2000 Lynch Bages

[marcs]

Infanticide, but whatever. This is the kind of wine that I hate, because it tempts me to spend money I don't have.

Smelled like some kind of pure divine grape juice of the gods right out of the bottle, but the palate was closed. Nose opened up to layered brown sugar sweetness. When you stuck your nose in the decanter the scents were so intense that they were moving into the plum / fig area. Palate unfolded beautifully over an hour or so in the decanter, gradually revealing the layer on layer of fruit you know are there from the nose. Big tongue-shrivelling tannins, but you didn't notice or care because the fruit was so big and beautiful and the balance was so perfect. This is a huge wine, but the architecture is so good that it's light and pleasant in the mouth. Beams and arches and flying buttresses supporting all that intensity so it descends on your palate lightly, in beautiful waves of dark fruit and minerals. Supreme balance and structure, it ushers you through all the stages a wine is supposed to take you through. The finish harsher than the rest of the wine (though only in a relative sense, this was an easy wine to drink), this has got a ton of room to age and it will be great. But the fruit intensity is so wonderful now that I don't think it's really a loss to drink today.

I open wines like this hoping they'll convince me to hold the line at never spending three figures on a bottle, but they have the opposite effect. This kind of wine is also why I feel OK about Parker's influence...Bordeaux can combine big fruit with a sophistication, elegance, and balance we can't equal here.

[Houndsong]

This was one of my trio of WOTNs at Jim's in September. The others were the 95 Cheval Blanc and 99 Margaux, so you can see what it's about. It was different, which is a function of the vintage I think.

[JimHow]

I was pretty down on this wine for several years but it has emerged beautifully from hibernation.

[JimHow]

It is challenging the '88 and '90 for third best Lynch ever.

[William P]

Jim did you mean 89 instead of 88?

[JimHow]

No, I meant the '88, Bill.

[marcs]

Jim must be referring to the 1989 and 1996 as the two best LBs? I have had the 1996 LB and it was a pale shadow of the 2000 I just had. But I may have had a bad bottle, it was mediocre and not memorable anyway.

Wine is so weird. I sometimes think that someone needs to have had a case of a particular wine/vintage at different age points before they can properly opine on it. Perhaps with the bottles taken from different lots!

[JimHow]

That's right, Marc, '89 Lynch is my favorite. I'm a big fan of the '96. I do think the 2000 is going to be great though.

[William P]

I see, "third best ever", I should learn to read before I post.

[SF Ed]

Once it is finally mature I have a 3L of 2000 Lynch Bages that has BWE written all over it.

SF Ed

[Jay Winton]

BD,
I remember drinking a bottle of the 2000LB with you, Tom in DC and MichaelP late night after, I think, the main event in Glen Ellen. You had just purchased a case and we cracked it. A fun BWE memory.

[JimHow]

Inded, that was the case that Werner and Chris had got for me at $75 per bottle....

[Blanquito]

Great price, Jim! It's now north of $140-150.

[JimHow]

Yeah, sadly the price of Lynch seems to have gone to that next level, Patrick. The 2007 Lynch is over $90 in NH. The 2006 can still be found in the $60+ range, but I'm not sure how good it is, the lone bottle I drank was good but not real compelling. I might buy a couple bottles of the 2006. I'm hoping the 2008 will be priced reasonably, I'm sure the 2009 will be priced out of sight.

[Bacchus]

Gosh you guys got it good. In Newfoundland the 2005 LB will set you back $158; the '06 $125!!

[Blanquito]

I see the 2008 can be had at $55 on futures. Seems pretty reasonable. This is a 91-93+ pointer from Parker, FWIW.

[marcs]

Has Lynch been an underachiever in the 2000s? I haven't really kept up. Kind of weird when they had such a string of good to great vintages -- 1985, 88, 89, 90, 95, 96, 99, 2000 -- that they would fall back in the pack.

2008 looks like a fantastic deal if you trust Parker's notes. Less so if you follow e.g. Jancis Robinson or check out the weather reports. Maybe there should be another thread about whether Parker is still reliable on Bdx. I do think it's his best region and I still trust him there, I guess.

[Mike Christensen]

That's right, Marc, '89 Lynch is my favorite. I'm a big fan of the '96. I do think the 2000 is going to be great though.

Good bottles of the 1970 are quite good (though there's an awful lot of less-than-good bottles of 1970...).

[JimHow]

Yes the '70 Lynch is one of those great old-styled tobacco and coffee clarets.

I gave a bottle of this wine to Arvind Rao at the NYC '03 convention.

[JimHow]

I'm not sure when Jean-Michel Cazes took over and when he stopped leading the team, but I think his presence coincided with the most glorious Lynch Bages of the eighties and nineties. My experiences with the Lynches of the new century have been quite limited, but it seems there has been a change to a lighter wine-making style? Although, if I'm not mistaken, HWSRN believes recent vintages have been returning to the style of the '80s and '90s.

I think that '82, or maybe a year or two after that, was a turning point for Lynch. The '82 Lynch is an old-styled wine, but by 1985 the wines became more rich, fruit-driven, etc., reaching their apex in the legendary trio of '88, '89, and '90....

[JimHow]

Like the '91 Latour and LLC, the '91 Lynch was very good.

[JimHow]

The '91 LLC had one of the best bouquets on a wine I have ever experienced.

[DavidG]

Infanticide, but whatever...

...Bordeaux can combine big fruit with a sophistication, elegance, and balance we can't equal here.

From your note, it doesn't sound like this was infanticide, though I think it will have more to offer in another 10 years.

The second part above I agree with completely. Big fruit, sophistication, elegance, balance, and given time...

...complexity.

[Blanquito]

JimHow, you've certainly drunk well through the years, my faithful indian companion.

[JimHow]

Well I'm hoping to join you guys in December in NYC, Patrick, although I have four bankruptcy hearings here in Maine at 10 that morning.

One of my biggest regrets has been to never have drunk Lynch Bages with Jean Michel Cazes. It breaks my heart when I hear the BWEers who were there recounting how he was asking "Where's Jim?" when they visited Lynch Bages in 2005.

But, not much else to complain about, though, BWE has certainly afforded me the opportunity to drink the wines of many, many lifetimes, believe me, I count my blessings in that regard... not to mention of course the many lifelong friendships here!

[robert goulet]

89' is phenom!!

We have the '05 here for $99. Anyone care to chime in on the '05? I'm still not completely sold on the vintage. I keep finding too many '04's that I like.

[Michael-P]

Jay:

Yes, that late night in Glen Ellen after the BWE Annual (was it 2003 or 2004?) when Jim cracked open a bottle was costly for me. I was completely convinced it had it all, and as a result over the next few years I bought a couple cases of 2000 Lynch.

I'm not sure I recall having it again until this years BWE Annual in Chicago and I was a bit disappointed. I think Jim agreed in Chicago saying it was weak. I hope its as good as Marcs and others are saying. Perhaps Ed's 3L will return my confidence......?

Michael-P

[JimHow]

It was 2006, Michael, yes I was consistently disappointed by the 2000 Lynch, including that night, you may recall. The last two times I've had it, though, it has been outstanding. It may have been in a funky stage, which, actually, would not be surprising at age six to nine.