96pts James Suckling

A meaty and decadent Lynch with very ripe currant aromas on the nose. Full body, velvety-textured tannins and a powerful finish. It shows so much structure and fruit yet remains polished and focused. Lovely now to drink but better in 2017.

96pts Wine Enthusiast

Classic Lynch-Bages with just a bit of extra power and richness. While the tannins are structured, it is the velvety fruit that rolls around the mouth that is the most dominant character. It is coming together into a wine that will be big and dense, but never over the top. 

96pts Wine Spectator

Textbook, with mouthfilling and slightly gutsy black currant, fig and blackberry fruit flavors bound together by singed cedar, iron and tobacco notes. Features a tug of loam followed by a second wave of fruit through the finish. This is just starting to stretch out. -- Blind '01/'03/'05 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2017). Best from 2020 through 2040. 35,000 cases made.

95pts Vinous

The 2005 Lynch-Bages is a surprising wine. Whereas so many 2005s have begun to enter their first plateau of early maturity, the 2005 comes across as still young and in need of further cellaring! The purity of the fruit is striking. Readers who want to get the full Lynch-Bages experience will have to wait at least a few more years. The 2005 is a wine of substance and depth, with all of the raciness that is typical of this wine. It is one of the dark horses of the vintage, and still has room to go. Impressive. Reviewed by Antonio Galloni. Tasting date: April 2021. Drinking window: 2028-2048.

93pts Jeb Dunnuck

The 2005 Château Lynch-Bages is terrific, with a ripe, yet also surprisingly elegant profile in its medium to full-bodied aromas and flavors of blackcurrants, smoked tobacco, graphite, and leather. A blend of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Petit Verdot, it has ripe, nicely integrated tannins, good balance, and is already surprisingly accessible. I would drink bottles any time over the coming 10-15 years.

92pts Robert Parker Wine Advocate

As for the 2005 Lynch-Bages, it is a sexy, surprisingly soft and accessible style of wine, with a deep ruby/purple color, loads of crème de cassis, cedar wood and forest floor notes, medium to full body, ripe tannin and a long, fleshy finish. Drink it over the next 15+ years. Reviewed by Robert M. Parker, Jr. Issue date June 28 2015. Drinking window: 2015-2030.

Winemaker Notes

The 2005 vintage is one of our greatest vintages of recent decades.

2005 vintage characteristics in a nutshell: A warm summer, Near-drought conditions, Harvest remained largely free of rainfall, and the fruit was brought in by relaxed and happy workers.

The potential of the vintage was already clear, even before the first fermentations were finished. Lynch-Bages 2005 was aged in 80% new oak which is the most we have ever used, feeling it necessary to cloak the exceptional fruit and powerful tannins.

Blend: 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot