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Goedhuis, May 2021, Score: 94-96
60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, 5% Petit Verdot
This has so much deep rich brooding black fruit. Jean-Charles Cazes explained the importance of gently infusing the berries rather than heavy extraction this vintage as they had so much natural concentration. This epitomises that approach perfectly. Whilst it has true Pauillac power, in no way is the wine forced, and the energetic finish with hints of Moroccan spice provides the finishing touches to a wine with great potential.
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Neal Martin, January 2024, Score: 93+
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.
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Neal Martin, May 2021, Score: 94-96
The 2020 Lynch-Bages contains proportionately more Merlot in the blend this year (31%) and will be aged for 18 months in 75% new oak. It has an intriguing bouquet, quite complex and classic in style, featuring tightly wound black fruit mixed with cedar, mint and touches of the estuary. One sniff and you know that the vines are in close proximity to the sea. The palate is medium-bodied with impressive weight on the entry, the tannins almost immediately coating the mouth (the IPT is 93, fairly high). But everything remains balanced thanks to the fine acidic thread, and it begins to firm up, becoming quite structured and, dare I say, reminiscent of Latour toward the finish. This is a Lynch-Bages that clearly will deserve long-term aging because there is real substance to this wine, and that will only increase during élevage. This is a great Lynch-Bages. The Cazes family should build a new winery to celebrate. 2027-2055
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Antonio Galloni, December 2022, Score: 95+
The 2020 Lynch-Bages is a real powerhouse. Élevage appears to have amplified the virile, brooding qualities that were present in barrel. In so many vintages, Lynch-Bages is a wine of elegance and finesse. Those qualities may emerge here too, in time. Black cherry, plum, espresso, licorice and lavender add to an impression of brooding intensity. Formidable tannins will take years to soften. The 2020 is a gorgeous wine, but it is also a very atypical Lynch. Drink 2030-2060
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Antonio Galloni, June 2021, Score: 93-95
The 2020 Lynch-Bages is deep, polished and so sensual. Dark cherry fruit, lavender, spice, leather and pipe tobacco fill out the layers. In 2020, Lynch-Bages is a bit darker and more virile in feel than is typically the case. There is plenty of weight and substance, though. I can't wait to taste it from bottle. My impression is that the 2020 will be a very long-lived wine. Drink 2025 - 2050
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Wine Advocate, May 2021, Score: 94-96
The 2020 Lynch-Bages is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot, aging for around 18 months in French oak barriques, 75% new. It has an alcohol of 13.41%, a pH of 3.73 and an IPT (tannin index) of 93. Opaque purple-black in color, it leaps from the glass with notes of crushed blackberries, cassis and boysenberries, plus touches of garrigue, red roses and cedar chest with hints of graphite and black olives. The medium-bodied palate has a rock-solid frame of ripe, grainy tannins and plenty of freshness supporting the tight-knit black fruit and earthy flavors, finishing long and mineral laced. Drink 2027-2050
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Decanter, May 2021, Score: 96
The lowest amount of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend on recent record but the signature of Lynch Bages is very much in play here - tons of liquorice, grippy and charismatic cassis and blueberry fruit with a velvety texture layered with blackcurrant pastilles and rich dark chocolate. This is easily one of the best Pauillacs that I have tasted in the vintage, totally gorgeous. The 33hl/ha yield meant I was worried that it would be too concentrated, but it pulls it off, although you've got to assume that they will need to be careful over ageing. Lower alcohol than both 2018 and 2019, a more classical balance in fact. 4% Cabernet Franc completes the blend. 3.73pH, 75% new oak, 18 months in barrel. Drink 2030-2048.
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Matthew Jukes, May 2021, Score: 17.5++
This is a monster of a wine in terms of the oak and the power and while it is not a big, ripe or juicy number, it still sports layers and layers of tannin and accompanying oak and this makes it a very difficult wine to taste. I can see that the fruit is huge, too, but it teeters on the precipice of unripeness and I worry that there is not quite enough generosity of flesh to achieve true balance in time. You will have to wait twenty years to find out.
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Jancis Robinson, April 2021, Score: 17++
Very deep, dense blackish purple. Suave, flattering nose with good freshness and precision. Marked tannins underneath (more so than its stablemate Haut-Batailley). This is less the old, spicy, comfortable pair of slippers Lynch-Bages and seems to be heading in a deliberately purer, 'cooler' direction. Impressive undertow and persistence, but with interesting top notes such as tobacco leaf. Very ambitiously dry on the finish. 13.4%. Drink 2031 – 2049
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Jeb Dunnuck, May 2021, Score: 95-97+
Ultra-classic notes of blackcurrants, freshly sharpened lead pencil, damp earth, and crushed stone emerge from the 2020 Château Lynch-Bages, which checks in as 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Petit Verdot, all hitting 13.4% natural alcohol and a pH of 3.73 and a massive IPT of 93, which might be the highest in the vintage. Full-bodied and concentrated on the palate, it has brilliant purity of fruit, a layered, building sense of structure, and a great finish. While not austere or closed, this serious Lynch-Bages will need 10-15 years of bottle age to hit maturity and have 40-50 years of overall longevity.
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Wine Cellar Insider, May 2021, Score: 95-97
The first vintage made in their brand new, state-of-the-art cellars is deep garnet in color. The wine rapidly opens with notes of Cuban cigars, cedar, creme de cassis, flowers and forest leaf aromas. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, soft, round and fresh. The elegant tannins allows the wine to gently unfurl, revealing its sweet red currants, kirsch liqueur and creamy textured, rich finish. This refined styled vintage of Lynch Bages blends 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 4% Cabernet Franc, 13.4% ABV. The yields were only 33 hectoliters per hectare.
