The history of Lynch-Bages, situated in the lands of “Batges” at the entrance to Pauillac, is emblematic of the Médoc region.
The Lynch-Bages vineyard (1855 Grand Cru Classé), overlooks the Gironde estuary and stretches over a beautiful gravelly hilltop. Formerly owned by the illustrious Lynch family, of Irish descent, the estate was acquired by the Cazes family in 1939.
The first writings that mention the lands of “Batges” date back to the 16th century. Located at the entrance of Pauillac, these lands were home to generations of wine growers for centuries.
In the first half of the 17th century, Jean Déjean, a royal notary, and his brother Pey, a wine merchant living in the village of Bages, began to group the plots surrounding the hamlet.
The next generation with Pierre Déjean, also a royal notary, and his son Bernard, a merchant and bourgeois from Bordeaux, completed the creation of the Domaine de Bages.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Irishman Lynch gave the estate a new dimension. John Lynch left Galway and took refuge in Bordeaux in 1691. His son, Thomas, acquired the Domaine de Bages on 9 June 1750 through his marriage to the daughter of Pierre Drouillard. Their son, Michel Lynch, understood the importance of the terroirs, selected the best grape varieties, systematically drained the soils, and invented new tools to cultivate the vines.
The estate remained in the Lynch family for seventy-five years.
Our family story replete with stubborn, straightforward characters, chance meetings and far-flung voyages, seems to be a reflection of the Médoc – the land that made us and that we call home. As we have been touched by the passion and persistence of our predecessors, wine is a family lifestyle that we strive to cherish and pass from one generation to another.
Our ancestor, Jean “Lou Janou”, left the valleys of Couserans, near Saint-Girons, in the Ariège region of southwest France around 1875 to take root in Pauillac and find work there.
Jean-Charles Cazes, who was born in Pauillac, found after the 1929 Crash, that he was able to buy a local wine estate: Lynch-Bages. He proved to be a good winemaker. Lynch-Bages’ unique style came into its own upon his arrival at the head of the domaine in 1934.
While at the same time working for an insurance firm, his son, André, continued his father’s mission at Lynch-Bages and restored the vineyard. He was one of the first to promote Bordeaux wines abroad.
Jean-Michel, who worked as an engineer in Paris, joined his father André in 1973. The wine industry then experienced a new crisis, and the facilities suffered from severe underinvestment. In 1975, Jean-Michel began working on what had become essential modernisation work, which lasted some fifteen years. The Lynch-Bages style began to assert itself and the wines gained in finesse and regularity.
In 2007, Jean-Charles takes over the family estates and launches a renovation project with architect Chien Chung (Didi) Pei. Marking four centuries of history and the culmination of four years’ hard work, the 2020 vintage, the first in the renovated cellars, has opened a new chapter in the life of the estate.
