Château Lynch Bages, 5ème Cru Classé, Pauillac, 2010
Always one of the most popular wines from the Medoc, this 5th growth Pauillac has an enormous and well-deserved following. The 2009 and 2010 see a return to a more massive style of Lynch Bages. Produced from 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot, this will be aged in 70% new oak barrels. At present the nose is brooding and reserved. There are hints of high toned berry fruit over a deep, dark well of earth and black fruit. This is somehow very demure yet engaging with long persistent flavours of mulberry, crème de cassis and hints of minerality. This possesses plenty of raw power, beautifully constructed tannins and a complex, mineral finish. Another splendid Lynch.
critic reviews
This is tannic architecture fully realised in a glass, one to taste to understand just how muscular Pauillac can become. Even at 15 years old it is still closed and a little austere, even a little raw, but with zero doubt that it will smooth out. Punchy, liquorice root, black fruits, bilberry, crayon, crushed rocks, smoked earth, pomegranate, gunsmoke, curling violets as it opens.
The 2010 Lynch-Bages has a tightly wound nose: introverted black fruit, cedar and mint. Touches of iris flower and pencil box both emerge with aeration. These aromatics say: "Come back later." The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, fine acidity and firm grip. It feels linear towards the finish but is fresh with an attractive underlying marine note that enlivens and lends complexity to the finish. This is outstanding, but it is only for those with patience. Tasted at the Lynch-Bages vertical at the château.
Still a saturated ruby-black in hue, the 2010 Lynch-Bages offers up aromas of rich cassis fruit mingled with hints of pencil shavings, loamy soil and cigar wrapper. Full-bodied, deep and muscular, it's rich and layered, with a concentrated core of fruit that's framed by firm, powdery tannins and lively acids. The most brooding, backward Lynch-Bages of the decade and one of the real successes of the vintage, this is a vibrant, tightly wound wine that is still an infant at age 10. Readers with bottles in their cellars might try one now out of curiosity, but this 2010 won't begin to hit its stride until age 20.