Mouton vs Lynch-Bages 1989, 1986, 1966 and 1961 vintages

This tasting was an opportunity to compare and contrast wines from 2 legendary Pauillac estates across 4 vintages. Chateau Lynch-Bages has been labelled as ‘the poor-man's Mouton’ by some wine aficionados, this tasting was an opportunity to see for ourselves and come up with our own perspective. We had 8 tasters, and started with a 2 ounce pour and then got to refresh our glass with a little more after the wines were revealed. The wines were served single blind, separated into 2 flights of 4 wines.

• 1989 Château Mouton Rothschild 95 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Decanted for 2 hours, served single blind in a flight of 4 wines. Wine A, My 1st ranked wine, groups 2nd. Lovely nose, espresso, coffee grinds, herbs mixed with bright red fruit and blood orange elements. Rich, medium weight palate (the lightest weight wine of the flight), rounder and riper than others, multi-layered sweet fruit. A toss up between this and wine D for me, I ranked this slightly ahead because it seemed more ready to go although less complex.

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• 1986 Château Lynch-Bages Flawed

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Decanted for 2 hours, served single blind in a flight of 4 wines. Wine B, My 4th ranked wine, groups 4th. Sadly corked.

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• 1989 Château Lynch-Bages 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Decanted for 2 hours, served single blind in a flight of 4 wines. Wine C, My 3rd ranked wine, groups 1st. Medium red with some black tints. Sweet red fruits, asphalt, licorice and mint on the nose. Maybe just a hint of VA caused me to knock this down in the ranking. Stacked and packed palate, sweet fruit, with a texture like Wine D.

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• 1986 Château Mouton Rothschild 95 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Decanted for 2 hours, served single blind in a flight of 4 wines. Wine D, My 2nd ranked wine, groups 3rd. Blackish deep red. Graphite, licorice, black fruits, road tar and a bit of funk on the nose. Deep, austere and concentrated palate. Saline infused texture, almost salty, inky with tightly wound layers of fruit. Long finish. This was impressive but seems to need more time to unwind.

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• 1966 Château Lynch-Bages 95 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Decanted for 2 hours, served single blind in a flight of 4 wines. Wine E, My 1st ranked wine, groups 1st. This was a great bottle, performing well above expectations and a surprise flight winner. Smokey nose, showing tar, cured meats, cassis and mocha. Very complex nose and the palate doesn't disappoint showing firm, beautiful fruit, complex layers of intense red and black fruits. Shortish finish but otherwise a great wine. To me Wine E and Wine H were too close to call for wine of the flight, I went with E because of the complexity. Turned out to be the Lynch in a surprise.

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• 1966 Château Mouton Rothschild 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Decanted for 2 hours, served single blind in a flight of 4 wines. Wine F, My 4th ranked wine, groups 4th. Gravel and coffee grinds on the nose. Surprisingly dilute palate, not much in the way of flavor or texture. This was a tired bottle.

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• 1961 Château Lynch-Bages 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Decanted for 2 hours, served single blind in a flight of 4 wines. Wine G, My 3rd ranked wine, groups 2nd. A little tired on the nose, some VA with charred bottle funk. Sweet fruit, perhaps a little bit stewed/raisined, but still quite round and inviting.

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• 1961 Château Mouton Rothschild 96 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Decanted for 2 hours, served single blind in a flight of 4 wines. Wine H, My 2nd ranked wine, groups 3rd. Red with a slight browning at the rim, the nose shows mushroom, stewed plums, nuts, herbs and some gravel. Satiny mouth feel, lacks structure and has a beguiling weightless character. The sweet red fruit was well balanced by the texture. Really special. This got better as we let the wine sit, initially I ranked it the second in the flight, but at the end preferred it to the 66 Lynch.

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Fabulous tasting, my take away is that tasting blind it was easier to discern vintage rather than producer, and that Lynch-Bages does deserve it's moniker of ‘the poor-man's Mouton’ as its quality stands shoulder to shoulder with Mouton-Rothschild in these vintages.