Echo de Lynch-Bages 2020

This has a nice generous feel, with cassis and damson plum unfurling easily, backed by light floral and iron notes through the fresh finish. Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink now through 2033. 10,416 cases made.

Bramble fruit, toasty aromas and soft florality. Structured and serious from the get-go with super-fine tannins that fill the mouth and coat the tongue and cheeks, but with a cool, graphite grip to them. Supple but not plush at all, definitely leaner but not strict, as there’s a gentle chew that gives a lovely, welcoming weight on the palate. Juicy and vibrant, this has energy and life while remaining refined and elegant; nothing has been overworked here. A really impressive second wine with terroir speaking. Succulent and easy yet confident and well built.

Tasted blind. Deep crimson. Pure, fragrant black fruit, slightly leafy in a nice way. Savoury and less fragrant on the mid palate but with an attractive dark restraint. Tannins are refined. Dryish finish. (JH)

Medium-bodied, forward, elegant, fresh, vibrant, floral and sweet, with layers of soft, inviting, ripe red currants with a touch of tobacco leaf and spice. This is already a treat in your glass. Drink from 2023-2032.

The first vintage made at the new facility, the 2020 Echo De Lynch-Bages checks in as 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot that was raised all in once-used barrels. It’s a big, mouth-filling, serious second wine revealing classic Pauillac lead pencil and tobacco notes, plenty of ripe black fruits, velvety tannins, and a great finish. One of the more opulent, expansive wines of the vintage, it has loads to love as well as more than a hint of the style of the Grand Vin.

Intensely red-berry bouquet, woodland fruit tea and white pepper. On the compact palate with delicately firm texture, grainy extract, a peel-like note. In the focused finish, the Pauillac closes in on itself. Slightly down compared with the en primeur tastings.

Spicy, delicately off-dry bouquet, cassis, blackberries, tobacco, smoke. Good firm palate with dark fruit, finely sandy tannins, bourgeois structure, powerful aromatics, dry finish. Can improve further. 16/20 2025 - 2036

First year in the new cellars, with far more space that allows true plot-by-plot vinification. A true Pauillac depth, and this is one of the better second wines of the vintage in this corner of the Médoc, where the tannins can be fierce. Plump blackberry fruit, cocoa bean and liquorice, excellent quality, serious with classic balance. pH 3.78, yield 22 hl/ha.

A vibrant second wine with aromas of strawberries in syrup and blueberry tart. On the palate, surprising tension and acidity are followed by an opulent bouquet, with tannins that are likewise taut and mineral.

2020 was the first vintage vinified in the new facilities of Lynch Bages. So is it the freshness of the cellar or of the terroir that we sense? Either way, it’s enjoyable! Echo de Lynch-Bages shows lovely breadth on the palate. The tannins are precise, lively, and aligned with the tension.