2020 Blanc de Lynch Bages, Chateau Lynch Bages, Pauillac

Really fresh and vivid with sliced grapefruit, lemon, green apple and white peach. Apricot, too. Medium to full body with phenolic texture and a long, vivid finish. 70% sauvignon, 20% semillon and 10% muscadelle. Drink or hold.

Less of the citrus flavours of recent vintages and more apricot and nectarine stone fruits, taking its cue from Sémillon and Muscadelle. Relaxed and effortless while still maintaining both lift and tension, with a saline wet stone lick on the finish. I tasted the 2019 on the same day, as it had just been bottled, and the 2020 is less of a classic Lynch Bages Blanc, but still utterly delicious, with clear weight and impression through the mid palate. 3.35pH. 50% new oak for six months. Fermentation below 20°C. A yield of 40hl/ha.

The 2020 Blanc de Lynch-Bages, fermented in temperature-controlled barrels, raised in 50% new oak and bottled in April 2021, has a well-defined bouquet, scents of yellow plum intermingling with gooseberries and crushed stone. The palate is well balanced; the 20% Sémillon transcending its “bit part” in the blend by furnishing this white Bordeaux with a slightly honeyed texture and subtle tropical notes of white peach and passion fruit. This is all counterbalanced by a fine bead of acidity, and though it does not possess enormous length, there is a precision that is very appealing.