Chateau Lynch Bages 2005

Château Lynch Bages, a 5ème Cru Classé, is one of the best-known Médoc estates and has always had a particularly strong following on this side of the English Channel. Since 1973 it has been owned by the enigmatic Jean-Michel Cazes and is now run by his son, Jean-Charles.
Lynch Bages’s vineyards are superbly sited on a plateau west of Pauillac town, in the small village of Bages. The 90 hectares of vineyards (Red: Cabernet Sauvignon 75%, Merlot 15%, Cabernet Franc 10%) lie on deep gravel beds over limestone. For the reds, fermentation is temperature-controlled with extensive ‘remontage’ to ensure concentration and depth of colour. A special system of pipes transfers the wine from the cuves to the oak barriques (60% new) where it matures for 15 months.
Lynch Bages can be surprisingly soft and approachable when young. However, when fully mature, it develops a succulent richness and a heavenly bouquet of minty blackcurrants and cigar boxes. As Oz Clarke says “Lynch Bages is impressive at five years, beautiful at ten years and irresistible at twenty.”

TASTING NOTES

A sublime masculine heavyweight Lynch. It is Pauillac personified with an impenetrable but incredibly ripe nose bursting with pure, minerally cassis. Mouthfilling creamy black cherry and blackcurrant fruit is phenomenally smooth and boasts great structure with hints of tobacco, coffee, leather and mint. The tannins are rich and silky with a rare freshness. The wine is aged in 80% new oak which is the most they have ever used, feeling it necessary to cloak the exceptional fruit and powerful tannins. This is set to be a legendary Lynch so don’t miss out.