2022 Blanc de Lynch-Bages, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
The 2022 Echo de Lynch-Bages has a fresh, quite leesy bouquet with touches of gooseberry and lime flower. The 50% new oak is neatly integrated. The palate is well balanced with crisp acidity, taut and fresh, fine salinity with a dab of stem ginger on the finish. Fine.
Drink 2024 - 2032
Neal Martin, Vinous.com (April 2023)
The 2022 Blanc de Lynch-Bages is bright and nicely focused, with tons of Sauvignon Blanc aromas and flavours driving the blend. Citrus, white flowers, mint, chalk and tomato leaf are delineated nicely. The 2022 has just been bottled, but its freshness is notable.
Drink 2023 - 2037
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (April 2023)
A bright and vivid white with sliced lemon, grapefruit and mineral character. Medium to full body. Crisp acidity and a minerally finish. Lots of energy this year despite the hot and dry growing season. 67% sauvignon blanc, 22% semillon and 11% muscadelle.
Drinking beautifully already.
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (April 2023)
Peach, apricot, pear and green apple combine with sweet tropical fruit touches, lending freshness and a rich, gourmet aspect to this wine. Succulent and energetic - a nice balance between opulence and liveliness. Still on the serious side but with subtle minerality and enjoyable florality.
3.20pH. Ageing six months, 50% new oak. The first time all the grapes were harvested in August (25-31). 3.2pH. 4.3 g/L total acidity. Aged six months in barrels on lees (50% new oak).
Drink 2023 - 2030
Georgina Hindle, Decanter.com (April 2023)
While the 2022 Château Lynch Bages Blanc had been bottled just before my visit, it wasn’t showing any worse for wear and has a terrific perfume of honeyed lime, white flowers, citrus, and chalky minerality. Based on 67% Sauvignon, 22% Sémillon, and 11% Muscadelle, it stays fresh, vibrant, medium-bodied, and refreshing on the palate.
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (May 2023)
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."
Sauvignon Blanc & Sémillon
The blend used for White Graves and Sauternes and rarely encountered outside France. In the great dry whites of Graves, Sauvignon Blanc tends to predominate in the blend, although properties such as Smith Haut Lafite use 100% Sauvignon Blanc while others such as Laville Haut Brion have as much as 60% Sémillon in their final blends. Sauvignon Blanc wines can lose their freshness and fruit after a couple of years in bottle - if blended with Sémillon, then the latter bolsters the wine when the initial fruit from the Sauvignon fades. Ultimately Sauvignon Blanc gives the wine its aroma and raciness while Sémillon gives it backbone and longevity.
In Sauternes, Sémillon is dominant, with Sauvignon Blanc playing a supporting role - it is generally harvested about 10 days before Sémillon and the botrytis concentrates its sweetness and dampens Sauvignon Blanc`s naturally pungent aroma. It contributes acidity, zip and freshness to Sauternes and is an important component of the blend.
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Description
The contribution of Muscadelle to this wine is unusually important. The Muscadelle vines are quite old, planted in 1988. This year’s weather conditions have given the fruit aromas of grape and elderflower instead of the peapod note it can sometimes deliver.
The wine is not especially mineral but has plenty of energy, if not the citrus edge of 2021. It is a wine for drinking early, with a fleshier and more exotic profile than usual. It was fermented and aged in barrel; with the new cellar facilitating temperature control for each individual barrel, the wine is well-composed and immediately attractive.
Sauvignon Blanc 67%; Sémillon 22%; Muscadelle 11%
Drink 2023 - 2029
Score: 17/20
Berry Bros. & Rudd (April 2023)
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