Château Lynch-Bages· Pauillac
About the domain.
There is a reason Lynch-Bages has been nicknamed the "poor man's Mouton" for half a century, and a reason I find the nickname unfair. From the plateau de Bages, Jean-Charles Cazes, third generation of his family at the helm, makes a Fifth Growth that drinks with the depth and density of wines ranked far above it.
A hundred hectares of deep Günzian gravel over clay-limestone, planted heavily to Cabernet Sauvignon, give a wine of dark fruit and real flesh, generous in warm years like 2020, fine-grained and long in a vintage like 2019 that the estate flattered completely. The new gravity-fed cellar, finished in time for the recent run of vintages, has only sharpened the precision.
This is the Pauillac I hand to anyone building a cellar on a budget. It over-delivers every year, and it ages thirty.
Drought year, dark fruit.
Cabernet Sauvignon dominates at 77%. Deep, ripe, structured. Harvest began 12 September. The new cellar handled the vintage well.
Generous, full.
Warm growing season. The wine has more flesh than the 2019 but holds the Pauillac line. 75% Cabernet Sauvignon.
Precise, long.
A vintage that flattered Lynch-Bages. The tannins are fine-grained and the finish runs well past a minute. This will age 30 years.