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22/05/2018

Bordeaux En Primeur Latest Releases

by Giles Cooper (Head of Marketing & PR)
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We’ve waited some time for a 2017 offer that makes really good sense and the good folks at Lynch Bages have finally provided one. With their Grand Vin released today at GBP 885, over 20% below the release price of the 2016 (and below the 2015), there is an opportunity here. For it is not only the release price that must be considered: the price of back vintages of Lynch Bages has risen dramatically over the past couple of years, driven by a drinker’s market in Europe, the USA and Asia. Once the wine becomes physical, global demand causes prices to climb significantly - as a result there are only a handful of vintages on the market currently that trade at under GBP 1000.

The 2017 Lynch was very well received by the vast majority of critics, with expressions such as “A beautiful young wine” (JS), “a wine of impeccable balance and class” (AG) and “just sings for its purity, balance, and expansive texture” (JD) resonating particularly with us. Our impression was of a wine tightly coiled and densely fruited but with incredible precision, energy, tension and an unmistakable – and unmissable – sense of true Pauillac minerality and gravitas. It’s a finessed and medium-bodied example of Lynch which could go on to be one of the estate’s ‘textbook’ wines. And we mean that in the most positive sense.

Also released at GBP 295 is the impressive second wine Echo de Lynch Bages, which Antonio Galloni called “absolutely delicious”and to which James Suckling awarded 92-93pts.

Other releases today include:

Pedesclaux at GBP 354

Larrivet Haut Brion at GBP 290

Monbousquet Blanc at GBP 465

Monbousquet Rouge at GBP 460

These were all above the top of our spread, unfortunately...

Two very reasonably priced wines in the form of the Pessac Leognan Olivier Rouge and Blanc were both released at GBP 215.

This afternoon we also saw Rauzan Gassies at GBP 440 and Quinault L'Enclos at GBP 265.