Pauillac estate with a concentrated red, Echo de Lynch-Bages and a white of Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon and Muscadelle.
The producer
Château Lynch-Bages is a Pauillac estate on Bordeaux's Left Bank Médoc. Its red wine is concentrated, with ripe cassis, tobacco, wet earth, truffle and firm tannins. Echo de Lynch-Bages is the secondary wine. Blanc de Lynch-Bages combines Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon and Muscadelle, with citrus, white peaches, finely woody notes and a discreet mineral finish. The range covers a primary red, a secondary bottling and a white wine.
Known for
Pauillac Fifth Growth reds
Notable facts
Thomas Lynch acquired the Domaine de Bages through marriage on 9 June 1750.
Jean-Charles Cazes has served as managing director since 2006.
Lynch-Bages is classified as a Fifth Growth in the 1855 classification.
Blanc de Lynch-Bages is composed of 60% Sauvignon Blanc, 27% Sémillon and 13% Muscadelle.
The story
The Village That Came Back
By the early 1990s, the hamlet of Bages — a cluster of limestone buildings on the plateau directly behind the château — had emptied. The baker had left, the small houses were shuttered, and the village that shared the estate's name was effectively abandoned. Jean-Michel Cazes bought the buildings and spent much of the decade restoring them: a new baker moved in, a café opened in the old grocery space under the name Café Lavinal — named for his mother, Madeleine Cazes, née Lavinal — and artisan workshops took over the ground-floor units. Visitors who arrived at Lynch-Bages for a tasting found they had a reason to spend a morning on the plateau rather than just an hour in a tasting room. Café Lavinal has been running continuously since, and the hamlet is now a named part of what people describe when they describe Lynch-Bages.
From the atlas
Château Lynch-Bages
Pauillac château on Bordeaux's Left Bank Médoc, with Cazes family ownership and red and white wines.
At A Glance
Field
Detail
Region
Bordeaux's Left Bank Médoc
Appellation
Pauillac
Classification
Fifth Growth in the 1855 classification
Ownership
Cazes family
Vineyard scale
Almost 100 hectares by the end of the 1990s
The Producer
Jean-Charles Cazes has served as managing director of Château Lynch-Bages since 2006. His family reached the Médoc from Ariège in 1875 as laborers. After the 1929 financial crash, Jean-Charles, who had opened a bakery in Pauillac, purchased Lynch-Bages in 1939. André Cazes, the second-generation owner, later regenerated and expanded the vineyard.
Place
The estate is located in Pauillac at the entrance to Bordeaux's Left Bank Médoc. The surrounding lands were home to generations of wine growers for centuries.
Wines
Château Lynch-Bages is the primary red. It is concentrated, with ripe cassis, tobacco, wet earth and truffle, and firm tannins. Echo de Lynch-Bages is the secondary wine, with that name adopted for the 2007 vintage. Blanc de Lynch-Bages is the white, composed of 60% Sauvignon Blanc, 27% Sémillon and 13% Muscadelle. It combines citrus and white peaches with finely woody notes, freshness and vigor, and a discreet mineral finish.
Final Word
Château Lynch-Bages carries the name created when Thomas Lynch acquired the Domaine de Bages through marriage on 9 June 1750.