Very rich and exotic with blackberry, black-tea, graphite and lead-pencil aromas. Full-bodied, dense and structured with lots of ripe tannins and a long, flavorful finish of currants and forest floor, combined with fresh mushrooms and bark. Needs four to five years to show its true potential. Try after 2024.

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2016 Lynch Bages comes charging out of the gate with pronounced cassis, chocolate-covered cherries, mulberries and menthol notions, backed up by scents of garrigue, tilled soil and a waft of tapenade. Medium to full-bodied, rich and fantastically concentrated, the generous fruit is superbly framed by firm, ripe, grainy tannins with tons of pepper, cinnamon and cloves layers coming through on the finish. Truly, a legendary Lynch Bages!

A powerhouse of Pauillac, and another fifth growth estate that has long punched above its classification. Owned by the Cazes family since 1939, and now under Jean-Charles Cazes, Lynch-Bages combines tradition with a modern, international outlook. The 2016 vintage marked the end of an era before construction began on a new winery. The vineyard covers 90ha of deep gravel, planted mostly to Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2016 blend is 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, vinified in stainless steel and wood, and aged 18 months in French oak barrels, 75% new. Georgie Hindle: Sweet toasted spices, bramble berry fruit. Muscular and powerful but also supersleek and defined. A classic Pauillac that needs time, yet it’s cool, crisp and very moreish. Vincenzo Arnese: Morello cherry, intense and rich. Great structure and body. Rich with a good finish and integrated tannins. Robert Mathias MW: A slightly toasty nose, with cedar, sandalwood and five spice. Ample cassis fruit on a charming, forward palate. Plenty going on, with Pauillac’s gravelly focus and drive.