ECHO
2016 de Lynch Bages Pauillac Château Lynch Bages
73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot. Quite dumb on the nose, a broader feel than Ormes de Pez tasted before it, but less exprerssive of fruit too. There's richness here but it's not that expressive yet. Drinking range: 2025 - 2035 Rating: 89-90 L&S (Apr 2017)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
The 2016 Echo de Lynch Bages was a real surprise - in a good way. It offers attractive blackberry, briar, pencil shaving and light floral notes on a nose blessed with fine lift and focus. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-boned tannins, conveying a sense of symmetry and precision. While not overly complex or profound, there is clearly some prudent, considered winemaking behind this excellent wine. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting. Drinking range: 2020 - 2025 Rating: 91 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Aug 2020)
The second wine of the estate is the 2016 Echo de Lynch Bages, mostly Cabernet Sauvignon blended with 27% Merlot, all aged in once-used barrels. Classic dark fruits, graphite, licorice, cedarwood, and subtle oak all emerge from this medium-bodied, balanced, layered Pauillac. With terrific purity, drink this while you do your best to stay away from the grand vin. Drinking range: 2019 - 2039 Rating: 92 Jeb Dunnuck, www.jebdunnuck.com (Feb 2019)
Rating: 89-91 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2017)
73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot. Second-year barrels. Very deep crimson. Rather pure and alluring on the nose. Then a little tart on the end. As though all the wines with less ripe phenolics went into this. Sandpaper tannins. Drinking range: 2021 - 2028 Rating: 16 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2017)
Shows a slightly dusty edge, but the core of fruit bursts with friendly cassis and cherry compote flavors. Cedar and singed vanilla accents score the finish. Rating: 90-93 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Apr 2017)
The second wine of Lynch is linear and tight with beautiful blackberry and currant character. Medium to full body, firm tannins and an energetic finish. Super concentrated on the center palate. Rating: 93-94 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2017)
Echo de Lynch-Bages this year accounts for 25% of overall production, and even here we are at a tannin index of 85IPT. But the freshness is undeniable, with a pH of 3.55 giving beautiful violet reflections on the colour. On the palate, there are softer brambly fruits than in the grand vin. 73% Cabernet Sauvignon and 27% Merlot. Drinking range: 2025 - 2038 Rating: 91 Jane Anson, Decanter (Apr 2017)
The 2016 Echo de Lynch Bages offers lovely intensity in its bold, forward fruit. Sweet dark cherry, plum, lavender, spice and menthol infuse this deep, racy Pauillac. Sumptuous and resonant on the palate, the 2016 will drink nicely right out of the gate. Today, the primary fruit is super-expressive. Rating: 89-92 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Apr 2017)
The Cazes have made a superb range of wines in 2016. This classic Pauillac, constructed around fine Cabernet Sauvignon, is aromatic, leafy and precise with grippy but very polished tannins, cassis and black cherry flavours and an undertone of graphite. Drinking range: 2024 - 2030 Rating: 93 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (Apr 2017)
Château Lynch Bages
Pauillac Cinquième cru 1855 Thomas Lynch emigrated to Bordeaux from Galway in Ireland in 1691. He had two children and it was his son Thomas who associated the family name with Bordeaux by inheriting Lynch-Bages through his wife, and buying Lynch-Moussas and Dauzac in Margaux. Jean-Charles Cazes, who had recently bought Château Les Ormes de Pez in St Estèphe, took the tenancy of Lynch-Bages in 1934, and bought the property outright five years later. It has been the ownership of the Cazes family, who still own the estate, which turned Château Lynch Bages into the leading estate it is today, far exceeding the seemingly lowly 5th growth status bestowed upon it in 1855. There are 90ha of vines in the small village of Bages, just south of Pauillac. Red grapes are planted to 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Wines are fermented in temperature-controlled stainless-steel before ageing in wood (60% new) for 15 months. There has been a second wine produced at Lynch-Bages since 1978 that was originally called Château Haut Bages Averous, but has recently been renamed Echo de Lynch Bages. A small amount of Château Lynch Bages Blanc is made from 40% each of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon and 20% Muscadelle.
Please make sure that you have read the terms of this offer which are different from those of the main website. If you are unclear as to what is involved in primeur purchases please do call us, but see the 'practical notes' below.
Ordering
Prices are per case as listed 'in bond London'.
Pre-Orders are a firm commitment from you to buy the wines you order on release, subject to the price being below the upper price of the estimated band on our website. You may also set your own upper price limit, lower or higher than ours. Pre-orders will be fulfilled subject to availability. Providing this firm commitment to us effectively gives you priority.
Wines listed on the website (after any pre-orders and allocations have been fulfilled) can be ordered in the usual way via the website order form or by email or telephone 020 7221 1982, always subject to stock remaining.
Confirmation
All orders will be confirmed by email and are contractually binding unless written cancellation is received within seven days of the confirmation date, apart from pre-orders which are binding if the release price is below the top estimate or other price you have set.
Invoices are raised at the In Bond price, excluding any duty and VAT which will become payable at the prevailing rates on arrival of the wine if required duty paid.
Payment is required on sight of invoice, by cash, cheque, debit card or credit transfer. We reserve the right to charge 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.
Delivery
- Shipment to our bond (LCB Creek Road) and insurance are included in the in bond price.
- Delivery is free to Lea and Sandeman / Elephant storage accounts, both duty paid and in bond.
- Other deliveries (In Bond and Duty Paid) are also free subject to a minimum order from the offer of £1000, orders below this total will be charged £16.50+ VAT when the wine invoices are issued. We will group deliveries and this is a charge for your entire purchases, not a per-case charge.
- Delivery for 2016 Bordeaux primeurs will probably be completed by October 2019, but we make no guarantee as to specific delivery times, and some of the Sauternes may be later.
Practical notes - how it works
We start a sale in each customer's name and add all their primeur orders to one sale which is invoiced at the end of the campaign (or when the customer wishes) for immediate payment. We and our customers find that having a single invoice for the vintage is the simpler option, but do please note that confirmed orders are still binding as above even if the final invoice has not been issued.
When the wine is shipped, unless previously specified we will assume that delivery is to be to bonded storage with Elephant Storage, but in any case, we will contact you requesting any alternative instructions. If you have another bonded delivery address you would like the wine to go to, please tell us at the time of ordering. If the wines are required duty-paid we will issue invoices at the rates prevailing at the time for the excise duty (currently £25.98 per case) and the VAT (currently at 20%) on the total of the wine cost and the duty.
Half-bottles, Magnums and larger bottles.
One of the additional advantages of buying en primeur is being able to order the wine in the bottle size you want. Even if a wine is only listed in one size, you can order any bottle or case size you want if the property supplies it, but you must order the case/bottle size you require and check that the correct size has been invoiced.
Additional charges are as follows:-
- +£15 per case of 24 half-bottles
- +£15 per case of 6 Magnums (2 bottles equivalent, 1.5 litres each)
- +£35 per individually boxed Double Magnum (4 bottles equivalent, 3 litres)
- +£45 per individually boxed Imperial (8 bottles equivalent, 6 litres) for Salmanazars, Balthazars, Nebuchadnezzars and Melchiors please enquire for availability and price.