2022, Château Lynch Bages, PAUILLAC, 5ème Grand Cru Classé

Bordeaux Blend: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot

A much-loved château, owned by the Cazes family for nearly a century, consistently making one of top selling wines in Bordeaux. Jean-Michel Cazes' son, Jean-Charles, is now in charge and recent vintages have been amongst the best ever. A new state of the art winery was completed in 2020. The 2022 blend is 66% cabernet sauvignon, 28% merlot, 3% cabernet franc and 3% petit verdot.

Full on inky purple in colour, this is sculpted and full of character. Intense, not just a reflection of the vintage but in the increasing concentration found in Lynch Bages over the past decade. Delivers so much character, with charcoal, campfire, liquorice, slate, bilberry, cassis. Hugely impressive and complex, will age for decades. As it opens and those fierce tannins loosen their grip a little, the floral character of the Cabernet Sauvignon becomes more clear. It's austere right now, with shoulders and muscles, but I am fully on board. One to wait for. 97 Jane Anson.

Wow. Blackcurrants, blueberries, blackberries and flowers. Full-bodied with beautifully integrated tannins that melt into the wine. Persistent and precise. A fantastic wine for the cellar. 98-99 James Suckling.

The 2022 Lynch-Bages has a backward nose that demands a lot of encouragement. This is not as immediate as the 2016 or 2019 at the same stage. Powerful blackberry and boysenberry fruit, cedar and light tobacco notes, this feels like an edifice of aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with grippy tannins, beautifully balanced, very harmonious yet there is an enormous backbone here that (again) is reminiscent of Mouton. Extremely long on the finish, this will need its barrel maturation to fully knit together and it is going to be a Pauillac for the long haul.  95-97 Neal Martin, Vinous.

The 2022 Lynch-Bages deep garnet-purple in colour, it is a little closed to start, soon revealing evocative creme de cassis, blueberry pie, and chocolate-covered cherries notes with suggestions of cast-iron, black truffles, and crushed rocks. The medium to full-bodied palate is taut with muscular black fruit and loads of mineral sparks, framed by very firm, grainy tannins and a refreshing line, finishing long and earthy. 95-97 Lisa Perrotti-Brown.

One of the vintage's most powerful, muscular wines is the 2022 Lynch-Bages, a full-bodied, broad-shouldered Pauillac that unfurls in the glass with aromas of cassis, cherries, mint, pencil shavings and petroleum jelly, framed by nicely integrated new oak. Liberally extracted, its deep core of fruit is underpinned by an imposing chassis of rich, powdery tannin and lively acids. Always rather forbidding from barrel, Lynch Bages always seems to come together in bottle, and the 2022 has the makings of another success for this address. 93-96 William Kelley, Wine Advocate.

Drinking Window: 2032 - 2075