🏰 Château Lynch-Bages

Château Lynch-Bages is a wine estate on the edge of Pauillac, in the Médoc; part of its name comes from the hamlet of Bages. According to the estate, John Lynch, a merchant from Galway, settled in Bordeaux in 1691, and on 9 June 1750 his son Thomas acquired the Domaine de Bages through his marriage; the Lynch family kept it for 75 years. In the 1930s Jean-Charles Cazes, born in Pauillac, took over the property, and his descendants still run it: André, Jean-Michel and, since 2007, Jean-Charles Cazes.

The estate makes the red Château Lynch-Bages, mostly from Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot; the second wine Echo de Lynch-Bages, which replaced Château Haut-Bages Averous in 2008; and, since 1990, Blanc de Lynch-Bages from Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon and Muscadelle. A new winery designed by Chien Chung Pei made its first vintage in 2020.

Pauillac is a protected designation of origin (PDO) for red wines made within a delimited area. In the 1855 classification, kept today by the Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855, Lynch-Bages is a Cinquième Cru (fifth growth).

Why it matters to you. A white wine from a Pauillac estate cannot carry the Pauillac PDO, which covers only red wine; check the appellation on the label of each bottle. The WHO reminds: there is no safe level of alcohol.