Chateau Lynch Bages 2020

#3 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2023 2020 marks the beginning of a “new era” as this is the first vintage for the new winery at Lynch-Bages. Winter 2019-2020 was marked by mild temperatures and heavy rain. After a particularly dry summer, the 525 mm of rain that fell between October and December 2019 replenished the soil’s water reserves. The mild winter conditions caused an early – by about 15 days – and generally homogeneous bud break: on 20 March for the Merlot and 26 March for the Cabernet Sauvignon.The first flowers appeared on around 10 May (almost fifteen days earlier than normal), with mid-flowering between 23 and 26 May depending on the grape variety. After a particularly rainy spell in early May, hot and dry weather conditions allowed perfect flowering over the space of ten days, suggesting a beautiful harvest. The rain dried up from 19 June and a gradual increase in temperatures completely transformed the moisture profile of the vintage. The dry, sunny weather and temperature r