Jean Charles Cazes, Chateau Lynch Bages
There are plenty of things that are changing in Bordeaux today fresher, more fruit-forward wines, modern marketing strategies, young winemakers who have travelled and worked abroad, and are putting new ideas into practise at their estates back home. When I met Jean Charles Cazes, son of legendary winemaker Jean Michel Cazes, I was not surprised to find all of these things to be true in both his demeanor and his plans for the future. But I was also struck by one thing that really hasn’t changed at all and that is the great benefit of being born into a long-standing Bordeaux dynasty.
Besides the obvious advantage taking over, in the case of Jean Charles Cazes, the very wonderful Chateau Lynch Bages in Pauillac, as had Jean Michel from his own father and grandfather there was also the clear side benefit of a piece of prime central Bordeaux real estate. His family own a large 18th century limestone building, tall and slim with elegant carvings around the roof, that houses the family’s luxury wine tours company, Bordeaux Saveurs and is sandwiched between the tree-lined Place des Quinconces and the lively Allees des Tourny. Above the office part, Jean Charles has an impeccably decorated corner apartment, with views over the chic restaurants and bars of downtown Bordeaux. Roche Bobois sofa, photography books lying around, records on display (complete with turntable). Tasteful African and Asian artefacts and cushions he has clearly travelled, and clearly has wide-ranging interests.
Born in 1974, Jean Charles shares the same easy confidence as his father, and is a natural host. He grew up at Lynch Bages, the last of four children, and the only son. He went to the prestigious Tivoli school in Bordeaux, where he did the Bac Scientifique, then studied economics and finance in Bordeaux, then internships in finance in New York and Paris. He worked as finance controller in the automobile industry for a while, living in Brazil, but returned to Bordeaux in 2002.
‘I always knew I would come back to working in wine. I remember my parents working and meeting with interesting bon vivants from around the world, and always thought it was a joyful business to be in.’ His first job back in Bordeaux was for JM Cazes Selections, the branded wines production and distribution company of the family business. He was Export Manager (mainly for Western Europe, America and the UK), and did the DUAD tasting degree at the Insitute of Oenology in 2004.
Two years later, in November 2006, he took over from his father’s position in charge of the family estates of Chateau Lynch Bages, Chateau Ormes de Pez and Villa Bel-Air. His responsibilities also extended to the Michel Lynch brand of Bordeaux varietals; L’Ostal Cazes and the Circus line of wines from the Languedoc (although these are no longer in production); the distribution company, JM Cazes-Selection; Xisto, a joint venture with the Roquette family in Portugal’s Douro Valley; and Tapanappa, a joint venture in South Australia undertaken with the Bollinger family of Champagne fame and pioneering Australian winemaker, Brian Croser. The extensive tourism and hospitality side would not be in his remit, remaining instead with his father, aunt Sylvie Cazes-Regimbeau and other members of the board.
‘I had worked at Lynch Bages every summer over university, racking barrels, doing the harvest, helping with the winemaking. I wasn’t overly nervous at the time of taking over ironically I realise more and more every day now that the challenges and responsibility are huge, especially with a team of over 100 people but at the time it was more business as usual. And I have the great luck to get on very well with my father. People said he would never retire, but in fact, when he did, he did. He really took a back seat, not looking over my shoulder or suggesting things I should be doing rather he was just there if I needed to go to him, and we still discuss important things such as pricing.’
The experience that Jean Charles had earlier gained both in finance and in industries outside of wine has clearly brought a global perspective to what he is doing now, and he has some sensible opinions on the current uncertainty surrounding classified growth pricing in Bordeaux. ‘There are two ways of setting your prices the first is by looking at what your neighbours are doing and measuring yourself against them. That is dangerous and short-sighted. The second is by trying to understand your market, not cut yourself off form the fundamentals, and to stay loyal to your real customer base. But the Place system in Bordeaux isn't always virtuous, and the mistakes made by some properties will affect the whole system. There will certainly be some collateral damage this year, and it is not because we have been virtuous that we will get away with it. We will also be affected. To a lesser extent perhaps, but everyone will suffer from the excess that some properties have indulged in recently, because they have weakened the entire system. That’s the flipside of the Place system.’
'But the financial crisis has been useful in some ways, in terms of focusing attention on the essentials. And that is something that is always very clear in a family business.'
The winemaking team at Lynch Bages is small, with no outside consultants. The vineyards total just over 90 hectares situated on the Bages plateau near the village of Bages itself, just southwest of Pauillac, and comprise gravel over chalk and sand, and are planted with cabernet sauvignon (73%), merlot (15%) Merlot, cabernet franc (10%) and petit verdot (2%), planted to an average density of 9,000 feet per hectare. Daniel Llose has been the chief winemaker at the estate since 1977, and has joined by Nicolas Labenne since 2006. ‘Llose has been with the family for so long, right back to AXA Millesimes days, has vinified from Tokaj to Right Bank to Sauternes, so his knowledge of wine is very wide and very rare, he’s really the memory of Lynch Bages, and we don’t feel the need for a consultant.’
‘I’m still learning a lot of course, looking a lot at the details, the techniques, the systems. Nicolas joined at the same time as me, and together we can form part of the new generation of winemakers. The most dramatic change that we have instigated is with the Blanc de Lynch Bages. We wanted a different style, with earlier picking dates, more aromatic, more emphasis on sauvignon, not just through the blend but through the vinification (although they have bought an extra hectare to have more sauvignon, so 2009 will bring it to around 50% from 5.5 hectares of white vines).
The new style will mean less fermentation in barrel, with some remaining in tank to keep acidity and freshness higher. The first official vintage of Lynch Bages Blanc was 1990, but back in the 1970s Daniel Llose convinced Jean Michel to make one barrel of white from white vines on the Bages plateau which were randomly found in the vineyards, as was quite common at the time. 'This wine was just consumed by family and friends, but in the 80s we got discovered by the customs during a random control who fined us for false declaration of harvest. Which is when my father decided to take it seriously. He took the vines off the plateau of Bages and planted separate plots, and began to sell it to a wider public.’
‘The reds have had far less stylistic changes. It’s more about fine tuning, looking at final selection and blending our red is like a cruise ship, and you don’t make any fast turns! It must above all be a typical Pauillac, with a backbone of cabernet sauvignon. Lynch Bages must be generous, appealing, sexy but classy; a wine for the long haul.’
The second wine, Chโteau Haut-Bages Averous, which has been produced since 1973 when its vines were bought from the Averous family, is being kept the same in terms of blending, but is being given an overhaul in image, and being renamed Echo de Lynch Bages. Other future plans include building a new winery, by tearing down part of the existing warehouse and build a new winery in its place. ‘But it will be all about the winemaking,’ says Cazes, ‘not a dramatic architectural statement. The economic crisis is bringing everyone back down to earth a bit, which is a good thing in the long run.’
Chateau Lynch Bages was also the first of the classified growths to put up a website, but is now seriously behind so that is his other big project for this year. And further afield, in 2008 they bought land in the Upper Duoro and will begin planting there next year, so 2013 will be the first vintage.
His three sisters are also still very much involved in the business. The one nearest to him in age, Katrine, lives in New York State with her Israeli husband and two children, eldest sister Kinou is in the US with her Iranian husband and three children (where she does buying for the wine tourism village by Lynch Bages) and middle sister Marina works in Bordeaux alongside Jean Charles in JM Cazes Selections. The international reach of this family is reflected in the flags outside of Lynch Bages Portuguese for the origin of their mother, Iranian and Israeli for the brothers-in-law, American flag for their nieces, and French for them.
He himself is the first to admit that he has big shoes to fit, following Jean Michel Cazes at the helm of some of Bordeaux's best loved estates. But he certainly seems to have learned the key philopsophy of the business: ‘The opening of the chateau to visitors, the opening of Bages village, our wine tourism business and the quality that we strive for in our wines are all part of the same philosophy; that wine should be shared and enjoyed.’
Production:
Chateau Lynch Bages, AOC Pauillac, 5th Grand Cru Classe 25,000 cases per year (depending on vintage)
Echo de Lynch Bages, AOC Pauillac (new name for Chateau Haut Bages Averous as of 2008 vintage) 10,000 cases per year (depending on vintage)
Blanc de Lynch Bages, AOC Bordeaux Blanc 4,000 cases per year (depending on vintage)
Structure at the Cazes Family Estates
Jean-Michel Cazes, President, Supervisory Board
Sylvie Cazes-Regimbeau, President, Board of Directors
Jean-Charles Cazes, General Director
Daniel LLose, Technical Director and Chief Winemaker
Malou Le Sommer, Commercial Director
Nicolas Labenne, Winemaker
J้r๔me Le Roux, Cellar Master
Marina Cazes, Webmaster
Chateau Lynch Bages
33250 Pauillac
05 56 73 24 00
JM Cazes Selection