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Who’d have thought it? The Lynch-Bages white might never have existed if a nurseryman hadn’t mixed some white grape vinestocks in with the vineyard’s red by mistake. And the story doesn’t end there, on the contrary, it led to an unexpected turn of events...

In the 1970s, the Cazes family actually bought bottles of white wine from for their personal consumption. It was Daniel Llose who persuaded Jean-Michel Cazes to use these white grapes, peppered by mistake around the estate, to produce his own wine. A few intruders were indeed mixed up with the red vinestocks by the nurseryman at the time. This is how Blanc de Lynch-Bages came into being, in 1978, a small, personal collection of the equivalent of one barrel a year.
Unfortunately these bottles, intended exclusively for family consumption, did not escape the attention of a particularly zealous customs official. The result? A triple sentence: false plantation declaration, false harvest declaration and false inventory!

By his own admission, Jean-Michel Cazes today recognises the sanction was in fact a blessing in disguise. In 1988, he decided to plant a new vineyard using the white vines grown traditionally in Bordeaux, and in 1990 he began marketing his production. Which is how the Blanc de Lynch-Bages was born.

Fillet of sea bass à la bordelaise with poivrade artichoke

In keeping with the beautiful weather, I wanted to create a menu highlighting emotion and the carefree joys of sharing fine summer food.
The menu makes the most of magnificent ingredients: melon from the nearby Charentes region, field tomatoes, Mediterranean red mullet, king prawns from Saint Vivien in the Médoc,  aged tomahawk steaks and, of course, the star of July: black truffles from Australia.
This is not to forget my famous sea bass with bordelaise sauce and poivrade artichoke that I suggest now preparing. Let's cook!

Fillet of sea bass à la bordelaise with poivrade artichoke

Ingredients: serves 4
Preparation time: 30 minutes
1 sea bass
15 g fish bones
10 g butter
1 litre red wine
5 g aromatic ingredients
4 Prince de Bretagne artichokes
50 g butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation for the bordelaise sauce:
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Material: a pan, a sauce ladle, and a conical strainer

Trim the aromatic ingredients (carrot, shallot, celery), drain the fishbones and cut them into small pieces.  Gently brown the bones in a pan with the aromatic ingredients for about 15 minutes. Add the red Bordeaux wine and cook for 20 minutes. Put through a conical strainer then add more wine, reduce to the desired consistency, and whisk in the butter. Set aside.

Preparation of the purple artichokes:
Cooking time: 6 minutes
Material: a chopping board, a paring knife, and a pot.

Cut down the top of the artichokes by a third and wash them under running water. Cut off the stem and tie the artichokes so that the heart stays whole during cooking. Blanche the artichokes for 5 minutes in boiling salted water.   Cool them down, drain them, remove the small central leaves and the inedible choke (or fuzzy centre), and set aside.

Preparation of the fillet of sea bass:
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Material: a chopping board and a knife

Scale the fish and remove the fillets, cut them into 120 g portions, and cook in grape seed oil at 46°C. Set aside and keep hot.

Finishing and presentation:

Arrange the artichokes in a deep serving dish, then add the sea bass and the bordelaise sauce. Serve.

Cordeillan-Bages

The recent two-hour LGV Express train launch from Paris opens myriad opportunities to come discover the Medoc and its only Relais & Châteaux, Cordeillan-Bages.

Just North of Bordeaux, between the Estuary and the Atlantic Ocean, in the heart of the Pauillac vineyards, this peaceful family estate was repurposed as a charming hotel to welcome lovers of fine wine, great cuisine and preserved countryside. 

New room interiors decorated by Milan-based designer Anne-Monique Bonadéi and a new young executive chef Julien Lefebvre in charge of the renowned gastronomic restaurant. Cordeillan-Bages is a destination of its own, on the renewal.

In celebration of the LGV Oceane, Cordeillan-Bages introduces an irresistible offer to discover Julien Lefebvre’s cuisine and interpretations of the local terroir, laze by the outdoor pool and stroll through the gourmet village of Bages.

Discover the Oceane offer

Julien Lefebvre

Julien Lefebvre is grateful for his childhood in Normandy, inspired by the artisans of his family deeply rooted in the food-producing region where he found his calling.

Trained by Frédéric Anton at Le Pré Catelan, he pursued his prestigious career alongside Mathieu Pacaud at the Parisian restaurants Hexagone, Histoires and the recently reopened Le Divellec.

At 35, he has become the new Executive Chef at Cordeillan-Bages, in charge of the fine-dining restaurant and of the bistro Café Lavinal in the village of Bages.

Strongly committed to promoting the labor of local producers, he set out to meet them, to explore local ingredients and discover their gastronomic treasures (caviar from Aquitaine, white asparagus and strawberries from Saint-Laurent-Médoc, and oysters from the Bay of Arcachon). His menu at Cordeillan-Bages covers shellfish marinières, whipped cauliflower cream, contemporary soufflé with clams and curry, Venere rice with grape marc; confit turbot, pea Gibelotte, coriander decoction, Tempura barbell and Béarnaise sauce or braised sweetbread in a buckwheat crust, Jerusalem artichoke mousseline and jus gras flavoured with Arabica coffee.

A new menu to savour at the earliest opportunity.

"If 6 was 9"...
Easy Rider - Jimi Hendrix

The 2016 vintage was one of exceptional weather conditions: a dry, mild start to the winter, a very wet first week of the year followed by a wet and chilly spring and a hot, dry summer.

An Unsettled year of contrasts

There was abundant rain from January to March, with temperatures remaining mild compared to the average over the last few years. This saturated the ground and prompted the buds to develop relatively early. Following the chilliness and damp of April and May, the vineyard escaped the frosts but required special care to avoid the development of mildew, which was spotted on the most susceptible plots. The first fortnight of June was hot and dry, allowing flowering to take place. The end of June saw some rainy spells, after which the summer temperatures set in. Sunshine was to be a major factor throughout the season. Although the hot spikes helped prevent the development of vegetal aromas, the first signs of drought were anticipated in August. These were avoided, however, thanks to a good reserve of water in the vineyard’s clayey subsoils

Quality guaranteed by the Indian Summer

In early September, the rains arrived just in time to rekindle a sweet and high-quality - if rather belated - maturation. With cool nights and milder days, the autumn weather conditions fostered a complete ripening and a stable and perfect sanitary state. Harvesting began on 28 September, with a crop of extremely healthy and high-quality grapes.

An abundant and promising vintage

As in 2009, harvesting ended on 12 October and this one was also particularly promising: the berries were small and naturally concentrated with juice possessing good acidity, and displayed the highest level of tannins ever achieved so far. Displaying intense colour, very crisp fruity aromas, acidity, and very powerful yet velvety tannins, this is a great vintage.

Stephen Bolger, Yin Zheng,Juliette Binoche, Xu Zheng

If you had to write a synopsis for January 3rd, it would include fun, sharing and a wonderful atmosphere. That day, the Lynch-Bages vineyard, the VINIV cellars and the harvest room were transformed into a life-size film set for the Chinese entertainment show “Lost in Food”.

An unusual setting for an exceptional cast: our ambassador of French culture, Juliette Binoche played opposite Yin Zheng and Xu Zheng, two very famous actors in China.

The Cazes family, VINIV CEO Stephen Bolger and our team of wine specialists also took up the filming challenge. These amateur, but no less talented actors accompanied the three celebrities in a series of difficult challenges on the theme of wine. Following instructions given by Juliette Binoche, Xu Zhen and Yin Zheng had to try their hand at blending, do some highly technical vine pruning and pass the difficult test of pronouncing names of varietals.

The day ended with a final gratifying snap of the clapperboard. The leading and supporting roles then came together around a festive meal, to discover more of our Bordeaux heritage. They enjoyed spit-roasted Pauillac lamb prepared by Yves Bruneau, accompanied by a jeroboam of Lynch-Bages 2008 and a few bottles of Ormes de Pez. A fine end to a unique encounter fusing French know-how and Chinese culture.

This special Lynch-Bages episode of “Lost in Food” was aired on 18 February on Zhejiang TV, one of the most important channels in the Middle Kingdom.

Photo Gallery

Cyrille Raymond, Philippe Faure-Brac, Rodolphe Wartel, Céline de Labrousse, Arnaud Le Saux

Château Cordeillan-Bage took part in the gala night held at the Maison Blanche restaurant on Avenue Montaigne in Paris to celebrate finalists of the"Tour des Cartes" - the first national competition for the best wine lists in France, organised by "Terre de Vins" magazines.

10,000 wine lists from all over France, 100 selected and 6 catégories

The aim of the first edition of the "Terre de vins" competition was to showcase and celebrate the French cuisine, which was declared World Intangible Heritage by UNESCO in 2010. For this unique event, thousands of wine lists from all over France were collected and examined by the panel of experts, according to 6 categories: wine bars, traditional restaurants, brasseries-bistros, fine-dining restaurants, starred and palace fine-dining restaurants, and restaurants that are part of a chain or group.

A panel presided over by Gérard Basset, Best Sommelier in the World, 2010.

Presided over by Gérard Basset, Best Sommelier in the World, 2010, the panel of experts scrutinised over 10,000 wine lists according to well-defined criteria (representativeness, originality, readability, user friendliness, value for money). Out of these, only 100 made it to the next round before being judged and divided into the 6 competition categories.

"From the Pyrenees to the Alsace and from the Lozère to Paris, our journalists have completed a veritable Tour de France to unearth the best of the wine lists that are worth a detour: those that you'll go out of your way for, those that will help you discover the best appellations and winegrowers, those that will delight you without breaking the bank", continues the Terre de vins article.

A modern restaurant in a 17th century chartreuse surrounded by vineyards.

The Château Cordeillan-Bages team is proud to have featured among the 18 finalists in the starred and palace fine-dining restaurants category.
Following two succeeding chefs, each garnered two-stars onsite, who forged the spirit of our home, we're delighted to welcome in February a new Executive Chef to endure the tradition and express his own vision of an inventive dialogue between haute cuisine and great wines.

Our sincere congratulations to Arnaud Le Saux, Head Sommelier at Château Cordeillan-Bages.

View the competition's big winners…