"Bis repetita placent..."
Horace, Poetic Art, V.365.
Following the superb 2009 vintage, came 2010 to rival it...
Both 2009 and 2010 had great amounts of alcohol, tannins and colour. The big difference between the vintages is in the acid levels.
Indeed, thanks to the cool nights and generally lower temperatures, 2010 had much higher levels of acidity.
In a nutshell, the growing season was extremely dry but without extremes of temperature, so the grapes were small with thick skins, rich in colour and tannin and fresh of flavour.
The relatively cool, sunny weather that prevailed during ripening was propitious to preserving fruit and acidity.
Thanks to satellite photography, we introduced intra-plot harvesting, fine-tuned according to the ripeness of grapes in each small section of the vineyard.
We started picking Merlot on the 28th of September and finished on the 30th. We carried on, on October 5th to start picking Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, finishing on the 12th of October.
2010 Lynch-Bages has all the hallmarks of a very great vintage. It may appear premature to describe it in detail, but its deep colour, complexity, intense fruit, freshness, and tannic density already indicate enormous potential.
Ageing : French oak barrels for 15 months (70% new wood)
Blending : 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot