BigHammerWines.com

Have you ever seen such unanimity? Some of the world’s most respected wine critics all agree the Lynch-Bages is a gem of a wine. One of 18 Fifth Growth Grand Cru Classe wineries in Bordeaux, this wine always punches above its weight and over-delivers. Château Lynch Bages consistently outperforms its ranking, and it’s the highest-profile estate in its classification.

Owned by the Cazes family, this property always seems to be on the up and up. The family purchased the estate in 1939, ensuring this hundreds-of-years-old winery continues its prestigious work. The modern estate has 100 hectares of vines split into two parts, one near the château on the Bages plateau in the southern half of the Pauillac commune, not far from Château Latour, and the other near Château Mouton Rothschild. The soils are mainly gravel and sand, which allow for good drainage.

These soils, plus mastery in the cellar, never fail to create wines of great quality, and consumers clamor for that quality. When we offer futures of Château Lynch-Bages, we sell more of the powerhouse Poulliac than any other wine offered in futures. Bordeaux lovers and collectors know they can’t go wrong with Lynch-Bages, every single vintage of this wine is spectacular.

This wine is hitting its stride now and has at least another 10+ years on the upside as it develops in bottle. Don't miss it.

Aging: 18 months in 75% new French oak barrels

66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot. Expect a bold, yet elegant expression of Pauillac: structured, complex, and intense. The wine opens with aromas of blackcurrant, cassis, graphite, and a touch of lead pencil, followed by hints of chalky minerality. The palate is full-bodied, offering a seamless integration of ripe dark fruit, spices, and earthy undertones, with velvety tannins and a long, focused finish. This is a wine with power, yet it maintains an underlying elegance, showcasing the classic characteristics of Lynch-Bages.

#94 Top 100  Wines of 2025 by James Suckling

The 2022 Château Lynch-Bages is based on 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, and 3% each of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Its inky purple hue is followed by a sensational Pauillac that has a blockbuster (and classic Lynch-Bages) style in its darker currants, smoke tobacco, lead pencil, and crushed stone-driven aromatics. These carry to a full-bodied, powerful, massively concentrated 2022 that has a dense, layered mid-palate, velvety tannins, flawless balance, and a rare mix of power and elegance. This is a château that’s clearly firing on all cylinders, and this magical beauty will need a decade (or more) to hit the early stages of its prime drinking window. Don't miss it! ~99 Jeb Dunnuck

A terrific Lynch from a hot vintage with blackcurrants, mint, dried lavender, graphite and thyme on the nose and palate. Medium- to full-bodied, it shows fantastic tannins with a lovely texture that reminds me of cashmere, becoming slightly chewy in the finish. Give this four to five years of bottle age. Try after 2028. ~98 James Suckling

Ripe and generous on the palate, this is chewy, crunchy and alive. Ripe fruit is there - chewy and sweet black currants and cherries - fleshy and filling - as is concentration of flavours, but there's a delicate layering of elements which builds the wine on the palate giving power but also focus and precision. Still feels a little shy, with tension there in the funnelling of flavours and a relatively crisp finish but this will elongate in time. Cool blueberries, wet stones, pencil lead and graphite give the mineral touches. No overt heat, oak or spice which also is excellent. One for the long haul. Built with ageing in mind I think. ~97 Decanter

The 2022 Lynch-Bages was picked 12 September, around 15 days earlier than usual until 24 September at around 35hL/ha. Aged for 18 months in 75% new oak, it has a backward nose that demands a lot of encouragement. This is not as immediate as the 2016 or 2019 at the same stage. Powerful blackberry and boysenberry fruit, cedar and light tobacco notes, this feels like an edifice of aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with grippy tannins, beautifully balanced, very harmonious yet there is an enormous backbone here that (again) is reminiscent of Mouton. Extremely long on the finish, this will need its barrel maturation to fully knit together and it is going to be a Pauillac for the long haul. ~96 Vinous Media

The 2022 Lynch-Bages is one of the most muscular, chunky wines of the vintage in the Médoc, offering up aromas of dark berries, cherry preserve, pencil shavings and creamy new oak, followed by a full-bodied, rich and extracted palate that's dense and blocky. While Lynch-Bages always seems to come together with time, the 2022 is certainly going to require some patience. ~94+ Robert Parker, Wine Advocate