Château Lynch-Bages 2011

The 2011 vintage in Pauillac

Vintage benchmark: 87/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: A scorching spring followed by a wet August turned the seasons upside down: classic wines, shorter but true to type.

Overall reading of the year’s season across Pauillac. An estate can depart from it sharply, in frost or hail years, where two neighbours did not make the same vintage. What this particular wine actually gave is on its technical sheet and in the scores above.

Tasting

After two sunny and powerful vintages, 2011 stands out for the expression of very ripe fruit, fine and coated tannins, and a good freshness which ensures a classic balance.

Blend of the 2011 vintage

Figures from the 2011 sheet

• 13 % vol.Alcohol
• 50 hl/haYield
• 30 yrsVine age
• 350,000 bottlesProduction

Winemaking

Vinification is precisely adapted to the terroir and the characteristics of each vintage. A vast vat room of 35 vats of different sizes allows the separate processing of each plot or each homogeneous batch of grapes. Once the vats are filled, a specific vinification program is applied to each, designed to extract the best color and aromas from the fruit. This program is made up of diversified, perfectly defined operations, which depend on the specificities of the batches of grapes concerned and the character of the vintage. The macerations are long and spread over more than three weeks. Run-off and devatting are carried out by favoring the gentlest processes, and in particular gravity which makes it possible to avoid unnecessary pumping. The malolactic fermentation phase is carried out for one third in barrels and two thirds in vats.

Ageing

In French oak barrels for 15 months, 75% of which are new barrels.

Terroir

Extending over some 100 hectares in the commune of Pauillac, the Lynch-Bages vineyard lies entirely on the soil favoured by the great growths, formed along the estuary by the gravel alluvium of the Médoc. The property occupies the well-defined rises to the south and south-west of the town. The soils of Lynch-Bages are homogeneous, consisting essentially of Günz-era Garonne gravels (early Quaternary) resulting from the slow erosion of the Pyrenees by the Garonne. Highly free-draining and low in silt, these soils of stones and sand store heat during the day and release it at night. Poor and of low fertility, they allow moderate vine growth and encourage deep rooting.