We were coming up to the second half of the wine tasting at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan with the special host Pierre Louis Araud of Famille JM Cazes.  We were going to enjoy Echo de Lynch-Bages, a vertical of Chateau Lynch-Bages and the very rare Blanc de Lynch-Bages.  We started with Echo de Lynch-Bages Pauillac 2019.  This is the second label of Chateau Lynch-Bages and was originally known as “Haut-Bages Averous” taken from a former Pauillac estate owned by the family; the name was changed in 2008.  The name came from Greek mythology and the nymph Echo.  The wine is a blend of forty-six percent Cabernet Sauvignon, fifty-three percent Merlot, and one percent Cabernet Franc and aged for twelve months in one-year-old French Oak barrels.  Initial Fermentation and Maceration was conducted in vats, and Malolactic Fermentation was conducted one third in the vats, and two-thirds in barrels and first blends were done in December.  The wine had a nice deep garnet color and offered notes of red and black fruits, tobacco, sous-bois, and a whiff of smoke.  On the palate a fresh medium-bodied wine with tones of raspberries, currants, cassis, and mellow tannins, and completed by a good medium count finish of fruit and terroir.

We then had the pleasure of enjoying a vertical tasting of Chateau Lynch-Bages Pauillac 2018, 2014, and 2010; I listed the vintages in the sequence that they were poured.  Chateau Lynch-Bages 2018 was a blend of seventy-two percent Cabernet Sauvignon, nineteen percent Merlot, six percent Cabernet Franc, and three percent Petit Verdot; aged for eighteen months in French Oak, of which seventy-five percent was new.  Initial Fermentation and Maceration was done in vats for twenty-one days, while Malolactic Fermentation took place one-third in vats and two-thirds in barrels for about a month, and the first blends were begun in December.  A deep garnet color that offered notes of black and red fruits, spices, and sous-bois.  On the palate a rich and full-bodied wine that offered tones of cherry, blackberry, cassis, chocolate, rosemary, blended with silky tannins and a long finish of fruit and terroir. The Chateau Lynch-Bages 2014 was a blend of sixty-nine percent Cabernet Sauvignon, twenty-six percent Merlot, three percent Cabernet Franc, and two percent Petit Verdot; aged for eighteen months in French Oak, of which seventy-five percent was new.  The weather in the fall was so perfect that they extended the harvest period to fine-tune the ripeness of the old Cabernets.  This deep ruby colored wine offered notes of black and red fruits, coffee, and sous-bois.  On the palate a full-bodied elegant wine showed tones of warm alcohol in a “jammy black-fruit wine” with coffee, cedar and firm tannins that had a long finish of deep fruit and graphite (terroir).  We then had the Chateau Lynch-Bages 2010 which was a blend of seventy-nine percent Cabernet Sauvignon, eighteen percent Merlot, two percent Cabernet Franc, and one percent Petit Verdot; aged for fifteen months in French Oak, of which seventy percent was new.  A growing season of dry weather, without extremes and cool evenings.  A deep blackish-ruby colored wine offered notes of black and red fruit, cassis, spices, tobacco, and sous-bois.  On the palate this was a big full-bodied wine with tones of black fruit, cassis, chocolate, spices, lively acidity blended with fine-grained tannins leading to a long finish of fruit and terroir.  This was what I refer to as a “big and chewy” wine, and if you can’t tell, I really enjoyed this wine, and I think this wine is just starting to open up, it will still enjoy time in the cellar.

We finished off with a rather rare wine, and I was surprised at first to see it being the last of the wines for the tasting, but we took the lead from our host Pierre Louis Araud.  We then tried Chateau Lynch-Bages Blanc de Lynch Bages Bordeaux AOP 2022.   Blanc de Lynch-Bages was first released in1990 and is historically of the first white wines produced by a Grand Cru Classe in the Medoc.  It is grown on a six-hectare vineyard on the west side of the estate in eight different parcels on the classic Garrone gravel.  The wine is a blend of sixty-seven percent Sauvignon Blanc, twenty-two percent Semillon, and eleven percent Muscadelle; aged for six months in French Oak, of which fifty percent is new.  The fruit is hand-harvested and hand sorted, and seventy-five percent of the juice is vinified in individually temperature-controlled barrels, and they are stirred on the lees on a regular routine and aged for six months before bottling.  The wine is a pale yellow and offered notes of white florals, lemons, peaches, exotic fruits, orange rind, and spices.  On the palate pleasing tones of bright citrus, pear, green apple, lemon, big and balanced, leading to a mouth-watering finish that beckoned for more.  An absolutely wonderful wine, and it was a good thing, that my Bride wasn’t with me, as I would probably have to go back to work.