2009 Château Lynch-Bages, Pauillac, Bordeaux

76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Aged for 15 months in oak barrels (70% new).

Big, deep, black colour. Reserved but generous nose that shows considerable depth. Svelte attack, the tannins powerful but refined and enrobed in succulent fruit. Seductive now but still very much a baby. A complete wine with huge potential.

This is a little more subdued than some right now, needing a good five minutes in the glass before revealing layers of rich olive, cassis, exotic spices, cracked pepper and garrigue. You get the heat of the vintage and the ripeness of the fruit, balanced by muscular, chewy tannins and gorgeous chocolate notes. This is great, although for me the 2010 just pips it.

Drink 2020 - 2040

70% new oak. Hold +2 years or carafe for 4 hours.

Density, power, concentration—this is a full-on Pauillac with a ton of cassis and blueberry, liquorice, espresso, and cocoa beans, with an intense muscular tannic frame. With precise architecture, it delivers on the promise that has been building for several years—muscular, ripped, will power for decades.

Drink 2025 - 2050

The medium to deep garnet colored 2009 Lynch Bages is boldly scented of crme de cassis, blackberry pie and baked plums with chocolate box, incense and underbrush suggestions plus a waft of bay leaves. Medium to full-bodied, taut and well sustained in the mouth, it has a firm, grainy texture and a lively backbone lifting the black fruit core to a nice long finish.

Drink 2019 - 2044

The 2009 Lynch-Bages is very well defined on the nose, yet powerful with ample fruit to spare: blackberry, wild strawberry, cranberry mixed with cedar and a light mint touch. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, a fine bead of acidity and lightly spiced with superb focus. It exerts a gentle grip from start to finish, then delivers an engaging, spicy finish that lingers in the mouth. Excellent. Tasted at the Lynch Bages vertical at the château.

The 2009 Lynch-Bages has an intense bouquet which is more forward than Grand Puy Lacoste, albeit without the same complexity. Layers of blackberry, bilberry, brine and a touch of graphite. The palate is medium-bodied with saturated tannin, slightly lower in acidity than the 2010 Lynch Bages, dense and quite sinewy towards the finish. It might miss the class of its peers but you cannot help but admire the brawn underneath its aristocratic coat.

Drink 2021 - 2036