Château Lynch-Bages

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Château Lynch-Bages is a winery in the Pauillac appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. Château Lynch-Bages is also the name of the red wine produced by this property. The wine produced here was classified as one of eighteen Cinquièmes Crus (Fifth Growths) in the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855.

1 History
2 Vineyard
3 The Wine
4 Vintages
5 Awards
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] History

Thomas Lynch, whose father John emigrated in 1691 from Galway, Ireland to Bordeaux, inherited an estate in the village of Bages through his wife, Elizabeth, in 1749. This year represents the foundation of Château Lynch-Bages, which Thomas passed on to his flamboyant son, Jean-Baptiste, upon his marriage in 1779. Lacking the focus to manage the estate effectively, Jean-Baptiste soon handed over supervision to his brother Michel who maintained responsibility for the Bages estate until 1824, when the family sold it to a Swiss wine merchant, Sebastien Jurine, who had recently moved to Bordeaux.

Château Lynch-Bages remained in the hands of the Jurine family, followed by the Cayrou family, for over a hundred years. In 1934, Jean-Charles Cazes rented the property from its then owner, Felix de Vial, subsequently purchasing it in 1938. Cazes had developed a reputation for high-quality winemaking in the Bordeaux area, and he established the wines of Château Lynch-Bages as a force to be reckoned with over the next 35 years, ably supported by his son André. After Jean-Charles Cazes' death, aged 95, in 1972, the estate has been largely managed by his grandson, Jean-Michel Cazes.

In the late 1980's, the AXA Insurance group began to develop a portfolio of top quality wine property holdings, and approached Jean-Michel Cazes for help (Claude Bébéar, the AXA President, was a long-time Cazes family friend). They established Châteaux & Associés, which Cazes ran until he reached 65, and which by the end of the twentieth century owned many highly reputable vineyards across Europe. Ownership of Chateaux Lynch-Bages, however, remains with the Cazes family.

[edit] Vineyard

The 90 hectares (175 acres) of Chateux Lynch-Bages are located just outside of the town of Pauillac. The vineyard occupies a gravel ridge looking down over the Gironde estuary. The well-drained soil consists mainly deep gravel beds over a limestone sub-strata, and it is planted predominantly with red wine grape varieties (73% cabernet sauvignon, 15% merlot, 10% cabernet Franc and 2% petit verdot). There is also a small (approximately 4.5 hectares) plot planted with white varieties (40% semillon, 40% sauvignon Blanc and 20% muscadelle).

[edit] The Wine

Chateau Lynch-Bages is primarily known for its eponymous red wine, of which approximately 25,000 cases are made in an average year. The malolactic fermentation takes place mainly in large stainless steel tanks, and the wine then spends about 15 months in oak barrels (of which some 50-60% are new) before bottling. Most wine experts would agree that Chateau Lynch-Bages' quality is at the Deuxième Cru level, despite its Cinquièmes Cru classification.

A small quantity of white wine, called Blanc de Lynch-Bages is also produced.

[edit] Vintages

The finest vintages from the last 50 years are generally agreed to be 1961, 1982, 1989, 1990, 1996 and 2000.^{[citation needed]} In 2004, some of these vintages were fetching well over US$150 per bottle at auction.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Awards

The 1985 was the first wine to be selected as Wine Spectator magazine's Wine of the Year in 1988
The 1989 was selected as the Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts Wine of the Year for 2001