Château Lynch Bages, 5ème Cru Classé, Pauillac, 2006
Top notch effort from the legendary Jean-Michel Cazes. Packed with sweet, ripe, wild hedgerow fruits. Blackthorn, sloe, damson and bayberry – cedarwood and cigar leaf aromas. Silky texture that delivers fruit and mineral complexity right through the palate, expanding and enveloping all the way to the taut, ripe tannin finish. A very fine Lynch Bages.
critic reviews
The 2006 Lynch-Bages has an airy bouquet, open but missing the same fruit intensity as other vintages. Light wild hedgerow, bilberry and touches of seaweed emerge but never fully get into fifth gear. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly rigid tannins that frame the dusky black fruit. More austere than vintages from this era, it just tapers a little towards the finish. Not bad, but missing a bit of substance and length. Tasted at the Lynch-Bages vertical at the château.
A touch subdued on the aromatics, still holding back even at 16 years old. As it opens it majors on earthy, rustic fruits, undergrowth, tobacco, tar, a big tannic body that is reflective of a vintage that was more complicated than the 2005, but that offered wines with frame and long ageability. As it opens, waves of liqourice root and rose petal appear. First vintage where Jean-Charles Cazes replaced his father Jean-Michel as director of the estate, and the first for Nicolas Labenne as technical director. 70% new oak.