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The 1989 has taken forever to shed its formidable tannins, but what a great vintage of Lynch Bages! I would rank it at the top of the pyramid although the 1990, 2000, and down the road, some of the more recent vintages such as 2005, 2009 and 2010 should come close to matching the 1989’s extraordinary concentration and undeniable aging potential. Its dense purple color reveals a slight lightening at the edge and the stunning bouquet offers classic notes of creme de cassis, subtle smoke, oak and graphite. Powerful and rich with some tannins still to shed at age 22, it is still a young adolescent in terms of its evolution and will benefit from another 4-5 years of cellaring. It should prove to be a 50 year wine.Robert Parker | 99+ RPThe 1989 Lynch-Bages is one of Jean-Michel Cazes’s triumphs. At three decades, it shows absolutely no signs of slowing down. Blackberry and cedar soar from the glass just as they did from the bottle last year, and touches of graphite develop, all beautifully defined and focused. As I’ve proclaimed before, there is such energy and vigor here! The palate is medium-bodied with a fresh, minty opening. The cedar element is a little stronger than the previous bottles that I have tasted, yet there is still that symmetry and focus. This particular bottle shows a touch more development on the finish compared to others encountered over the years, with great structure and grip, notes of tobacco and just a hint of morels surfacing on the aftertaste. A remarkable Lynch-Bages that is at its peak. As an aside, Jean-Michel Cazes mentioned that there are few bottles of the 1989 remaining in their reserves. A break-in during the 1990s saw robbers of good taste steal much of their stock. Tasted from an ex-cellar bottle at the château.Vinous Media | 96 VMDelivers so much blackberry, leather and dried fruits on the nose. Full-bodied, with ultrapolished tannins and a silky mouthfeel. The palate turns to leaves, cedar and dried berries on the finish, which goes on and on. This is still reserved for the vintage, suggesting a long life ahead. Just coming around now, but will improve many years ahead. I have always loved this Lynch.--’89/’99 Bordeaux blind retrospective (2009). Drink now. 35,000 cases made.Wine Spectator | 96 WSI have always been a big fan of this rich wine, with its currant and tropical fruit character on the nose and palate, and just a hint of toasted oak. It’s full-bodied, with wild fruit and tobacco character, and a roasted coffee bean aftertaste. This is a fabulous wine. Served from imperial bottle.James Suckling | 94 JS(Château Lynch Bages) The 1989 Château Lynch Bages is starting to drink beautifully at the present time and has just about reached its apogee of peak maturity, but still has decades and decades of life ahead of it. The classic bouquet jumps from the glass in a sappy blend of sweet cassis, black cherries, new leather, cigar ash, dark soil and a touch of toasty, ever so slightly resinous new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and complex, with a fine core of fruit, very good soil signature, still a bit of backend tannin to carry it on into the future and impressive focus and grip on the long and complex finish. I would opt for giving this wine just a few more years to soften up just a touch more on the backend before starting to drink it with abandon. It is a top flight vintage of Lynch. (Drink between 2020-2050).John Gilman | 92 JG

Textbook, with mouthfilling and slightly gutsy black currant, fig and blackberry fruit flavors bound together by singed cedar, iron and tobacco notes. Features a tug of loam followed by a second wave of fruit through the finish. This is just starting to stretch out.—Blind ’01/’03/’05 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2017). Best from 2020 through 2040. 35,000 cases made.Wine Spectator | 96 WSA meaty and decadent Lynch with very ripe currant aromas on the nose. Full body, velvety-textured tannins and a powerful finish. It shows so much structure and fruit yet remains polished and focused. Lovely now to drink but better in 2017.James Suckling | 96 JSClassic Lynch-Bages with just a bit of extra power and richness. While the tannins are structured, it is the velvety fruit that rolls around the mouth that is the most dominant character. It is coming together into a wine that will be big and dense, but never over the top.Wine Enthusiast | 96 WEThe 2005 Lynch-Bages is a surprising wine. Whereas so many 2005s have begun to enter their first plateau of early maturity, the 2005 comes across as still young and in need of further cellaring! The purity of the fruit is striking. Readers who want to get the full Lynch-Bages experience will have to wait at least a few more years. The 2005 is a wine of substance and depth, with all of the raciness that is typical of this wine. It is one of the dark horses of the vintage, and still has room to go. Impressive.Antonio Galloni | 95+ AGAlmost forward but still young; spicy cassis lifts and lengthens its rich dark berry flavours. One of the best Lynch-Bages ever.Decanter | 94 DECAs for the 2005 Lynch-Bages, it is a sexy, surprisingly soft and accessible style of wine, with a deep ruby/purple color, loads of crème de cassis, cedar wood and forest floor notes, medium to full body, ripe tannin and a long, fleshy finish. Drink it over the next 15+ years.Robert Parker | 92 RP

Always showing well, this bottle of 2005 Château Pontet Canet was just about pure perfection in a glass. Still youthful ruby/purple-hued, with a gorgeous core of pure cassis and darker currant fruits, it’s full-bodied and has a stacked mid-palate, building tannins, and textbook Pauillac graphite, lead pencil, and subtle tobacco and cedar aromas and flavors. It’s a big, rich, powerful 2005 with flawlessly integrated tannins, remarkable purity, and a finish that won’t quit. While it’s still another 5-10 years away from being completely mature, it unquestionably offers incredible pleasure today.Jeb Dunnuck | 98 JDPossibly the youngest wine of all the 2005 Médocs in terms of its evolution, at age 10 the inky purple 2005 Pontet-Canet tastes more like a two-year-old wine. Loads of pure blueberry, blackberry and cassis fruit are present along with a hint of licorice and background oak. It is full-bodied, ripe, and excruciatingly fresh, vigorous and exuberant. This is a tour de force, and a sensational effort that rivals the first growths. Give it another 5-10 years of cellaring, and drink it over the following 30-40 years.Robert Parker | 97+ RPClass in glass. Deep ruby, youthful tone. Such sumptuous red berry, cassis and tobacco aromas. Juicy and full bodied, with smoothly textured tannins. The creamy mid palate texture is framed by an impressive arc of tension and balancing acidity, ensuring long life. Long finish. Super! Aged 50% new oak.Decanter | 97 DECThe 2005 Pontet-Canet is a heady, exotic wine. Inky dark fruit, mocha, chocolate, licorice, spice and tobacco are front and center. Readers will find an unabashedly opulent, full-throttle 2005 with quite a bit more oak influence and overall extraction than is the norm these days. Even so, the 2005 is a young, young wine with a bright future. This is one sexy Pauillac, that’s for sure.Antonio Galloni | 96 AGWarm, fleshy and inviting, featuring a gush of blackberry, fig and boysenberry compote flavors that are both primal and approachable, with light anise, sweet tobacco and ganache notes filling in behind. Shows a serious, deeply buried iron and cedar spine, as the fruit is just pumping forth now.—Blind ’01/’03/’05 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2017). Drink now through 2035. 20,830 cases made. Wine Spectator | 96 WSDespite its core of strength and power and obvious aging ability, this is already a delicious wine, with mint aromas, ripe fruit masking the solid tannins. This estate has been on a roll for several years, and this 2005 shows why.Wine Enthusiast | 94 WEDrawn into a tannic trance, this wine’s fresh black raspberry flavor moves through blueberry skin into a graphite, mineral blackout. Before the tannin, it shows a deep reservoir of fruit and the rich espresso-roast scent of fine oak. The texture is meaty, the structure set for long evolution in the cellar. Diageo Château & Estate Wines, NYWine & Spirits | 90 W&S

Deep garnet colored, the 2009 Pontet-Canet prances out of the glass with exuberant notes of black cherry preserves, warm cassis, and boysenberries, followed by a powerful perfume of star anise, candied violets, fallen leaves, and crushed rocks. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is packed with decadently rich, sensuous black berry preserves and exotic spices flavors, backed by a velvety texture and seamless freshness, finishing with epic length. Stunning.The Wine Palate | 100 TWPAn amazing wine in every sense, this classic, full-bodied Pauillac is the quintessential Pontet Canet from proprietor Alfred Tesseron, who continues to reduce yields and farms his vineyards biodynamically – a rarity in Bordeaux. Black as a moonless night, the 2009 Pontet Canet offers up notes of incense, graphite, smoke, licorice, creme de cassis and blackberries. A wine of irrefutable purity, laser-like precision, colossal weight and richness, and sensational freshness, this is a tour de force in winemaking that is capable of lasting 50 or more years. The tannins are elevated, but they are sweet and beautifully integrated as are the acidity, wood and alcohol (which must be in excess of 14%). This vineyard, which is situated on the high plateau of Pauillac adjacent to Mouton Rothschild, appears to have done everything perfectly in 2009. This cuvee should shut down in the cellar and re-open in a decade or more. Anticipated maturity: 2025-2075.Robert Parker | 100 RPA consistently perfect wine every time I’ve had it, the 2009 Château Pontet-Canet is the greatest wine from this address to date as well as one of the greatest Pauillacs out there. Still youthfully ruby/purple and with a gorgeous perfume of blackcurrants, lead pencil, graphite, crushed rocks, and damp earth, it’s still youthful but is just now starting to show more nuance and complexity. Full-bodied on the palate, with a powerful, concentrated mid-palate, incredible depth of fruit, and flawless balance, Bordeaux simply does not get any better. You couldn’t have too much of this in the cellar, and this magical wine is going to drink brilliantly for another 50 years or more.Jeb Dunnuck | 100 JDDeep garnet colored, the 2009 Pontet-Canet prances out of the glass with exuberant notes of black cherry preserves, warm cassis, and boysenberries, followed by a powerful perfume of star anise, candied violets, fallen leaves, and crushed rocks. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is packed with decadently rich, sensuous black berry preserves and exotic spices flavors, backed by a velvety texture and seamless freshness, finishing with epic length. Stunning.The Wine Independent | 100 TWIA superb wine, with the purest fruit, great freshness and ripeness. It is certainly structured with dry tannins, but the blackcurrant freshness is all there. The wine has a great limpid, flowing feel, lbut also power.Wine Enthusiast | 99 WEStunning aromas of fresh flowers, with blueberries, blackberries and currants that follow through to a full body, with super balance and finesse. The tannins are super polished. Such class here. Best ever from here. From biodynamically grown grapes. Try in 2018.James Suckling | 98 JSBeautifully deep ruby colour, deliciously brambled fruits, cigar box, chocolate drops, mint leaf, confident and cradling tannins, this is a beautiful wine, easy and luxurious. The estate was in organic conversion at this point, not yet certified. Great quality. Jean-Michel Comme technical director.Jane Anson | 98 JAThis is amazingly expressive now considering how huge it is, with stunning espresso and warm fig confiture aromas followed by lush layer after layer of blackberry paste, cassis and plum sauce. A terrific loam underpinning strides in on the finish, which is weighty but sports serious cut. Equal parts fruit and earth. Best from 2018 through 2038. 26,665 cases made.Wine Spectator | 96 WSThe 2009 Pontet-Canet needs more encouragement from the glass than its peers, but it rewards the imbiber with seductive pure cassis and blackberry fruit, touches of autumn leaves and pencil box. The palate is medium-bodied with firm but fine tannin, a lovely bead of acidity. A harmonious, brown spice and smoke tinged finish fans out with confidence. You could open this now but it still has two more decades of drinking pleasure to give. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting.Vinous Media | 95 VMSumptuous black-fruits nose, vividly aromatic, as well as minty, stylish, and toasty. Very rich, broad, full-bodied and generous, with very ripe tannins and a lot fo spice. Perhaps slightly lower acidity than usual but has punch and persistence all the same. Approachable, just, but will benefit from more age. Good length with a chewy but not astringent finish. Drinking Window 2018 - 2035Decanter Magazine | 95 DEC

A wine with great beauty and finesse. Such elegance and ethereal quality for this estate. Full body, with ultra-fine tannins and a juicy delicious finish. Long and beautiful. This is the best Lynch in a long, long time. I love the precision here. Try in 2018.James Suckling | 98 JSStill a saturated ruby-black in hue, the 2010 Lynch-Bages offers up aromas of rich cassis fruit mingled with hints of pencil shavings, loamy soil and cigar wrapper. Full-bodied, deep and muscular, it’s rich and layered, with a concentrated core of fruit that’s framed by firm, powdery tannins and lively acids. The most brooding, backward Lynch-Bages of the decade and one of the real successes of the vintage, this is a vibrant, tightly wound wine that is still an infant at age 10. Readers with bottles in their cellars might try one now out of curiosity, but this 2010 won’t begin to hit its stride until age 20.Robert Parker | 97 RPDeep inky purple in colour, this is a majestic Pauillac to be savoured by Bordeaux lovers. Again we are far from it being ready to drink and the tannins continue to be dominant, although not hiding the layers of rich earthy loam, slate, pencil lead and concentrated cassis that lie underneath. It’s impressive and built, muscular, taut and architectural. An excellent reflection of what 2010 brought to the wines in this corner of the Médoc. It’s not the most enticing for drinking today; give it another few years to soften and open further, or really allow it to have a good four to five hours in a carafe. But there is no mistaking the future of this wine. Drinking Window 2022 - 2050.Decanter | 97 DECRoasted cedar, tobacco and bay leaf notes start off this structured but lively bottling, with intense currant, blackberry and black cherry flavors at the core. The iron-laced grip and pleasantly austere plum pit and licorice snap accents fill in on the tar-tinged finish. Great range, character and typicity. If you ever need to explain Pauillac to someone, give them this. Best from 2018 through 2037. 25,000 cases made.Wine Spectator | 96 WSThis sumptuous wine is driven by perfectly ripe fruit as well as dense, dusty and dry tannins. Great swathes of blackberry sweep across the palate, followed by juicy acidity. Such a combination will make this impressive wine a delight to drink in 10 years and beyond. *Cellar Selection*Wine Enthusiast | 96 WEThe 2010 Lynch-Bages has a stunning bouquet with pixelated black fruit, crushed stone and graphite aromas that soar from the glass. This is just amazingly focused. The palate is medium-bodied with concentrated black fruit curiously tinged with cough candy, which here I find just a bit out of place. The acidity is extremely well judged and there is immense persistence on the finish. Bold, brassy and ambitious, this is an extremely impressive wine, although I suspect that there are better bottles out there. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners 10-Year On Bordeaux horizontal.Vinous Media | 95 VM(Château Lynch-Bages) The 2010 Lynch-Bages is one of the stars in the Left Bank this year, as the Cazes family has fashioned a superb and perfectly balanced example of the vintage. The deep and complex nose soars from the glass in a mélange of cassis, dark berries, espresso, cigar ash, a touch of lead pencil, gravel, leafy young cabernet tones and cedar. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and most impressively soil-driven, with a fine core of pure fruit, excellent focus and balance, bright, well-integrated acids and fine length and grip on the ripely tannic and beautifully delineated finish. A fine, fine vintage for Lynch-Bages. (Drink between 2022-2075)John Gilman | 94+ JG