2003 Lynch-Bages

Wine Details
Producer

Lynch-Bages

Place of Origin

France

Pauillac 5ème Grand Cru Classé

Bordeaux

Color

Red

Grape/Blend

71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot (2023 vintage)

Reviews & Tasting Notes

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Drinking Window

2023 - 2033

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Drinking Window

2022 - 2037

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Lynch-Bages waited a full ten days between the merlot and cabernet sauvignon harvests, the longest ever at this estate. The cabernet was eventually harvested in the first week of October. Long-time winemaker Daniel Llose noted that because the 2005 growing season was dry from the start, the roots went deeper in spring and summer and were better able to survive drought conditions during the summer. In 2003, he added, the worst of the heat came later and the vines suffered more.

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The team here did hard pumpovers at the beginning of the fermentation in 2004, deciding in advance to rely more on press wine tannins added later than on the harder tannins that could be expected to come through extraction at the end of the fermentations. In fact, the sample of 2004 Lynch-Bages that I tasted includes a rather high 20% press wine, which public relations director Sylvie Cazes feels brought both tannic spine and acidity. Lynch-Bages made close to the full allowable yield in 2004, after doing substantial saignee and a bit of reverse osmosis on some of the early cabernet lots.

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The 2003 harvest really looked bad in early September," said owner Jean-Michel Cazes, who recently retired from his post as manager of the AXA-Millesime properties to devote himself to his family estate. "We knew the vineyards were not in good shape: we had high alcohol but low acidity and green tannins. But some rain in early September invigorated the vines after they had shut down in August. We actually saw new leaves in September, which is very rare. We were lucky to be able to wait a long time before picking the cabernet sauvignon." In fact, after harvesting the merlot on September 11 and 12, Lynch-Bages took the unusual step of stopping the harvest for 10 days, waiting until September 23 to pick the cabernet. Cazes is confident that the 2002 Lynch-Bages will be long-lived, but less sure about the 2003. "But both of these vintages will be ready when I'm no longer here, so who cares?" he told me.