Jean-Charles Cazes hosts a Decanter Masterclass

Jean-Charles Cazes hosts a Decanter Masterclass in Shanghai. 

Invited by Decanter magazine, Bordeaux lovers in Shanghai converged on the Ritz-Carlton Pudong on 28 November 2015 to taste a few Château Lynch-Bages and Ormes de Pez vintages. After a general presentation of the wines from Domaines Jean-Michel Cazes, Jean-Charles Cazes dwelled for a while on the Saint-Estèphe property and Château Ormes de Pez 2010 vintage. He invited the wine enthusiasts to appreciate the Cabernet Sauvignon’s exceptional maturity and compared it with the 2005 vintage, which displayed “similar levels of acidity, but less tannin and slightly less alcohol”.

Following this introduction, the audience headed for Pauillac, the “kingdom of Cabernet Sauvignon”, he then traced the history of the town and its vineyards, particularly Michel Lynch’s role as mayor during the French Revolution.

"The 2000 vintage is one of the greatest vintages produced at Lynch-Bages. It has attained a perfect balance, which is still developing in the bottle."

Château Lynch-Bages 2000, 2005, 2009 and 2010 were tasted and discussed in detail. The 2005 was found to be a “perfectly balanced vintage, marked by freshness, liveliness of acidity and decent alcohol”. The 2009 and 2010 vintages are very different in the mouth but equally powerful.

Lynch-Bages, an opera perfomer?

Jean-Charles Cazes slipped a surprise into his slide presentation. For the record, Lynch-Bages is known as “Lan Chi Pat” in China, a name that just happened to belong to a famous 20th century Cantonese opera singer. It has a lovely ring to it!

Thank you to Decanter and to all the Bordeaux lovers in Shanghai for taking part in this memorable masterclass!