Chateau Lynch-Bages

Chateau Lynch-Bages is located just west of Bordeaux’s Route du Vin, it takes its name from the Lynch family who ran the property during the 17^th and 18^th centuries, with the other half of the name Bages refers to the plateau of Bages. The history started when John Lynch, an Irish trader, came to Bordeaux in 1691.

He later married a local girl, Guillemette Constant, in 1709, taking French citizenship in 1710. They had two children, Thomas-Michel and Jean-Arthur, with Thomas owning a number of estates during the 18^th century, including Lynch-Bages and Lynch-Moussas in Pauillac, as well as Dauzac in Margaux.

The Lynch-Bages property in fact came to Thomas through marriage, when he was wedded to Elizabeth Drouillard in 1740. Their second son Jean-Baptiste, received the estate as a present from his parents during his marriage. Jean-Baptiste made his fame and fortune through politics, and later became the Mayor of Bordeaux. During this time it was his brother Michel who tended the vineyards.

With both Jean-Baptiste and Michel without heir, the property was sold to Sebastien Jurine, a Swiss wine merchant, later on, during which the estate was ranked a cinquieme cru in the 1855 classification, under the name of Jurine-Bages. Upon his death the property was sold and acquired by the Cayrou brothers, Jerome-Maurine and Henri, both local negociants, who reverted the name to Lynch-Bages.

Jerome’s daughter inherited the property and then passed to General Felix de Vial, who leased the vineyards and subsequently sold the estate to Jean-Charles Cazes in 1939. Jean-Charles started as a baker, who moved to banking after the bakery was destroyed by fire in 1924. He developed a complex network of contacts including many vignerons through his works in bank, learning a lot about wine.

He acquired Les Ormes de Pez and soon after moved to Lynch-Bages as a tenant, making wines for General Felix de Vial, before buying the estate from his landlord. He replanted the vineyard and enhanced the reputation of the property through a number of excellent vintages in the 1950s, waiting longer to pick.

Jean-Charles continued to run until 1966 when his son Andre took control, who further expanded the vineyards, acquiring the neighboring Chateau Haut-Bages-Averous and Chateau Saussus, but he was busy also on his business as insurance broker and mayor of Pauillac.

In 1973 Jean-Michel, Andre’s son, took over from Andre, and in 1976 he hired Daniel Llose as director of the property, continuing to improve the quality of the wine. He installed 25 large stainless-steel vats in 1980, making the quality of the wines more consistent and improved. From 2006 it is under the newest generation, Jean-Charles, the great-grandson of his namesake.

The vineyards, now covering 100 hectares, are divided into three plots: the first two lie on the Bages plateau near the village, just southwest of Pauillac, with the remaining further south near the border of St-Julien. The soils have the typical Gunzian gravel over a layer of marl, chalk and sand.

Planted with 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot, averaging 30 years of age, the vines are planted at 9000 vines per hectare, with another 6 hectares of white grapes planted since 1990, comprising of 53% Sauvignon Blanc, 32% Semillon and 15% Muscadelle.

The general philosophy of winemaking remains traditional yet enlightened, with manual harvesting, destemming and crushing before fermentation, which takes place in 35 stainless-steel temperature-controlled vats. About 20 years ago the estate introduced an extraction method that involved frequent rack and return (delestage) during fermentation, which has now become standard in Bordeaux.

The wine is macerated in vat for a total of three weeks with malolactic fermentation for two-thirds of the harvest, with the remaining undergoing malolactic in barrels. Only a light filtering is done and the wine is aged for 12-15 months in oak, of which 70-80% are new, with regular racking.

Average annual production is 25000 cases, with a second wine called Haut-Bages Averous of 8000 cases, now renamed to Echo de Lynch-Bages since 2008. A white wine is also produced, Blanc de Lynch-Bages, of about 3000 cases yearly. Many regarded the wine to be of the same level as a deuxieme cru instead of the fifth growth of the 1855 classification.

I have recently tasted the 2004 vintage and below is my tasting note:

Appearance
Clear with deep ruby color, the rims is starting to fade and turn garnet, with legs.

Nose
Clean, with medium (+) intensity aromas, showing maturity notes of savory and mushroom, animal notes like leather, black fruit such as blackberry and bramble, mineral notes of earth, kernel notes of chocolate, oak notes of cedar and smoke, sweet spice of cloves. The wine is developing.

Palate
Dry with medium acidity, the wine has medium tannin which is ripe and silky. With medium alcohol level, it has medium (+) body, showing medium (+) intensity flavors of black fruit such as dark cherries and blackberry, oak notes of cedar, sweet spice of cloves. The wine has a long finish.

Conclusion
Very good quality Pauillac with good intensity on the nose, showing complex characters and good development, while still retaining good fruit notes. On the palate the wine is in good balance and having an elegant structure, with silky tannin accompanying good concentration in flavors. The finish is exceptionally long as well. Ready to drink now, the wine can further develop for another 3-5 years.