2010 Château Lynch-Bages, Pauillac, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
Robert M. Parker, Jr. - 28/02/2013
Jancis Robinson MW- jancis robinson.com Apr 2011
James Molesworth – The Wine Spectator – Mar 2011
Robert Parker- Wine Advocate- Feb 2013
Over the last three vintages, Lynch Bages has returned with a vengeance after somewhat listless performances following their brilliant duo of 1989 and 1990. Much of the credit for this must go to Jean-Charles Cazes who has taken over for his father, Jean-Michel, one of the greatest ambassadors Bordeaux has ever had. The 2010 blew me away on each occasion I tasted it during my two week sojourn in Bordeaux. Tannic and concentrated, this huge Pauillac boasts an inky/purple color as well as impressive notes of creme de cassis, smoke, graphite and spring flowers. This dense, seriously endowed, monstrous Lynch Bages is reminiscent of some of the wines made at this estate in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. It will require 4-5 years of cellaring and should be drinkable for 3-4 decades.
Robert Parker- Wine Advocate- May 2011
About this WINE
Chateau Lynch-Bages
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."
France
Despite their own complacency, occasional arrogance and impressive challenges from all-comers, France is still far and away the finest wine-producing nation in the world and its famous regions – Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Loire, Rhône, Alsace and increasingly Languedoc Roussillon – read like a who’s who of all you could want from a wine. Full-bodied, light-bodied, still or fizzy, dry or sweet, simple or intellectual, weird and wonderful, for drinking now or for laying down, France’s infinitesimal variety of wines is one of its great attributes. And that’s without even mentioning Cognac and Armagnac.
France’s grape varieties are grown, and its wines emulated, throughout the world. It also brandishes with relish its trump card, the untranslatable terroir that shapes a wine’s character beyond the range of human knowledge and intervention. It is this terroir - a combination of soil and microclimate - that makes Vosne-Romanée taste different to Nuits-St Georges, Ch. Langoa Barton different to Ch. Léoville Barton.
France is a nation with over 2,000 years of winemaking, where the finest grapes and parcels of land have been selected through centuries of trial and error rather than market research. Its subtleties are never-ending and endlessly fascinating. Vintage variation is as great here as anywhere – rain, hail, frost and, occasionally, burning heat can ruin a vintage. Yet all this creates interest, giving the wines personality, and generating great excitement when everything does come together.
However, this is not to say that French wine is perfect. Its overall quality remains inconsistent and its intricate system of classification and Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) based on geography as opposed to quality is clearly flawed, sometimes serving as a hindrance to experimentation and improvement.
Nevertheless, the future is bright for France: quality is better than ever before – driven by a young, well-travelled and ambitious generation of winemakers – while each year reveals new and exciting wines from this grand old dame.
Cabernet Sauvignon Blend
Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.
In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.
In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and Australia.
Buying options
Add to wishlist
Description
When I dive into a glass of wine and try to analyse it, I really try to judge it as almost an oenological graphic equaliser, replacing treble, bass and tone with tannins, acidity, fruit and alcohol. For the mighty stadium-rocking 2010 Lynch Bages you need to turn your amp up to 11 to fully appreciate this staggering wine. It’s an all singing, all dancing, high octane but perfectly balanced beauty - a race car driving just on the edge!
Masculine and for the reasonably long haul, it’s a powerhouse of sweet, ripe cool Cabernet fruit with an intoxicating minerality and literally a five minute finish. Perfection in liquidity. Brilliant.
(79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot)
Simon Staples, Fine Wine Director
wine at a glance
Delivery and quality guarantee