Chateau Lynch-Bages 2005

Professional Ratings

• 96 Wine Enthusiast
  Classic Lynch-Bages with just a bit of extra power and richness. While the tannins are structured, it is the velvety fruit that rolls around the mouth that is the most dominant character. It is coming together into a wine that will be big and dense, but never over the top.
• 96 Wine & Spirits
  There's a relaxed feel to this wine. Cazes's team can dress Lynch-Bages in the black-tie formality of a first growth, but the wine is still lovely-a touch of gaminess makes it friendly rather than ponderous. There's something ethereal about its tannins, like a chocolate truffle melting in the mouth. (Daniel Llose used 80 percent new oak for this vintage; the yields were short so there were more new barrels to go around, and at a tannic index of 82, the wine could handle it). Pure black cherry flavor saturates the wine with freshness; the complexity is intriguing and silken rather than aggressive. This should be readily accessible at ten to 20 years of age and should thrive for years after.
• 96 James Suckling
  A meaty and decadent Lynch with very ripe currant aromas on the nose. Full body, velvety-textured tannins and a powerful finish. It shows so much structure and fruit yet remains polished and focused. Lovely now to drink but better in 2017.
• 93 Wine Spectator
  Displays very beautiful aromas of crushed blackberry and dark chocolate, with a hint of coffee. Full-bodied, with a tightly wound palate of ripe tannins. Long and caressing.
• 92 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  As for the 2005 Lynch-Bages, it is a sexy, surprisingly soft and accessible style of wine, with a deep ruby/purple color, loads of crème de cassis, cedar wood and forest floor notes, medium to full body, ripe tannin and a long, fleshy finish. Drink it over the next 15+ years.
• 90 Connoisseurs' Guide
  At once both well-ripened and a bit backward with respect to fruit, this solid, moderately tannic young wine shows glimmers of sweet oak, cassis, raspberries and new leather that portend very good things to come once it has grown past adolescence. For now, it is a bit on the hard side, but, that said, it hangs on and on at the finish in a way that makes us more optimistic than not about where it will go.