Bordeaux, France
Château Lynch-Bages
Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 2000
Vieux Château Certan
Pomerol Red Bordeaux Blend 2002
Certainly one of my favorite Pomerol producers. Not their best vintage but still very good and it pairs very well with Ribeye.
On the nose, ripe & sweet; blackberries, dark cherries, blue fruit hues, strawberries, cherries & a touch of pomegranate. Vanillin, mixed berry cola, steeped fruit tea, light dry herbs, cinnamon, menthol, hints of eucalyptus, limestone, dry clay, sweet, rich turned, dark earth, gently, bright, fresh red & dark florals.
The body is medium. The tannins 80% resolved. The fruits are fresh & ripe; blackberries, plum, dark cherries, strawberries, cherries, pomegranate, hues of blue fruits. Steeped fruit tea, vanillin, creamed raspberry cola, some cinnamon, some soft spice, dry herbs, limestone minerals, dry clay, light dry herbs, dry stone, crushed dry rocks, menthol, eucalyptus with soft red, dark & blue florals, nice acidity and an elegant, well balanced finish.
Photos of, the front back of Vieux Chateau Certan, Owner Alexander Thienpoint barrel tasting the 06 vintage and Estate vines. — 21 hours ago
Clos René
Pomerol Red Bordeaux Blend 1998
Top vintage Pom @ £68 that’s drinking nice as long as you love oak 😁 Well integrated with silky tannins but oak dominates - for money there are better less oaky options 😉 One to drink up now 👍
🏵 90-91 points
🍷 Opaque ruby w/ brick edge
👃 Rich burnt oak w/ minerals drowning dark sludgy plum & berry in a damp musty cellar w/ soot, soggy earth, herbs & baked prune
👄 Med body of creamy silk smooth oak dominated dark chewy plum & berry fruits w/ a mocha cream & mineral kick
🎯 Med+ creamy dark fruits bathed in oak w/ a burnt liquorice & mocha linger — 7 days ago
Château Latour
Grand Vin de Château Latour Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend
🤯 Mind Blown. This is still so young but it’s a ROCKSTAR. Mocha, Blackberry, crystalline tannins that just sparkle and a string of graphite to let you know it’s Latour. Awesome. Will prob last 50 years+ and every time you drink it, it will be amazing. My 97 is where it is now. No doubt 100pts coming. — 2 hours ago
Château Pichon-Longueville Baron
Les Tourelles de Longueville Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 2014
Medium garnet with cherry undertones. Currant, toasted oak, blackberry cobbler, and damp moss on the nose. The second wine of a second growth, this absolutely possesses the class and structure of much more expensive cousins, without the ageability. Bright cherries, sweet blueberry, vanilla, and oak dominate the palate. Made to drink now, a lovely Bordeaux. — 8 days ago
Château Lynch-Bages
Blanc de Lynch-Bages White Bordeaux Blend 2016
On the nose, stone fruits, pineapple, green melon, soft chalkiness with spring flowers.
The body is round, full & gluey. The acidity is slightly off. Stone fruits, pineapple, green melon, Meyer lemon, just a touch of green apple skin, edgy minerality, powdery chalkiness with spring flowers.
Needs some time in bottle. — 14 days ago
Château Lynch-Bages
Echo de Lynch-Bages Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 2014
On the eve of Fathers Day I opened the 2014 Echo de Lynch Bages. The blend is 73% Cabernet Sauvignon and 27% Merlot.
The nose has opulent dark fruit, black cherry, blackberry, big in the black currant, licorice, tobacco, violet and dark rich soil.
On the palate the dark fruit continues through with black cherry, blackberry, raspberry, black currant, tar licorice, graphite and fresh tolled soil.
The wine is medium to full bodied with medium + acidity and medium + grippy tannins that has a crisp lively long finish. An enjoyable wine that is approachable now but can use some more time in the bottle. Continue being safe and Happy Fathers Day to every father out there. Nostrovia! 🍷🍷🍷🍷 — 8 days ago
Château Palmer
Margaux Red Bordeaux Blend 1988
Oh my ... my last again. I’m impressed by this bottle of exquisite Merlot. Drinking at its peak, in my opinion. Soft, velvet in the mouth, with a firm mid palette and a perfumed, lavender-like finish that intoxicates. Continued to improve and evolve over the evening and reminded me that you can’t rush a river...you must let nature take it’s time and then magic happens. — 2 days ago
Château Plaisance
Les Palues Bordeaux Supérieur Red Bordeaux Blend 2009
Haven't had a Bordeaux in a while. Almost thought this was a Chianti when I tasted it blind. Tasted sour cherry so it threw me off. It's in its prime, almost ten years old. — 15 days ago
Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande
Réserve de la Comtesse Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 2010
Such finesse and elegance. Well structured and dark fruit forward. Plum, licorice, tea leaves, cedar, spice, and tobacco on the finish with earthy and dark fruit on the nose. Tannins were very refined but still present....enjoyed this wine very much. Paired with Canard a l'orange! — 6 days ago
David T
Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator
The 2000 is delicious but, it is evolving at a glacial pace. Out of magnum.
On the nose, touch of barnyard, glycerin, ripe; blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, plum, strawberries & cherries. Vanilla, dry clay, limestone, river stones, just a touch of pyrazines & bandaid, dark,,turned, moist earth, dry grass and dry & fresh dark florals.
The body is full, round & sexy. Dry softened, sweet tannins. ripe; blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, plum, strawberries & cherries. Vanilla, dry clay, limestone, river stones, just a touch of pyrazines & bandaid, fresh tobacco leaf, saddle-wood, dry underbrush, dark, turned, moist earth, dry grass and dry & fresh dark florals. The acidity is magnificent. The structure, tension, length and balance are sensational. The finish is drop dead gorgeous. I’d still hold mine another 5 years as long as you have 3-4 bottles for more 5 year increments.
Photos of, their Estate vines, Clyde Beffa-Owner of K&L Wine Merchants, Owner of Chateau Lynch Bages - Jean-Michel Cazes, guests of the dinner and a sunset view from their Estate.
Producer notes and history...Lynch Bages takes its name from the local area where the Chateau is located in Bages. The vineyard of what was to become Lynch Bages was established and then expanded by the Dejean family who sold it in 1728 to Pierre Drouillard.
In 1749, Drouillard bequeathed the estate to his daughter Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas Lynch. This is how the estate came to belong to the Lynch family, where it remained for seventy-five years and received the name Lynch Bages. However, it was not always known under that name.
For a while the wines were sold under the name of Jurine Bages. In fact, when the estate was Classified in the 1855 Classification of the Medoc, the wines were selling under the name of Chateau Jurine Bages. That is because the property was owned at the time by a Swiss wine merchant, Sebastien Jurine.
In 1862, the property was sold to the Cayrou brothers who restored the estate’s name to Chateau Lynch family.
Around 1870, Lou Janou Cazes and his wife Angelique were living in Pauillac, close to Chateau Pichon Longueville Baron. It was here that Jean-Charles Cazes, the couple’s second son, was born in 1877.
In the 1930’s, Jean-Charles Cazes, who was already in charge of Les-Ormes-de-Pez in St. Estephe agreed to lease the vines of Lynch Bages. By that time, the Cazes family had history in Bordeaux dating back to the second half of the nineteenth century.
This agreement to take over Lynch Bages was good for both the owner and Jean Charles Cazes. Because, the vineyards had become dilapidated and were in need of expensive replanting, which was too expensive for the owner. However, for Cazes, this represented an opportunity, as he had the time, and the ability to manage Lynch Bages, but he lacked the funds to buy the vineyard.
Jean-Charles Cazes eventually purchased both properties on the eve of the Second World War. Lynch Bages and Les-Ormes-de-Pez have been run by the Cazes family ever since. In 1988, the Cazes family added to their holdings in Bordeaux when they purchased an estate in the Graves region, Chateau Villa Bel Air.
Around 1970, they increased their vineyards with the purchase of Haut-Bages Averous and Saussus. By the late 1990’s their holdings had expanded to nearly 100 hectares! Jean-Michel Cazes who had been employed as an engineer in Paris, joined the wine trade in 1973. In a short time, Jean Michel Cazes modernized everything at Lynch Bages.
He installed a new vat room, insulated the buildings, developing new technologies and equipment, built storage cellars, restored the loading areas and wine storehouses over the next fifteen years. During that time period, Jean Michel Cazes was the unofficial ambassador of not just the Left Bank, but all of Bordeaux. Jean Michel Cazes was one of the first Chateau owners to begin promoting their wine in China back in 1986.
Bages became the first wine sent into space, when a French astronaut carried a bottle of 1975 Lynch Bages with him on the joint American/French space flight!
Beginning in 1987, Jean-Michel Cazes joined the team at the insurance company AXA, who wanted to build an investment portfolio of quality vineyards in the Medoc, Pomerol, Sauternes, Portugal and Hungary.
Jean-Michel Cazes was named the director of the wine division and all the estates including of course, the neighboring, Second Growth, Chateau Pichon Baron.
June 1989 marked the inauguration of the new wine making facilities at Lynch Bages, which was on of their best vintages. 1989 also marked the debut of the Cordeillan- hotel and restaurant where Sofia and I had one of our best dinners ever. A few years after that, the Village de Bages with its shops was born.
The following year, in 1990, the estate began making white wine, Blanc de Lynch Bages. In 2001, the Cazes family company bought vineyards in the Rhone Valley in the Languedoc appellation, as well as in Australia and Portugal. They added to their holdings a few years later when they purchased a vineyard in Chateauneuf du Pape.
In 2006, Jean-Charles Cazes took over as the managing director of Chateau Lynch Bages. Jean-Michel Cazes continues to lead the wine and tourism division of the family’s activities. Due to their constant promotion in the Asian market, Chateau Lynch Bages remains one of the strongest brands in the Asian market, especially in China.
In 2017, Chateau Lynch Bages began a massive renovation and modernization, focusing on their wine making, and technical facilities. The project, headed by the noted architects Chien Chung Pei and Li Chung Pei, the sons of the famous architect that designed the glass pyramid for the Louvre in Paris as well as several other important buildings.
The project will be completed in 2019. This includes a new grape, reception center, gravity flow wine cellar and the vat rooms, which will house at least, 80 stainless steel vats in various sizes allowing for parcel by parcel vinification.
The new cellars will feature a glass roof, terraces with 360 degree views and completely modernized reception areas and offices. They are not seeing visitors until it’s completion.
In March, 2017, they purchased Chateau Haut Batailley from Françoise Des Brest Borie giving the Cazes family over 120 hectares of vines in Pauillac!
The 100 hectare vineyard of Lynch Bages is planted to 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. The vineyard has a terroir of gravel, chalk and sand soils.
The vineyard can be divided into two main sections, with a large portion of the vines being planted close to the Chateau on the Bages plateau. At their peak, the vineyard reaches an elevation of 20 meters. The other section of the vineyard lies further north, with its key terroir placed on the Monferan plateau.
They also own vines in the far southwest of the appellation, next Chateau Pichon Lalande, on the St. Julien border, which can be used in the Grand Vin. The vineyard can be split into four main blocks, which can be further subdivided into 140 separate parcels.
The average age of the vines is about 30 years old. But they have old vines, some of which are close to 90 years old.
The vineyards are planted to a vine density of 9,000 vines per hectare. The average age of the vines is about 30 years old. But they have old vines, some of which are close to 90 years old.
Lynch Bages also six hectares of vine are reserved for the production of the white Bordeaux wine of Chateau Lynch Bages. Those vines are located to the west of the estate. They are planted to 53% Sauvignon Blanc, 32% Semillon and 15% Muscadelle. On average, those vines are about 20 years of age. Lynch Bages Blanc made its debut in 1990.
To produce the wine of Chateau Lynch Bages, vinification takes place 35 stainless steel vats that vary in size. Malolactic fermentation takes place in a combination of 30% French, oak barrels with the remainder taking place in tank.
The wine of Chateau Lynch Bages is aged in an average of 70% new, French oak barrels for between 12 and 15 months. Due to the appellation laws of Pauillac, the wine is sold as a generic AOC Bordeaux Blanc, because Pauillac does not allow for the plantings of white wine grapes.
For the vinification of their white, Bordeaux wine, Blanc de Lynch-Bages is vinified in a combination of 50% new, French oak barrels, 20% in one year old barrels and the remaining 30% is vinified in vats. The wine is aged on its lees for at least six months. The white wine is sold an AOC Bordeaux wine.
The annual production at Lynch Bages is close to 35,000 cases depending on the vintage.
The also make a 2nd wine, which was previously known as Chateau Chateau Haut Bages Averous. However, the estate changed its name to Echo de Lynch Bages beginning with the 2007 vintage. The estate recently added a third wine, Pauillac de Lynch-Bages.
— 14 days ago