CHATEAU LYNCH-BAGES 5eme Grand Cru Classe, Pauillac 2022 Bottle

Description

The 2022 Château Lynch-Bages has garnered exceptional acclaim, featuring prominently in notable reviews with high scores. Decanter awarded it 97 points, highlighting its rich aromas of blackcurrant, bramble fruit, and herbal nuances, while praising its tense and focused structure with gripping tannins. James Suckling also rated it 98-99 points, noting the vibrant notes of blackcurrants, blueberries, and flowers, alongside beautifully integrated tannins and a persistent finish. Vinous scored it 96 points, describing its defined bouquet of black fruit, cedar, and graphite, with a taut, crisp palate. The Wine Advocate praised it with a score of 93-96 points for its muscular character, deep fruit flavours, and well-integrated oak. Jancis Robinson awarded it 18 points, recognising its sumptuous palate and significant aging potential.

*****

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."

DECANTER 97 points
Drinking Window: 2030 - 2050 - Blackcurrant and bramble fruit with savoury herbal nuances on the nose, this smells rich and potent. Tense and focussed, compact from the get go, present tannins give grip and hold. This is definitely not out to charm, more serious, stern and focussed but there's such overall precision. This is in high definition, supremely controlled and well worked with mouthfilling ripe tannins. I like the chewy aspect and there’s balancing acidity, hidden now by the density, that will sustain the wine for decades to come. Floral notes and some minerality come through giving the nuance so it’s not all heft, but there’s clear muscle on show. A long finish gives the sense of structure and style. An impressive wine. 95 IPT. 3.71pH. Ageing 18 months, 75% new oak. 3% Petit Verdot completes the blend. 4.1 g/L total acidity. Harvest 12 September - 24 September. - Georgina Hindle Apr 23

JAMES SUCKLING 98-99 Points
13 Apr, 2023 – Wow. Blackcurrants, blueberries, blackberries and flowers. Full-bodied with beautifully integrated tannins that melt into the wine. Persistent and precise. A fantastic wine for the cellar. 66% cabernet sauvignon, 28% merlot, 3% cabernet franc and 3% petit verdot.

VINOUS 96 points
The 2022 Lynch-Bages has a showstopping bouquet that is well defined, very pure and focused, displaying black fruit laced with cedar and graphite. Hints of pressed violet emerge with aeration. This has actually gained pixelation in barrel. The palate is taut and crisp, with touches of graphite flourishing with aeration so that it could only come from Pauillac. There's plenty of energy coiled up in this Lynch Bages. The 2022 will give a lot of pleasure over the next 30 years or more. Superb. - Neal Martin

THE WINE ADVOCATE (93 - 96) points
One of the vintage's most powerful, muscular wines is the 2022 Lynch-Bages, a full-bodied, broad-shouldered Pauillac that unfurls in the glass with aromas of cassis, cherries, mint, pencil shavings and petroleum jelly, framed by nicely integrated new oak. Liberally extracted, its deep core of fruit is underpinned by an imposing chassis of rich, powdery tannin and lively acids. Always rather forbidding from barrel, Lynch Bages always seems to come together in bottle, and the 2022 has the makings of another success for this address. - William Kelley, 28th Apr 2023

JANCIS ROBINSON 18 points
Purple-black colour. Fragrant nose with notes of dark fruit and spice. Sumptuous palate, the fruit full and suave, the tannins firm but fine and integrated. Real depth and concentration. Powerful and long on the finish. Not quite fully knit but huge potential. (JL)