The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan was having a special event, a wine tasting featuring wines from Famille JM Cazes, with Pierre Louis Araud pouring the wines and discussing the wines and the history and nuances of each wine.  He is the Commercial and Marketing Director for Chateaux Lynch-Bages, Haut Batailley, Ormes de Pez all under the umbrella of Famille JM Cazes.  Prior to his current position he had been with Moet & Chandon and their Private Client Director, Brand Manager for Moet & Chandon, Brand Manager for Baron Philippe de Rothschild and some other positions as well.  He was charming and a font of information, a true pleasure to be in his company.

Famille JM Cazes had an interesting history, Jean-Charles Cazes managed Chateau Lynch-Bages as a tenant farmer since 1933, and in 1939 acquired the property; and in 1940 he became the owner of Chateau Les Ormes de Pez.  Andre Cazes, who had been Mayor of Pauillac since 1951 (for over forty years) took over management of both properties in the Sixties, and in 1973 his son Jean-Michel Cazes came to assist his father.  In 1975 they began to modernize Chateau Lynch-Bages, an endeavor that took fifteen years to accomplish.  In 1988, they acquired Chateau Villa Bel Air in Graves; and the Chateau Lynch-Bages 1985 was “Wine of the Year” by Wine Spectator magazine.  In 1989 they created the Relais & Chateaus Cordeillan-Bages, which later acquired two stars from Michelin.  Then in 2002 in a joint venture with the Roquette family created Roquette e Cazes, grand vin of the Douro.  Jean-Charles Cazes took over the family vineyards in France and overseas in 2006, while he also acquired an estate in Chateauneuf du Pape.  The family organization has also opened assorted food and hospitality businesses, as well as acquiring many awards over the years.  And as a side note that I just found totally interesting; on 17 June 1985 astronaut Patrick Baudry carried a half-bottle of Chateau Lynch-Bages Pauillac 1975 on board the Discovery shuttle.

To finish off the tasting event, waiting for us at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan was Echo de Lynch-Bages, a vertical of Chateau Lynch- Bages, and Blanc de Lynch-Bages.  Chateau Lynch-Bages is a Fifth Growth from the Bordeaux Classification of 1855, who many feel that it should be elevated.  The property is in the village of Bages in Pauillac and named after Thomas Lynch, a Bordeaux merchant of Irish lineage who had the property from 1749 to 1824.  The Cazes family has had the property since 1939, and has been respected as having some spectacular vintages since 1945.  The vineyards are on a plateau west of Pauillac on gravel, chalk, and sand soils; and there are over a hundred hectares planted and since 2006, the vineyards have been divided into two-hundred parcels to match the varietal to the terroir.  Sixty-eight percent is planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, twenty-six percent to Merlot, four percent to Cabernet Franc, and two percent to Petit Verdot.  Initial Fermentation and Maceration takes place in temperature-controlled Stainless-Steel vats with the use of extensive “pumping-over” for concentration and color intensity.  The old vat-house has traditional slatted floors, ropes, pulleys, and buckets, which give the advantages of gravity flow, which has been incorporated by many modern wineries.