2005 Château Lynch-Bages, Pauillac, Bordeaux

80% new oak

Open aromatics, tobacco, cigar, full of picture-perfect Pauillac mint leaf, cassis, bilberry, plum and smoked cedar oak. A little austere but with real clarity of fruit that builds through the palate alongside muscular tannins that promise a long life ahead. You have needed to be patient with most Pauillac 2005s, and this will go for another 30 years, but it is starting to get to the point when the Cabernet Sauvignon becomes thirst-quenching and finessed rather than forbidding. A brilliant wine.

Drink 2022 - 2044

Jane Anson, JaneAnson.com (March 2022)