Château Lynch-Bages, located in Pauillac is “only” a Fifth Growths from the 1855 Classification, but is consistently outperforming its ranking. The estate’s history dates back to the 17th century, with its name deriving from the Lynch family, who owned the property in the 18th century. Under the ownership of the Cazes family since 1939, and most recently led by Jean-Charles Cazes, the estate has undergone significant modernization, including the construction of a state-of-the-art winery completed in 2020. Known for its Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated blend, Lynch-Bages offers hallmark notes of blackcurrant, cedar, and tobacco, with firm tannins and exceptional longevity. The estate is a favorite among Bordeaux collectors, embodying both Pauillac’s classic style.
The tasting was held at the home of one of Switzerland’s largest Bordeaux collector, were bought En Primeur and never moved since, so perfect provenance. All wines tasted blind. Not decanted. A few conclusions:
- The overall quality of the wines surpassed my (and the groups) expectations slightly. There were good wines in all decades.
- The style is very Cabernet, very Pauillac with a good grip, pleasantly high acidity and a good, not too ripe fruit core.
- Most vintages don‘t have the depth of its neighbours and, until more recently, there are some quite angular tannins.
- Lynch these days doesn’t reach the same elegance and complexity as both Pichons but plays in the same league as Pontet Canet, which, is less classically built.
- Highest rating of 95 pts for 3 crowd favorites: of course for the 1990 and 2016, but rather surprising also for the 2017.
The new Lynch Bages winery built in 2022
Tasting Notes
Flight 1
1986 Château Lynch-Bages, 92 Points
Medium+ intense nose with a core of ripe dark berries, leather and tobacco and some black truffles. Everything is very fine, not perfectly delineated but overall very inviting. On the palate this shows fine dark fruit, slightly greenish underbrush notes, some smoke and crushed rocks. The tannins have nicely melted, the acidity is pronounced but still this is nicely structured, with a fine creamy texture. Overall, this is quite balanced. This is fully mature, with a fine structure as the highlight. However, it has not the precision to truly excite. 91/92 pts.
– Decanting: A short decant (1h) should do the job.
1988 Château Lynch-Bages, 84 Points
Medium intense nose with slightly liquory fruit, slightly dried out fruit, hints of tobacco and earth and oxidative notes. On the palate this is all about broth, soy sauce, oxidation notes and dark dried fruit. The structure would have been fine but this bottle was clearly past its peak.
1989 Château Lynch-Bages, 94 Points
Intense nose with dark and blue fruit, graphite, leather and some tobacco notes. At first a bit shy but with a lot of swirling this gets more intense. On the palate this wonderful with nicely defined dark and blue berries, graphite, wet earth. With time additional notes of smoke, some red fruit and floral hints. High precision. The structure is impeccable with melted tannins, good tension, well-integrated medium+ acidity, a nice creamy texture and a superb lightness and elegance to it. Good, long finish. Quite complete and balanced. This wine showed very promising and complete but it is in need of more time in the cellar. Quite far away from its peak with no full tertiary development yet, this wine needs a long decant to come out of its shell. 94 pts tonight but with lots of upside.
– Decanting: As with previous bottles, this would have needed a long decant. My advice for well stored bottle is a solid 3-4h at least.
1990 Château Lynch-Bages, 95 Points
Medium expressive, fine nose, floral and bright. Super nice, tobacco. Superbly defined on the palate, fine red and dark fruit, floral notes, earthy notes and lots of minerality. The structural frame is impeccable with melted tannins, high acidity which is perfectly round and light, so creamy and nice. Wonderful balance, long and expanding finish. I‘ve had this 1990 many times over the past two years and it always showed amazing. This bottle (stored in the same cellar since release) was by far the youngest of all 1990s Lynch. So bright and light, full of tension and without any tertiary development. The clear highlight was this almost Burgundian Pauillac expression (not something I would associate with Pauillac or Lynch in particular), the lightness and brightness were truly amazing, as was the precision. 95+ pts, easily.
– Decanting: This needed a bit of swirling to shine. This bottle would have needed an 2h in the decanter. Other bottles I had of this needed from no decant to 6 hours, so there is no way around at opening it early and check for yourself.
Flight 2
1994 Château Lynch-Bages, 84 Points
Past its peak, soy notes, broth, angular and astringent. An expected performance in this weak vintage, not a particular problem of Lynch Bages: I’ve had the 1994 Angelus, Pichon Lalande, Ausone or Mouton in the past years which were equally weak and over-the-hill. I would generally avoid the vintage completely.
1995 Château Lynch-Bages, 88 Points
Rather muted nose. On the palate this has a nice lightness but is quite angular. Not much depth, not much precision, not enough sweetness. This wine will likely die before the tannins have soften enough. Like so many 1995s, this is no success. I would forget about this vintage.
– Decanting: Maybe a long decant might bring out some more aromas and render the wine a tad softer but not much hope here, in my opinion.
1996 Château Lynch-Bages, 93 Points
At first , the nose was rather muted. With time and swirling it opened up revealing dark fruits and some burnt sugar notes. I guess with more time or a proper decant the nose could have been even better. The palate shows dark berries, minerality some herbs. Not much tertiary development yet and not a lot of depth, nor great precision. With time a few more nuances popped up. The tannins have melted and lost the rough edges, the acidity is high and there is a touch of creaminess which overall leads to good drinking flow. There are better 96s out there but liked this Lynch (92/93 pts). This came in the same flight as the 1995 which, like so many other 95s, is very weak (the 95 vintage has been overrated in the 90s, I think today, the market has caught up and no longer rates as highly).
– Decanting: This will need 2-3 hours in a decanter.
1997 Château Lynch-Bages, 91 Points
Medium- expressive nose with some hints of burnt sugar, dark fruit and minerality. On the palate this shows very fresh and light with not much precision and deep aromas but overall quite refreshing and round enough. Pleasant without any greatness with the highlight being the nose and the weightless, fresh feel on the palate. When revealed, I was pleasantly surprised with this wine from a very mediocre vintage. Of course it does not have the depth or precision of the better vintages but was still fun to drink. 91 pts.
– Decanting: No extensive decanting needed.
Flight 3
1998 Château Lynch-Bages, 87 Points
Medium+ intense nose with lots of herbal and minty notes. This was quite singular and completely different to all other vintages tonight. On the palate, however, it showed that these notes come from an under-ripeness. It is greenish, with slightly coarse tannins and lots of not perfectly integrated acidity. No winner here. 87 pts for the interesting nose.
– Decanting: Doesn’t need extensive decanting.
1999 Château Lynch-Bages, 91 Points
Medium intense nose with ripe dark berries, minerality, some stems. Nothing spectacular here, but pleasant. On the palate, this is a touch more open with fine dark fruit, some red hints, minerality, some herbal aromas. Medium precision. The tannins have nicely rounded out, the acidity is high but well integrated and the wine has a nice creamy texture bringing it all together. While this has certainly not the depth of better years, it is a positive surprise in my book for this mediocre vintage (the other such surprise was the 1997). Easily worth 91/92 pts tonight.
– Decanting: A short 1 hour should be enough.
2000 Château Lynch-Bages, 93 Points
Medium- expressive nose with dark berries and lots of minerality, quite cool and fresh. With more time some burnt sugar notes. It gets better On the palate this shows quite round with just a touch of slightly coarse tannins, high but very round acidity, a nice creaminess and overall good balance. There is blue and black fruit, some floral hints, tobacco hints and lots of minerality as well as stems. Fairly good precision. Quite a complete wine. 93/94 pts
– Decanting: Good from the go but would certainly benefit from 1-2 hours of air.
2002 Château Lynch-Bages, 91 Points
Medium expressive nose, not super defined with dark fruit and some nice toasty notes. On the palate this shows very nice with toasted notes, ripe dark fruit, some minerality, all well-defined. With time, however, beefy, soy sauce notes emerge… which might be a sign of decline. Very balanced and round with lots of creaminess without being heavy. Round tannins, not angular, medium acidity only but that works perfectly. Overall quite balanced and very nice. At first 93 pts easily but the last sips were rather 88/89 pts.
– Decanting: I fear that decanting would let to a subpar experience. Maybe it was the bottle, maybe it‘s the vintage.
Flight 4
2005 Château Lynch-Bages, 91 Points
Muted nose with some dark fruit but not much more. On the palate, this is ok but with furry tannins, a high acidity, not yet enough creaminess. There is substance and structure but its not yet there, like so many 2005. 91 today but should have some upside.
– Decanting: My guess is, that this would have needed 3-4 hours at least to open up more.
2008 Château Lynch-Bages, 89 Points
Not very expressive nose. On the palate this shows a superb coffee note along with ripe dark fruit. Some additional hints of herbs and minerality. Quite well defined. Sadly the structure can‘t keep up with coarse tannins and a not well integrated acidity. In fact it’s quite acidic and gets more and more acidic the longer it sit in the glass. The texture is quite creamy and nice but that can‘t safe the wine. 88/89 pts.
– Decanting: No extensive decanting needed.
2009 Château Lynch-Bages, 92 Points
Not super expressive nose at first but with time coffee, dark fruit notes emerge and it gets quite intense. On the palate there is a lot of substance right from the go with lots of quite ripe dark fruit, lots of minerality, some coffee notes and herbs. This has really depth and precision. But there is an angularity to its tannins, a high and not perfectly round acidity. But the length is quite nice. The balance is really not there, a touch too much extraction and the tannins don’t have the quality of the younger vintages.
– Decanting: A short 1-2 hour decant should be sufficient.
2012 Château Lynch-Bages, 94 Points
Bright, floral, red fruited, rhubarb nose, super fresh and inviting. And on the palate this shows so much elegance, so much lightness and without losing its depth and substance. This marks a clear break from the past with much more elegant and round tannins than before. Very precise aromas of dark berries, red berries, rhubarb, coffee, burnt sugar, herbs and minerality. Quite great and round. Balanced and creamy. One of the winners of the tasting and 94 pts.
– Decanting: No extensive decanting necessary.
Flight 5
2014 Château Lynch-Bages, 88 Points
I generally like the 2014 vintage and some really good wines on both sides but this Lynch didn’t shine tonight. Completely closed on the nose and palate with some rough edges. Maybe a long decant would have helped. I wouldn‘t write it off yet.
– Decanting: I’m not the biggest fan of decanting young Bordeaux as they can often close down. But this seems to need a lot of air. I would go for 4 hours in the decanter.
2015 Château Lynch-Bages, 92 Points
Slightly alcoholic nose, ripe fruit core, some minerality but not super precise. On the palate this shows still one or the other rough edge but has a very nice freshness, although the acidity is not perfectly integrated. There is a creamy texture and no detectable alcohol notes. It has a beautiful sweetness, a ripe fruit dark fruit core, some hints of brighter red fruit and a bit of minerality. At this stage, it doesn‘t show very complex with the fruit dominating. I‘ve had many great 2015 but this doesn‘t feel like a complete success. 91/92 pts
– Decanting: Maybe a bit of decanting would have helped here. 1-2 hours?
2016 Château Lynch-Bages, 95 Points
Intoxicating nose with ripe dark fruit, coffee, herbs and minerality. On the palate this kicks in with loads and loads of ripe but not too ripe dark fruit, blue fruit, minerality, herbs, burnt sugar. Very precise and complex. The tannins are ripe and round, truly a quality level or two higher than in the past, so creamy and round already but with tons of tension and high, round and well-integrated acidity. Topped by a long, slightly expanding finish. This is the first time I tried the 2016 and it again shows that the vintage produced a large array of high quality wines. The balance of the 2016s is incredible and the complexity off-the-charts and this Lynch is no exception. My guess is that this wine will develop into something beautiful as soon as the structure further mellows together and tertiary complexity kicks in. 94/95 pts.
– Decanting: This wine didn‘t need any decanting.
2017 Château Lynch-Bages, 95 Points
Super sexy, sweet dark fruit nose. Very sweet and at the same time so cool and fresh with not only dark but also blue fruit, some toast, herbs and minerality. On the palate this shows quite layered with ripe dark and fresh blue fruit, minerality, herbs. Some additional slightly slutty notes with coffee, vanille and burnt sugar but great. Quite layered and fresh. Very round, elegant tannins, high but round acidity. Creamy and fresh and light. Super complete. When revealed this was a big surprise. One of the more layered 2017s I‘ve had to date and 95 pts today. I don‘t think that it will get any better than it is right now.
– Decanting: No extensive decanting needed.
Author: Andy Schnyder
March 2022