2010 Château Lynch-Bages, Pauillac, Bordeaux

The 2010 Ch. Lynch Bages is densely packed, with loads of crushed fig, plum and blackberry. Shows ample tobacco, roasted apple wood and bittersweet cocoa notes as well, but stays defined, with a long, authoritative finish that delivers waves of grip, backed by even more grip.

Perfumed, fleshy and serious. Has a darker, moodier flavour profile than some. Blackcurrant, plum, black cherry, with soft tobacco and dark chocolate notes. Tannins are chewy and broad. Very Pauillac in its show of power. Gorgeously mouthcoating, giving weight and a frame, carrying the dense fruit but still keeping the detail. On the larger side, but with a moreish juicy acidity. Compelling if not very accessible right now.

79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. Aged for 15 months in oak barrels (70% new).

Deep colour, although not quite as dark as 2009. Complex and perhaps a little fresher. Concentrated but without the fat and volume of 2009. Huge structure with the tannins finely honed. Long and lithe on the finish. Less exuberant and seductive at this stage compared with the previous vintage but has the same potential.

A wine with great beauty and finesse. Such elegance and ethereal quality for this estate. Full body, with ultra-fine tannins and a juicy delicious finish. Long and beautiful. This is the best Lynch in a long, long time. I love the precision here. Try in 2018.

Very dark blackish crimson. Dense and superripe. Sweet black-cherry notes on the nose but rather awkward and tart on the palate. Rather ‘styled’ somehow. Not very well integrated. Really quite hard work with drying green notes on the end.

This is tannic architecture fully realised in a glass, one to taste to understand just how muscular Pauillac can become. Even at 15 years old it is still closed and a little austere, even a little raw, but with zero doubt that it will smooth out. Punchy, liquorice root, black fruits, bilberry, crayon, crushed rocks, smoked earth, pomegranate, gunsmoke, curling violets as it opens.

A classic, masculine, structured wine from this great château, the 2010 Château Lynch-Bages reveals smoky black fruits, iron, graphite, and crushed stone-driven aromas and flavors. Still youthful and full-bodied on the palate, it has building tannins, a concentrated, layered, powerful mouthfeel, and a great finish. It’s certainly accessible yet still probably 4-5 years away from its true prime drinking window.

The 2010 Lynch-Bages has a tightly wound nose: introverted black fruit, cedar and mint. Touches of iris flower and pencil box both emerge with aeration. These aromatics say: "Come back later." The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, fine acidity and firm grip. It feels linear towards the finish but is fresh with an attractive underlying marine note that enlivens and lends complexity to the finish. This is outstanding, but it is only for those with patience. Tasted at the Lynch-Bages vertical at the château.

The 2010 Lynch Bages is an absolutely brilliant wine, and somewhat reminiscent at this stage in its development of the profound 1989. Jean-Charles Cazes, who took over for his father a number of years ago, has produced a magnificent wine with the classic creme de cassis note intermixed with smoke, graphite and spring flowers. It is a massive Lynch Bages, full-bodied and very 1989-ish, with notable power, loads of tannin, and extraordinary concentration and precision. This is not a Lynch Bages to drink in its exuberant youth, but one to hold on to for 5-6 years and drink over the following three decades.

Over the last three vintages, Lynch Bages has returned with a vengeance after somewhat listless performances following their brilliant duo of 1989 and 1990. Much of the credit for this must go to Jean-Charles Cazes who has taken over for his father, Jean-Michel, one of the greatest ambassadors Bordeaux has ever had. The 2010 blew me away on each occasion I tasted it during my two week sojourn in Bordeaux. Tannic and concentrated, this huge Pauillac boasts an inky/purple color as well as impressive notes of creme de cassis, smoke, graphite and spring flowers. This dense, seriously endowed, monstrous Lynch Bages is reminiscent of some of the wines made at this estate in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. It will require 4-5 years of cellaring and should be drinkable for 3-4 decades.

The 2010 Lynch Bages is an absolutely brilliant wine, and somewhat reminiscent at this stage in its development of the profound 1989. Jean-Charles Cazes, who took over for his father a number of years ago, has produced a magnificent wine with the classic creme de cassis note intermixed with smoke, graphite and spring flowers. It is a massive Lynch Bages, full-bodied and very 1989-ish, with notable power, loads of tannin, and extraordinary concentration and precision. This is not a Lynch Bages to drink in its exuberant youth, but one to hold on to for 5-6 years and drink over the following three decades.

Still a saturated ruby-black in hue, the 2010 Lynch-Bages offers up aromas of rich cassis fruit mingled with hints of pencil shavings, loamy soil and cigar wrapper. Full-bodied, deep and muscular, it's rich and layered, with a concentrated core of fruit that's framed by firm, powdery tannins and lively acids. The most brooding, backward Lynch-Bages of the decade and one of the real successes of the vintage, this is a vibrant, tightly wound wine that is still an infant at age 10. Readers with bottles in their cellars might try one now out of curiosity, but this 2010 won't begin to hit its stride until age 20.