself sold in bulk until the 2009 vintage, when the estate began aging it in barrel and bottling it. It averages about 60,000 bottles a year, or 5,000 cases.

Five houses and their ladders

Names move. Calon Ségur’s third wine was first La Chapelle de Calon, then Le Saint-Estèphe de Calon Ségur, and has been Le C de Calon Ségur since the 2019 vintage. The C stands for the third letter of the alphabet, for Calon, and for cœur, the heart on the estate’s labels.

Angélus shows that the appellation can change too. Its second wine, first made in 1987, is a Saint-Émilion Grand Cru; N°3 d’Angélus is labeled plain Saint-Émilion, the wider appellation around it, and is drawn from a selection of Saint-Émilion terroirs. Angélus goes one step further, with Tempo d’Angélus, a Bordeaux, since 2019.

Less new oak, fewer months

The difference is in the lots and in the cellar. Calon Ségur draws Le C mainly from its young vines. Le Petit Ducru is a selection from Ducru-Beaucaillou’s Saint-Julien vineyards, a Cabernet and Merlot (opens in a new tab) blend that sometimes takes a little Petit Verdot (opens in a new tab). The house presents it as the way into its 3 wines. The clearest numbers are at Margaux:

Less new wood and a shorter élevage make a lighter wine, ready earlier, and that is the intention.

At Calon Ségur, Le C spends 16 months in barrels already 3 years old and is fined (cleared) with egg white. The third wine is built to be opened young, while the grand vin and the second wine are still closed.

What the name promises

The same as a second wine: nothing in law. A third wine has no legal definition, and the only rules it answers to are those of its appellation. What it does promise is that the estate itself chose, aged, and bottled it, which is more than the bulk sale it replaced could say.

An estate that adds a third wine makes its second wine a selection rather than a catch-all, and the first wine stricter still.