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chateau lynch-bages 5eme cru classe, pauillac 2016
ROBERT PARKER'S WINE ADVOCATE
97
DECANTER
96

2016 chateau lynch-bages 5eme cru classe, pauillac

Marketplace price

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Why We're Buying

Pauillac is renowned for its wine. One of the reasons why: Château Lynch-Bages. The estate produces red blends primarily from cabernet sauvignon that retail well over $100. For the best results, age the eponymous wine for up to 20 years.

Critics Scores

ROBERT PARKER'S WINE ADVOCATE
97

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2016 Lynch Bages comes charging out of the gate with pronounced cassis, chocolate-covered cherries, mulberries and menthol notions, backed up by scents of garrigue, tilled soil and a waft of tapenade. Medium to full-bodied, rich and fantastically concentrated, the generous fruit is superbly framed by firm, ripe, grainy tannins with tons of pepper, cinnamon and cloves layers coming through on the finish. Truly, a legendary Lynch Bages!

DECANTER
96

Decanter

Harvest started a week later than in 2015, allowing a longer, slowing ripening as Pauillac fully benefitted from the conditions of the vintage. Touches of reduction for the first minute emphasise the redcurrant notes in with the cassis and bilberry. The acidity is clear, and the layers of fine tannins build to show an extremely impressive construction: thickly sliced black fruits, fresh menthol, toast, tobacco and grilled, almost tarry almonds. 2 Petit Verdot makes up the blend. Eric Boissenot consults.

WINE ENTHUSIAST
95

Wine Enthusiast

Rich, jammy and powerful, this wine is all about concentration and firm tannins. Ripe black-currant flavors add great juiciness at the end. The wine has magnificent potential. Drink from 2025.

JEB DUNNUCK
95

Jeb Dunnuck

The flagship 2016 Château Lynch Bages is a powerhouse, checking in as 75 Cabernet Sauvignon, 19 Merlot, 4 Cabernet Franc, and 2 Petit Verdot raised in 75 new French oak. This deep, concentrated, powerful 2016 is going to be one for the ages, but if you’re looking for instant gratification, this isn’t for you. Saturated purple-colored, with thick black fruits, graphite, and scorched earth aromas and flavors, it fills the mouth with fruit, has masses of tannins, and beautiful overall balance. Don’t even think about opening bottles before 7-8 years from now, and it’s going to have 3-4 decades of longevity.

CONNOISSEURS' GUIDE
93

Connoisseurs' Guide

The parade of first-rate clarets emanating from Pauillac in 2016 is a long one and this bottling from Château Lynch-Bages takes a place near the head of the queue. It is a powerful, fairly muscular offering that is rife with Cabernet currants and savory spice, and, as it so often does, it runs to obvious finishing tannins that make it a wine meant for the cellar. Hurried drinking is ill-advised even if it is far from closed in and covert, and it needs six to ten years of time on the cork for its youthful astringency to ease and its many parts to coalesce.

WINE SPECTATOR
97

Wine Spectator

This is built for the cellar, with a generous core of kirsch, raspberry paste and plum preserve flavors waiting to unfurl. Will take time, due to the licorice snap, roasted apple wood and sweet tobacco elements draped over the fruit. Should meld with age, as the structure is invigorating in feel, showing both acidity and tannins in lockstep with the fruit. Best from 2025 through 2040.

JAMES SUCKLING
97

James Suckling

Very rich and exotic with blackberry, black-tea, graphite and lead-pencil aromas. Full-bodied, dense and structured with lots of ripe tannins and a long, flavorful finish of currants and forest floor, combined with fresh mushrooms and bark. Needs four to five years to show its true potential. Try after 2024.