Château Lynch-Bages

The winery is located in the municipality of Bages in the Pauillac region of the Médoc (Haut-Médoc, Bordeaux). It was founded in 1749, when Elisabeth Drouillard, wife of the Irish-born Thomas-Michel Lynch, inherited an estate called "Bourdieu de Batges" from her father. The size of the property increased to 150 hectares until finally in 1824 the history of the Lynch family came to an end and it was divided into Château Lynch-Moussas and Château Lynch-Bages. The estate in question was bought in 1934 by Jean-Charles Cazes (*1972) and is now run by his grandson Jean-Michel Cazes. In the 1980s, the dilapidated château and cellars were rebuilt. Jean-Michel Cazes was appointed by his friend Claude Bébéar, the founder of the AXA insurance group, as the head of AXA-Millésimes, a company founded in 1984 which owns several prestigious wineries in Bordeaux, Hungary and Portugal. He held this position until 2001

In the 1855 Bordeaux Classification, the estate was only awarded fifth place (Cinquième Cru Classé), which was considered far too low even then. The vineyards cover a total of 90 hectares, of which 85.5 hectares are planted with red wine varieties and 4.5 hectares with white wine varieties. These are Cabernet Sauvignon (75%), Merlot (15%) and Cabernet Franc (10%), as well as Sauvignon Blanc (40%), Sémillon (40%) and Muscadelle (20%). This extremely long-lasting red wine is aged for 12 to 15 months in 50% new barriques. According to many experts, this wine would deserve the second place (Deuxième Classé). However, it is also called "Mouton of the little man" in a rather belittling way. The second wine up to vintage 2007 was called "Château Haut-Bages-Avérous", from vintage 2008 it is now called "Echo de Lynch-Bages". Under the AC designation Bordeaux the brand wine "Michel Lynch" is produced. It is named after the brother of the founder, who was mayor of Pauillac. The red wine is blended from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the white wine from Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc. The grapes come from the entire Bordeaux region.