Blend: 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot

Average yields (over the last 5 years): 45 hectoliters per hectare

Total average annual production: 30,000-35,000 cases

Upbringing: Grapes are picked mannually and totally destemmed. Fermentations last 15-17 days normally (except in 1996, 20 days) in temperature-controlled stainless-steel vats. Malolactics occur in tanks except for a small proportion of the yield that goes into cask. All wines are then transferred to oak barrels, of which 60% are new, for 12-15 months. They are fined and filtered only once prior to bottling. Racking every 3 months from barrel to barrel.

"In the famous 1855 Classification of the Wines of Gironde, Lynch-Bages was positioned in the last tier as a fifth-growth. I know of no professional in the field today who would not argue that its present-day quality is more akin to a second-growth."

Chateau Lynch Bages 1996       

(5º Grand Cru Classe)

Wine Spectator: “Deep, dark ruby with intense aromas of mint, berries and currants.  Full-bodied, with velvety tannins and a delicious ripe fruit and lead pencil aftertaste.”

Rated 92

Robert Parker: “Lynch Bages has turned out an outstanding 1996 that is less forward than the 1990 or 1995, and built along the lines of the tannic, blockbuster 1989.  It offers an opaque purple color, and outstanding aromatics consisting of dried herbs, tobacco, cassis, and smoky oak.  Full-bodied and classic in its proportions, this dense, chewy pure Lynch Bages will have considerable longevity.”