2025 Château Lynch Bages
Released for sale en primeur this morning at £402 per six, 2025 Château Lynch Bages scores as high as 97-98 points and is compared with the greatest vintages of this wine from the 1980s. At this price, it is among the cheapest vintages on the market, 40% less than the 2016 and around half the price of the 2010.
The palate harks back to previous years, too: An ultra-classical Lynch that will need long ageing to reach its full potential. Neal Martin scores the 2025 ahead of Mouton-Rothschild and we think that the quality is more generally comparable with the Pauillac First Growths. This is a stupendous Lynch Bages and one that will only grow in reputation over the next decade, so we wholeheartedly recommend adding it to your cellar.
Also released this morning and sometimes overshadowed by Lynch-Bages, is its sibling-estate, Ormes de Pez in St-Estèphe, formerly a Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel, until it opted out of the classification. The 2025 receives excellent scores, as high as 94-96 points, but is only £204 per dozen in bond, equivalent to just £17 per bottle!
Offered en primeur. Landing spring 2028.
Magnums available with £25 ex-VAT bottling surcharge per six, please enquire for other formats.
Producer Profile
Château Lynch Bages
Château Lynch-Bages is a Cinquièmes Cru Classé in Pauillac, founded in 1749 by Thomas Lynch in the villages of Bages. Lynch's father John had emigrated in 1691 from Galway in Ireland to Bordeaux. The estate changed hands in the nineteenth century and was eventually purchased in the 1930s by Jean-Charles Cazes. In 1972, his grandson Jean-Michel Cazes took over, followed by his son, named Jean-Charles after his grandfather. The technical director is Nicholas Labenne.
The 90 hectares are just outside Pauillac itself, with the vineyard on the Bages gravel ridge, looking down on the Gironde, planted to 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Around 25,000 cases are made in an average year. The second wine is 'Echo de Lynch-Bages'.
Construction of a new winery began in 2018 and 2020 was the first vintage to be made in this gleaming new facility which has allowed Lynch to move to the next level of precision winemaking.
| RED | 2025 | Château Lynch Bages | 75cl | £402 per case of 6 | Château Lynch Bages 2025 / / 75cl £402 per case of 6 |
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Tasting Notes"Blackcurrant leaf, dark fruit and some black chocolate and dried floral scents. Supple with lovely energy and flex. Grippy but also chewy so you get texture and weight without any dryness or austerity. Juicy, lively, still grippy with a chalky, salty touch to the finish. Nice nuance and approachability while keeping a cool, blueberry element all the way through. ‘Lightly’ presented, certainly nothing overdone here. Bravo. 94 points" Georgina Hindle, Decanter Magazine------"Damson, cassis, bilberry, a wine that doesn't feel so far away from the very top vintages of the estate, clear expansion in the mid palate, with an uncompromising architecture that has the supple tannins of a warm year, with pomegranate, incense, blackberry, cedar, slate, crushed rocks. Excellently put together with juice, promise and personality. 3.68 pH. 75% new oak. Harvest September 9 to 21. Jean-Charles Cazes owner, along with his three sisters, Nicolas Labenne technical director. 2036-2055. 96 points" janeanson.com------"The 2025 Lynch-Bages wafts from the glass with aromas of dark wild berries, lead pencil and spices, framed by well-integrated new oak. Full-bodied, dense and concentrated, it’s deep and muscular, with a broad-shouldered profile, yet more velvety and precise than usual, showing a touch of freshness through the mid-palate, concluding with a long, cassis-inflected finish. Without departing from its customary style—combining power and generosity in youth—it is more approachable en primeur, with softer, more polished tannins than in recent vintages. This is a blend of 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot, matured with 75% new oak. 94-97 points" Yohan Castaing, RobertParker.com------"The 2025 Lynch-Bages is a wine only very patient consumers should contemplate. Dark and explosive, with incisive tannins, the 2025 is quite the powerhouse. Huge beams of tannin lend serious intensity and power. In many warmer years, this level of richness is accompanied by commensurately high alcohols and viscosity, but the 2025 is built around fairly classic lines, which only reinforces its sheer brawn. 2035-2075. 95-97 points" Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com------"Currants, smoky oak, chocolate, and hints of violets all define the 2025 Château Lynch-Bages, a remarkably balanced, elegant Pauillac from this estate that has more than a passing resemblance to the 2019. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it has ultra-fine tannins and nicely integrated acidity, and it builds beautifully with time in the glass. It should have some reasonable accessibility, but as with most vintages here, the cellar will be your friend. 96-98 points" Jebdunnuck.com------"The 2025 Lynch-Bages was picked 9 to 21 September and matured in 75% new oak barrels. This has a stunning bouquet with exceptionally pure blackberry, cassis and subtle violet scents, the oak seamlessly integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with finely embroidered tannins, perfect acidity, a touch of cedar and black pepper that dovetails into a peacock's tail finish that “clings” to the mouth. This continues the strongest run from Lynch-Bages since the 1980s and, perhaps with the 2025, it is close to surpassing that. Drinking Window 2032 - 2060. 96-98 points" Neal Martin, Vinous.com------"Lots of great energy, with a precision and focus that sends you down the road to gorgeous dark fruits and mineral nuances. A cool, minty note. Medium- to full-bodied. Racy and intense, with a lightness at the end. Juicy fruit, too. A blend of 66% cabernet sauvignon, 28% merlot, 3% cabernet franc and 3% petit verdot. 97-98 points" jamessuckling.com |
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