Château Lynch Bages, 5ème Cru Classé, Pauillac, 2020

Name: Château Lynch Bages, 5ème Cru Classé, Pauillac
Brand: Château Lynch Bages
Price: 105.46 GBP

Available Vintages

all 2004 2006 2009 2013 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

justerini & brooks tasting note

One is initially greeted by an impenetrable wall of cool black fruit and spices, then the sweetest aromas of cassis. There is gravitas here, a grand scale that hints towards a very serious and intense Lynch Bages. On the palate the fruit is exceptionally pure and refined, chiselled, athletic, powerful, taut, yet also beguiling and nuanced, it feels tightly wound, withholding its true potential. The long effortless finish is packed with graphite infused blackcurrants, notes of smoke, dark chocolate and fine minerals. This is a big statuesque Lynch bristling with power and control. Bravo. 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot.

critic reviews

93.5/100Neal Martin,Vinous

The 2020 Lynch-Bages is curiously backward on the nose, showing earthy black fruit mixed with bay leaf and pencil shavings. The palate is medium-bodied with rounded, pliant tannins. Bold and assertive, there's plenty of concentration, though it doesn't quite have the same precision on the finish as its peers in this flight. This is another great wine that is perhaps just entering an awkward adolescence. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.

DRINKING WINDOW 2028 - 2055

date of review 11/2024

96/100Lisa Perrotti-Brown,The Wine Independent

Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2020 Lynch-Bages is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot, and 4% Cabernet Franc, aged for around 18 months in French oak barriques, 75% of them new. Warm scents of cassis, blueberry preserves, and juicy blackberries jump from the glass, followed by suggestions of rose oil, cedar, anise, and menthol with a waft of graphite. The medium-bodied palate has a solid structure of grainy tannins and great tension to support the energetic black fruits, finishing light on its feet.

DRINKING WINDOW 2028 - 2055

date of review 06/2023

95+/100William Kelley,Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The vintage that inaugurated the estate's new state-of-the-art winery, the 2020 Lynch-Bages has turned out very nicely, offering up aromas of creme de cassis and blackberries mingled with notions of pencil shavings, spices and classy new oak. Medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, with good concentration, ripe, powdery tannins and a seamless, integrated profile for such a young Lynch-Bages, it shows considerable promise. The blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot incorporates more Merlot than usual, reflecting relative yields in the vintage more than any stylistic shift.

DRINKING WINDOW 2030 - 2065

date of review 04/2023

98/100Jane Anson,Inside Bordeaux

A superb Lynch Bages that grabs you and carries you through the palate, slowly edging forward. Poised with a ton of slate and pencil lead on the finish, this is pure Pauillac, just so precise and full of character, so much grip, it's classic with a mouthwatering finish, feels profound but throroughly approachable. 75% new oak, 3.73ph. First vintage in new winery.

DRINKING WINDOW 2029 - 2050

date of review 02/2023