2016 Château Lynch-Bages Pauillac Bordeaux France Wine Tasting Note
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2016
Château Lynch-Bages (Pauillac)
With a nose of cedar, cigar box, tobacco leaf, smoke, red fruits and spicy aromas create the complex aromatics. Pour the wine into your glass and it only takes a single sip to know this is a stunner. The wall of juicy, ripe, sweet red fruits never quits. The wine is powerful, stoic, refined and generous. If you are a Lynch Bages fan, you need this in your cellar. Lay this down for 12-15 years and enjoy it over the next 30 years or more!. 10,056 Views Tasted Sep 21, 2019The wall of powerful fruit and tannin is intense. Layers of fresh, crisp, ripe, red fruit just doesn't quit. Rich, concentrated and focused, with a mouth-feel that leaves an impression, this should age without fear for at least 40 years. 9,455 Views Tasted Feb 10, 2019Intensity, concentration, character and length combine perfectly. In fact, everything here is in perfect proportion. The tobacco, smoke, wet earth, lead pencil and mocha nuances add to the ripe, sweet, dark red, earthy fruits. There is energy in the long, mouth-filling finish. 12,591 Views Tasted May 13, 2018Powerful, concentrated and long and with depth of flavor, this wine is rich and fat, like someone wearing a gold Rolex and a diamond pinkie ring. There is a refined, stern, masculine quality to the fruit with a finish that lasts and sustains the layers of fresh, sweet black currants. This is probably the best Lynch Bages since 1989/1990. Produced from 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, this wine is aging in 75% new French oak barrels. Reaching 13.4% ABV with a pH of 3.69, the picking took place September 28 to October 12 and the Grand Vin represents 65% of the harvest. 23,183 Views Tasted Apr 29, 2017 |
When to Drink Chateau Lynch Bages, Anticipated Maturity, Decanting Time
Chateau Lynch Bages needs time in the cellar before it can truly be enjoyed, as the wine is quite powerful and tannic in its youth. Young vintages can be decanted for an average of 2-4 hours, or more. This allows the wine to soften and open its perfume. Older vintages might need very little decanting, just enough to remove the sediment.
Chateau Lynch Bages is usually better with at least 10-15 years of bottle age. Of course, that can vary slightly, depending on the vintage character. Chateau Lynch Bages offers its best drinking and should reach peak maturity between 15-50 years of age after the vintage.
Serving Chateau Lynch Bages with Wine, Food and Pairing Tips
Chateau Lynch Bages is best served at 15.5 degrees Celsius, 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The cool, almost cellar temperature gives the wine more freshness and lift. Chateau Lynch Bages is best served with all types of classic meat dishes, veal, pork, beef, lamb, duck, game, roast chicken, roasted, braised, and grilled dishes.
Chateau Lynch Bages is a perfect match with Asian dishes, hearty fish courses like tuna, mushrooms, and pasta as well as cheese.
The white wine, Blanc de Lynch-Bages is perfect for a wide variety of seafood dishes, raw and cooked, chicken, veal, pork, and of course, cheese.
The Cazes family owns vineyards in several regions outside of Bordeaux. Since 2006 the Cazes family owns vines in the Rhone Valley, in Chateauneuf du Pape they own Domaine des Senechaux and they also make wine at Domaine de L’Ostal Cazes in Minervois. They have a partnership in the Douro with the Roquette family to produce Xisto Roquette E Cazes.
Wine, food, and hospitality are not the only things the Cazes family is invested in. In 2015, Jean Michel Cazes announced he was producing beer as well. The first beer from the Cazes family Brasserie de Bages beer is aptly named "D2," which takes its name from the famous Route de Medoc highway in Bordeaux that runs north to south in the Left Bank. Three beers are being made, Le Cask, which is aged in old, used Lynch Bages barrels, and a 100% wheat beer, La Beneze.
The Cazes family is also involved in arranging for customers to produce their own wine through their company, VINIV. Customers can purchase grapes from either the Right Bank or the Left Bank, and with the help of winemakers at Chateau Lynch Bages, they can create their own custom blend and label it as they wish, provided they purchase at least one barrel, which is 25 cases of wine.
Starting with the 2015 vintage, Chateau Lynch Bages upped their technology game when they became the first estate in Bordeaux to use the "Winegrid" system. Wine grid monitors the development of the wine inside the barrel or vat, keeping track of the wine's alcohol level, sugar content, color, and ambient temperature. The technology is being developed with the help of Jean Charles Cazes.