Château Lynch-Moussas: Tasting & Drinking
With a recent history of investment and replanting it is only natural to expect a track record of improvement over recent years, just as we see with Château Duhart-Milon, another Pauillac estate with a similar recent history. Indeed, reports indicate that this is the case with Château Lynch-Moussas also, with very recent vintages being the most successful.
Looking first back to older vintages these were often disappointing; this was the case with the 1997 vintage, a rather lean wine with piquant acidity and unusual flavours. But – fair’s fair – this was a very weak vintage for Bordeaux, probably the least worthy vintage for many years (until 2013 and then 2024 came along, I guess), painfully so for the consumer as many wines were released at overly high prices. To judge the estate fairly we should look to more recent and perhaps more favourable vintages which have benefitted from the Castéja family’s efforts, including the introduction of the second wine in 2001.
The 2001, 2003 and 2004 both showed a lifted label of quality, indicating that Lynch-Moussas was indeed capable of producing good wines, early drinking perhaps, but attractive and certainly good buys at the right price. In more recent vintages the estate continued to put in solid if perhaps rather staid performances, with decent efforts evident in 2005, 2009 and 2010. Thereafter it was the 2018 vintage that seemed to mark an uptick in quality; this was a good wine, as was 2019, 2020 and the best of the bunch 2022. The 2025 was also pretty smart. Let’s not pour the praise on too thickly though; these are good wines, but Lynch-Moussas remains a minor player on the Pauillac pitch, where we can find countless superstar châteaux.
Nevertheless, these wines can still have a place in a well-balanced cellar. And with the likelihood of better and better wines, as vines mature and the cellar sees continued investment from Philippe Castéja, Château Lynch-Moussas remains an estate to follow with interest. (27/3/07, updated 28/8/13, 13/7/26)
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