Second wines are always fun... 🤩
11.10.2023
2018 Le Comte de Malartic
Release Price: $40.00
winestore. Price: $24.99 (net)
Lowest Online Price in the USA!
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Napa winemaking icon Jayson Pahlmeyer had a quote about second label wines (specifically about the Jayson red blend that was his $50 second label to the $150 Pahlmeyer Prop Red) that I love. He said "“The Jayson goes into the same brand new French oak barrels [as the main label, Pahlmeyer], has the same barrel-aging regimen, same blending, same care and dedication from my winemaker,” Pahlmeyer explains. “It’s 90 percent of the quality at 50 percent of the price.”
90% of the quality at 50% of the price is a standard I can get behind.
I told you last week that one of the best wines I tasted in 2023 was the 2018 Chateau Malartic La Graviere, but at $59.99 that is not in my weekly wine budget.
Enter the 2018 Le Comte de Malartic, the second label from this famed estate.
In 2018 for this wine, we’re talking about almost the exact same grape blend, same vat period, same vilification methods, and really the only difference being yields (the Comte is from some of the younger vines on the Estate that have higher yields), and aging time - the Comte sees 15 months vs 18 months for the big boy.
After tasting the wine I think Jayson Pahlmeyer is pretty spot on.
Is it as good as the flagship wine? It is not.
But at $24.99 vs. $59.99 it suddenly becomes probably one of the 5 best sub $25 wines we carry in the entire store. I had a bottle two Sundays ago with some Cheeseburgers and it was divine. Honestly, the fact that it is below $25 makes me love it even more.
It reminds me a bit of a wine called Mas Doix Salanques from Priorat. Not in that they taste the same, but Salanques was a second label to the $100 Mas Doix, and at $29.99 it was not only delicious, I have bottles that are now 20 years old and still taste fresh and young. As a collector and wine lover, finding $25 wines that can go the distance is part of the fun!
No other bottles of this vintage are currently for sale in the United States. Wine.com does have the 2019 vintage available for $34.99 per bottle.
A great wine for your cellar / wine fridge, for this weekend, for Holiday gifts, or maybe your Thanksgiving table (that all depends on how much your relatives drink 😂).
All that said, I know what I'm drinking tonight!
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