2022 Lynch-Bages (Pauillac)

The 2022 Lynch-Bages has a showstopping bouquet that is well defined, very pure and focused, displaying black fruit laced with cedar and graphite. Hints of pressed violet emerge with aeration. This has actually gained pixelation in barrel. The palate is taut and crisp, with touches of graphite flourishing with aeration so that it could only come from Pauillac. There`s plenty of energy coiled up in this Lynch Bages. The 2022 will give a lot of pleasure over the next 30 years or more. Superb. 96 points

Full on inky purple in colour, this is sculpted and full of character. Intense, not just a reflection of the vintage but in the increasing concentration found in Lynch Bages over the past decade. Delivers so much character, wtih charcoal, soot, campfire, liquorice, slate, bilberry, cassis. Hugely impressive and complex, will age for decades. As it opens and those fierce tannins loosen their grip a little, the floral character of the Cabernet Sauvignon becomes more clear. It`s austere right now, with shoulders and muscles, but I am fully on board. One to wait for. 75% new oak. Harvest September 12 to 24. 97 points