The 1989 Chateau Lynch Bages has been uncorked....

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 1:06 am

It has been a momentous week.
Time to live a little.

stefan · Post by **stefan** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 1:17 am

Another day; another $500 great wine. Ho-hum.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 1:17 am

The provenance on this bottle seems superb.
The capsule spinned easily. The cork is perfect.
Deep brooding purple color, and that telltale lead pencil and cedar on the nose.
I'm going to decant this puppy.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 1:29 am

Baby doll.... The color on this is so rich and youthful. A 200 year wine.
First sips on the palate, omg this brings me back to the early days of BWE....

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 1:50 am

12.5%....

Blanquito · Post by **Blanquito** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 2:13 am

Hot damn!

I thought at first this must be an old thread revived.

Adrianthemeatball · Post by **Adrianthemeatball** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 3:42 am

89 is the birth year of both my wife and I, and I actually thought about buying a couple bottles of the 89 lynch for us, but given the current price, I will probably pass...

JoelD · Post by **JoelD** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 3:48 am

I thought the same as Blanquito. Every once in a while it's great to just open one of these aged beauties by yourself How is it showing with the decant and also compared to the one from Florida? (not sure if that was yours from the same batch or not)

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 4:18 am

I'm exhausted after this long week but suffice to say that, when I uncorked this bottle earlier tonight, there were two bottles on sale at K&L for $395 plus tax. Halfway through this bottle I decided to buy both bottles. When I went to order it, there was only one left. I bought it at $395, with tax it is $426. MichaelP has graciously offered to pick it up for me at the Redwood store. He is an amazing man, he has done this on multiple occasions. Seriously, Mike, I'm more than happy to have them ship it to you, but if you can pick it up, even better...

This wine is a masterpiece. It is da Vinci, it is Chopin, it is Shakespeare, it is Caruso... This wine transcends. It is beyond beauty. It transcends into realms of philosophy and our very existence. We are conscious beings existing in a breath of time, in a universe expanding violently through space and radiation, and through some miraculous confluence, in this one-zillionth of an eye blink of time, some farmers in this small parcel on a rock traveling 35,000 miles per hour through an ever expanding universe into eventual oblivion, crossing multiple dimensions, grabbed out of the earth some "grapes," or so the plasma-unit "farmers" call them, and produced this nectar that, in my fleeting consciousness, I have experienced tonight.

It is late now and I have had a long week. I am tired. Tomorrow I will go into more detail as to why this complicated wine is the greatest wine ever produced. It is a complicated issue. Being the greatest wine ever produced does not come easy. Suffice to say that I have rated this beautiful bottle at 100+++. Absolutely breathtaking. Good night for now.

JimHow

Nicklasss · Post by **Nicklasss** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 5:09 am

Well said Jim.

I guess i understand a little bit of what you say, since that night in 2001 in Chicago, when the "1989 Poor man Mouton" won the blind tasting.

I repeated many times, always in your company, the tasting of one of the ultimate Pauillac, the 1989 Château Lynch Bages. And you know me, i would give you the business fairly, here, if it was not what i thought.

Good night. Will happily read more tomorrow.

greatbxfreak · Post by **greatbxfreak** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 9:17 am

I purchased 1989 Lynch Bages primeur for app. 35 $ taking the present value of this currency. 1982, half the price of 1989, was as excellent as Mouton R 1982 in September 2021. 1985 whose price is between 1989 and 1982, is rumored to be great. These are old-styled wines. 2005 which I also have, was 80 dollars and is a relatively modern wine.

Racer Chris · Post by **Racer Chris** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 10:51 am

I might just buy a bottle of the 2019 while I can get it for $170 locally

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 1:57 pm

So a couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of drinking a 1990 Beausejour Duffau in Florida. This St. Emilion was every bit as thrilling as expected from its RMP100 rating. It was stunning, a pinnacle of everything that brilliant merlot from the right bank has to offer: Amazing bouquet, seductive a point fruit on the palate that was so sensual and yet not losing its classiness. It was a huge crowd pleaser at a table among other epic right bankers.

This 1989 Chateau Lynch Bages is not that. 1989 Lynch Bages, in my opinion, is the greatest wine ever produced by man. I have had over 100 bottles over the years. But it is a wine that should never be brought to a tasting where other Bordeaux greats are served. 1989 Lynch Bages usually gets lost in the shuffle because its greatness is so nuanced. It is the ultimate expression of Pauillac. And for that reason alone it is not going to be a big, upfront, flashy, seductive St. Emilion. It is Oxford/Cambridge restraint, nuance, breed. And the other hallmark of this wine, which I have mentioned many times, is that it needs a huge amount of oxygen. This is a 200 year wine. It is STILL incredibly youthful, at now 34 years old. When I first opened this pristine bottle last night there was very little on the nose, but I could tell this was going to be yet another great bottle of 1989 Lynch. I decanted. Slowly, as the night evolved, the classic, classic lead pencil and immaculate cassis emerged. Drinking 1989 Lynch Bages is a religious experience for me. I feel the wonderment of the universe, not because I'm buzzed -- this baby is only 12.5% -- but because it just makes me appreciate how lucky we are to be in this sliver of time and place, with five senses, experiencing this instance of a vintage that will be here and gone in an instant of time. It is a glorious, magnificent wine, it is da Vinci, Chopin, Shakespeare, and Caruso. The color is still a deep ruby/purple with absolutely no evidence of fading at the rim. We used to get it for $35 back in the day. I just bought another bottle from K&L last night for $395 plus tax. It went recently for $700 at auction. The finish on this absolute classic lingers for a minute or more, like a 1986 Mouton, numbing the taste buds at the back of your tongue. It is a left bank Medoc from Pauillac. So don't expect it to be a big, sexy, chocolatey right bank merlot. It is complexity and nuance. The lead pencil defines this wine. As always, the last sips are the best. The 1989 Lynch Bages is at the back end of a culmination of efforts from Jean-Michel Cazes in the 1980s that is among the greatest stretch of wines produced in centuries. I used to be involved in politics here in Maine and I remember running into Olympia Snow in a wine shop in Falmouth during holiday season, she was a friend even though I was a Democrat and she was a Republican. I was buying several bottles of the 1989 and 1990 Lynch, I convinced her to buy a bottle of the '89 for their Christmas dinner, it was going for about $75 per bottle at that time, it would have been about 1999. The 1989 Lynch has been the poster child of our website, www.bordeauxwineenthusiasts, for over 23 years. I think we have actually moved the market for this wine, it is now selling routinely for over $500, and went for $700 at auction this week. Jean-Michel Cazes wrote to me personally back in 2003, the confluence of 1980s Bordeaux and its 12.5% wines, with the influences of Jean-Michel and his wine making philosophies, produced this Mona Lisa, this Hamlet, a wine that transcends into philosophy and religion. It is Chopin's nocturnes. It is stunning in its left bank subtlety, restraint, class, and power combined with elegance. Magnificent. This effort last night was as brilliant as any of the over 100 times I've had this wine. I rate it, yet again, at 100+++.

JimHow
Tasted 3/3/23
www.bordeauxwineenthusiasts.com

JoelD · Post by **JoelD** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 4:39 pm

I may need to take another crack at one soon. The bottle that Tim opened at BWE 2021 Saturday night was the best I've had. And one of the top wines of the evening. It edged out both the 89 Pichon Lalande and 89 Purple Baron that night. But they weren't far behind.

Personally I've had a little better experience with the 89 Lalande. It's slightly more my style and has been exceptional every time. But I love both. Whats your second all time favorite Bordeaux behind the 89 Lynch, Jim? Is there any one that is a close approximation for you and hitting a lot of those same characteristics that you love about the 89 Lynch?

Comte Flaneur · Post by **Comte Flaneur** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 7:37 pm

Oh wow! I should be able to line up some of the 2019 for our Saturday extravaganza. It has a lot to live up.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 7:42 pm

I was thinking of bringing a 2019 Montrose to match up against the 2019 Lynch, maybe a blind tasting?
Can be Saturday or any night.

Comte Flaneur · Post by **Comte Flaneur** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 9:38 pm

Yes great idea … for Saturday? I will be bringing 2019 Lynches in 375 format

Apparently the 2020s are even better than the 2019s.

More classical…and…lower in alcohol.

Izak was the first person to flag this…now Decanter’s Georgina Hindle…nothing against Jane Anson but I prefer Georgina - she may be younger but she is more cerebral than Jane.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 9:47 pm

I’m thinking of bringing a bottle of 1989 Lynch for Saturday night, or possibly a Lafite. Maybe I can bring a bottle or two of 2019 Montrose as well and we can do a blind tasting with the 2019 Lynch? Just thinking out loud.

Blanquito · Post by **Blanquito** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 10:00 pm

I think a blind flight of high end 2019s in London is a great idea.

I can bring a couple.

Blanquito · Post by **Blanquito** » Sat Mar 04, 2023 10:04 pm

Comte Flaneur wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 9:38 pm Apparently the 2020s are even better than the 2019s.

More classical…and…lower in alcohol.

I’ve no ‘19 experience to compare to, but I thought most of the 2020s at the UGC were terrific, including the brilliant ‘20 Lynch Bages. I did attend the UGC featuring the 2016s and in comparison the 2020s showed much more structure and were more typical of what I expect and look for in a young claret.

JoelD · Post by **JoelD** » Sun Mar 05, 2023 5:14 am

I could bring some 375 of Montrose as well. I also have some Lynch.

Comte Flaneur · Post by **Comte Flaneur** » Sun Mar 05, 2023 10:58 am

Thinking aloud - why don’t we do a vertical of Lynch on the Saturday centred around the 1989? I can also bring the 1985.

Joel you say you have halves of the 2019? In bottle? I was going to have to take a case of 12 halves out of storage and pay tax on it but that is fine because I have multiple cases of it. But if you had the odd bottle already in your stash that might be easier.

JoelD · Post by **JoelD** » Sun Mar 05, 2023 2:01 pm

Comte Flaneur wrote: ↑Sun Mar 05, 2023 10:58 am Thinking aloud - why don’t we do a vertical of Lynch on the Saturday centred around the 1989? I can also bring the 1985.

Joel you say you have halves of the 2019? In bottle? I was going to have to take a case of 12 halves out of storage and pay tax on it but that is fine because I have multiple cases of it. But if you had the odd bottle already in your stash that might be easier.

I have a couple 375s of each the 2019 Lynch and 2019 Montrose. Happy to bring either or both. Just let me know what you'd like.

I also have the 1985 Lynch I was thinking about bringing. I might also have an 86 around somewhere. Maybe someone else can provide the 83,88,90?

Nicklasss · Post by **Nicklasss** » Sun Mar 05, 2023 4:09 pm

I have secured a bottle of the 1988 in London. So want it or not, you will taste it!

Blanquito · Post by **Blanquito** » Sun Mar 05, 2023 4:19 pm

I can bring an 83 Lynch.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sun Mar 05, 2023 4:26 pm

I’m bringing a bottle of 1989 Lynch. How many attendees are there on Saturday night?

Comte Flaneur · Post by **Comte Flaneur** » Sun Mar 05, 2023 4:38 pm

Looks like we will be 15, max 16 if I bring a guest.

Does anyone have the 82 or 86 Lynch? Tim do you have any?

I could also throw in a 2006 to illustrate how under-rated and maligned Lynch Bages is outside the 1980s

Joel - I will take care of the 2019 Lynch as I have a lot of it. In halves and full bottles. It will be fun to watch how it evolves. I remember the 1985 drinking fantastically well straight out of the gate.

That just leaves the 2019 Montrose situation.

Comte Flaneur · Post by **Comte Flaneur** » Sun Mar 05, 2023 4:41 pm

1. Ian (confirmed)
2. Jim (confirmed)
3. Patrick (confirmed)
4&5. MichaelP and Nalan (confirmed)
6&7. Ed and Lisa (confirmed)
8. Tim (confirmed)
9. Alex (confirmed)
10. Nic (confirmed)
11&12 Tom and Gail (confirmed)
13. HM$ (confirmed)
14&15 Joel and Daniela (confirmed)

Did I miss anyone?

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sun Mar 05, 2023 4:44 pm

I’ll make sure there is some 2019 Montrose present, Ian.
I think we should do a blind tasting of 2019 Lynch and 2019 Montrose, and possibly a third 2019…. Perhaps Branaire, Patrick?

If the other 2019s are in 750 format, how do you propose they be presented blind against the 2019 Lynch? I suppose they don’t have to be blind.

JoelD · Post by **JoelD** » Sun Mar 05, 2023 5:29 pm

Should I bring 2 half bottles of 2019 Montrose, Ian?

As for the 1986 Lynch, I believe I have a bottle so you can tentatively put me down for that. Just need to find it and confirm. However if someone else happens to have one for sure, then that might work better. I definitely have the 1985.

I have a few other 2019's. d'Issan. Leoville Poyferre. Branaire ducru. All of those are 750's. Happy to bring any of them.

Blanquito · Post by **Blanquito** » Sun Mar 05, 2023 6:24 pm

I have an 86 Lynch as well acquired recently via auction, from the same lot as what I brought to dinner recently with Ed and Lisa in SF, but based on the showing of the first bottle, this lot probably wasn’t stored perfectly. That said, happy to bring it.

Blanquito · Post by **Blanquito** » Sun Mar 05, 2023 6:26 pm

For 2019s, I can bring a Branaire, DDC, d’Issan, Giscours, or Ferriere.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Sun Mar 05, 2023 8:27 pm

I vote that the flight be served blind: 2019 Lynch, 2019 Montrose, and 2019 Branaire.
We saw how the '82 Branaire performed in the Anonymous Benefactor tasting in NYC back in 2003, let's see if history can repeat.

Comte Flaneur · Post by **Comte Flaneur** » Sun Mar 05, 2023 8:39 pm

D’Issan is a beautiful wine in 2019 and one of the lowest in abv terms in the whole vintage at 13.3%

Blanquito · Post by **Blanquito** » Sun Mar 05, 2023 11:45 pm

Ok, I’ll definitely bring a 19 Branaire and if I have room (starting to get full), a 19 d’Issan… So it is ordered, so it shall be done.

JoelD · Post by **JoelD** » Mon Mar 06, 2023 2:59 am

Blanquito wrote: ↑Sun Mar 05, 2023 11:45 pm Ok, I’ll definitely bring a 19 Branaire and if I have room (starting to get full), a 19 d’Issan… So it is ordered, so it shall be done.

I can bring the d'Issan if you're bringing the Branaire. I wouldn't mind checking in on one. It can be a 4 bottle blind taste. I haven't tasted any yet, but I would bet on d'Issan being the most identifiable of the bunch.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Mon Mar 06, 2023 3:09 am

Traditionally we do a three bottle blind tasting where Lynch faces off against the Purple Baron and a wine like Branaire or Lagrange in there to keep things honest. I don’t think we should deviate too far from the focus, which is to see how Lynch matches up against the machine that is 2019 Montrose. That doesn’t mean of course that I’m not interested in tasting 2019 d’Issan, we can drink that too or make it the third bottle. We’re basically dealing with one small flight here, maybe at the beginning or at the end, they are going to be relatively small pours of each wine. I’m just really curious to see how the “greatest ever” 2019 Lynch matches up against the 100 point Montrose.

JoelD · Post by **JoelD** » Mon Mar 06, 2023 4:29 am

Sure, that makes sense Jim. I'll happily bring an 80's Bordeaux instead if we don't want to expand the tasting. I'll just leave it up to you and Ian to tell me which 2019's (if any) you guys want me to bring.

Comte Flaneur · Post by **Comte Flaneur** » Mon Mar 06, 2023 8:16 am

So let’s do a 2019 Lynch vs Montrose with D’Issan in there as the underdog?

Not sure about whether we should do this at the beginning or the end? We will have a lot of more mature clarets obviously with the food dishes. Including our mini Lynch vertical from the 1980s. Thoughts?

And first we are going to have to cope with the ordeal of drinking DP and Cristal 08 on arrival.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Mon Mar 06, 2023 10:23 am

I’m totally flexible. Ok I’ll bring 1989 Lynch and 2019 Montrose for Saturday night. With Joel’s 2019 d’Issan and Ian’s 2019 Lynch, we can do a fun little blind tasting at the beginning, middle, or end, I’m curious to see how those three highly touted 2019s match up against each other in a blind format. I’ll leave it to you Ian how you want to handle the logistics of the blind tasting.