2024 Blanc de Lynch-Bages, Bordeaux

An important white grape in Bordeaux and the Loire Valley that has now found fame in New Zealand and now Chile. It thrives on the gravelly soils of Bordeaux and is blended with Sémillon to produce fresh, dry, crisp Bordeaux Blancs, as well as more prestigious Cru Classé White Graves. It is also blended with Sémillon, though in lower proportions, to produce the great sweet wines of Sauternes. It performs well in the Loire Valley and particularly on the well-drained chalky soils found in Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé, where it produces bone dry, highly aromatic, racy wines, with grassy and sometimes smoky, gunflint-like nuances.

Our relationship with the Cazes family of Château Lynch-Bages spans generations. In many ways, they are synonymous with Pauillac – one of the reasons we asked them to make our excellent value Berry’s Own Selection bottling. As for the Grand Vin, it so often defies its fifth growth status that it’s one of the few glaring errors of the 1855 classification. When you consider the location of the vineyards, perfectly situated on a gravel plateau, over limestone, in the small village of Bages, you begin to understand why. We agree wholeheartedly with the inimitable Oz Clarke: “Lynch-Bages is impressive at five years, beautiful at ten years, and irresistible at twenty”. Here we’ve put together a fantastic collection of vintages dating back to 1996 so you can test this for yourself.