2023 Château Lynch-Bages En Primeur
"...incredibly impressive Pauillac with tons to love. It's not far off the style of the 2019. 95-97 points." Jeb Dunnuck
Released for sale en primeur this morning at £420 per six bottles, 2023 Château Lynch Bages receives scores as high as 97-98 points from James Suckling. The release price represents a 34% discount on the opening price of the 2022 vintage.
As we said last year, this châteaux has been aiming at the top-tier of quality for some time. Neal Martin compares the style to Latour, and there is a general sense from the critics that Lynch has made an atypical wine in 2023, with tremendous power, more representative of the direction the estate is going, rather than of the vintage.
Jane Anson describes it as 'intense and muscular' (96 points) and Antonio Galloni refers to it as a 'powerhouse' (94-97 points). This is also a Lynch built for very long ageing, so if you are looking to lay down some wine for a child or grandchild (or yourself!), this could be a candidate.
Stock is limited, so please let us know as soon as possible if you would like to order.
Offered en primeur. Landing spring 2026.
Magnums available with £20 ex-VAT bottling surcharge per six, please enquire for other formats.
All previous offers of 2022 Bordeaux can be found here.
One of six enormous 100 hectolitre elevator vats which bring the wine up from for pumping-over and racking ('delestage'), removing the need for pumps which can reduce aroma and flavour in the finished wine.
To order, e-mail us at sales@richardkihl.ltd.uk
Producer Profile
Château Lynch-Bages, Cru Classé Pauillac
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 has 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 Jean-Charles. 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 is the first vintage to be made in it.
See Jean-Charles Cazes introduce the new winery at Lynch-Bages:
| RED | 2023 | Château Lynch Bages | 75cl | £420 per case of 6 | Château Lynch Bages 2023 / / 75cl £420 per case of 6 |
IB | |||||
Tasting Notes"The 2023 Lynch-Bages takes some time to really settle, so I gave it 5-10 minutes in the glass. On the nose, glossy black fruit mixes with touches of cassis, graphite, violets and blood orange, perhaps demonstrating more horsepower than I anticipated. The palate is medium-bodied with fine, saturated tannins. There is a lovely symmetry to this Pauillac (not unlike Latour), armed with a cashmere texture and plenty of backbone on the finish, even though I would not describe it as a "grippy" Lynch-Bages. There’s plenty of graphite character on the aftertaste. Excellent. 93-95 points" Neal Martin, Vinous.com------"As usual one of the chunkier, broader-shouldered wines of the Médoc, the 2023 Lynch-Bages exhibits aromas of dark berries and cassis mingled with pencil shavings, licorice and pipe tobacco, framed by creamy new oak. Medium to full-bodied, rich and layered, it's deep, concentrated and generously extracted, with plenty of youthfully chewy tannin to carry it along in the cellar. The 2023 is a blend of 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. 93-95 points" William Kelley, RobertParker.com------"Blackberry, black cherry, crushed stone and graphite. Lead pencil, too. It’s full-bodied with juicy, chewy tannins. Vertical and layered with lovely length. Quite plush. Chewy tannins at the end. Cabernet sauvignon driven. Showing excellent potential. 97-98 points" jamessuckling.com |
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