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In 1989, Jean-Michel Cazes, owner of Château Lynch-Bages and a contemporary art lover, was seeking a parallel to portray the finesse and elegance of his wine. When he discovered the works of Pierre Alechinsky, he asked him to depict this magnificent vintage.

And so "Lynch-Bages as seen by… Alechinsky" was born...

Since then, a succession of great artists has found inspiration in the diversity and subtlety of the wines of Lynch-Bages.

The passage of time has seen the creation of an outstanding collection of works of art: Jean Le Gac, Arroyo, Sandro Chia, Titus Carmel, Donald Lipski, Jiri Kolar, Tan Swie Hian, James Brown, Hervé Di Rosa, Günther Förg, Ryan Mendoza, Emilio Perez, Arnulf Rainer, Paul Rebeyrolle, and Antoni Tàpies…
Until Lynch-Bages launched its renovation project earlier this year, the whitewashed walls of the ancient vat-house provided the perfect backdrop for these exhibitions.

1989 was also a landmark year for Cordeillan-Bages, when they it became the only Relais & Châteaux in the Médoc. A veritable haven of peace incorporating gastronomy, wine and the world of culture: the core of the promotion of an “art de vivre” that the Cazes family wishes to share with visitors from all over the world..

A visit to Cordeillan-Bages offers the chance to admire works from exhibitions staged at Lynch-Bages in tandem with the Galerie Lelong in Paris.

Pierre Alechinsky:

In 2001, Lynch-Bages hosted the first Alechinsky exhibition titled "Mémoire volatile".
In 2014, Lynch-Bages offered its visitors a selection of important works by the artist 
Pierre Alechinsky was born in Brussels in 1927. Whimsical and non-conformist, Alechinsky’s work is characterised by a freedom of inspiration and writing. His pictures are populated by strange beasts, creatures that are half-fantasy-half-naïve, or the odd plant. Gazing at his work, we discover to our delight that painting sometimes is a thing of magic…

 

 

Antoni Tàpies :

“If I can’t change the world, at least I want to change the way people look at it” said the Catalan painter Antoni Tàpies… In 2002, Lynch-Bages had the great honor to present "Poetic of Things" an exhibition featuring his artworks with unconventional materials such as marble dust, ground chalk, sand and earth. 

 

 

Jean Le Gac :

En 2003, Château Lynch-Bages welcomes a series of large format paintings of the artist on the occasion of an exhibition titled "Délassements & Génies" .

Jean Le Gac was born in 1936 in Alès in the Gard region of France. His recurrent theme - the tribulations of a painter - unfolds between fiction and confession, between painting and literature, at the junction of so-called minor genres. In this way, he renews the principle of illustration, the novelistic verve and images of serial novels. 

 

 

Emilio Perez :

In 2012, Lynch-Bages had the great pleasure of welcoming the dynamic compositions of abstract artist Emilio Perez in the cellars. A beautiful series of artworks influenced by the rythm of music and the movement of the ocean. An artwork full of energy that can be seen at the restaurant of Cordeillan-Bages.

 

Nowhere you've been - 2011

 

 

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.

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…

The network of Great Wine Capitals, united Thursday November 12th, at the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, announced Lynch-Bages&Cie, the Grand Prize Winner from France, at their Global Best of Wine Tourism Awards 2016. 

Founded in 1999, the Great Wine Capitals Global Network is an alliance of eight internationally renowned wine regions – Bordeaux, France; Cape Town/Cape Winelands, South Africa; Mainz/Rheinhessen, Germany; Mendoza, Argentina; Porto, Portugal; Bilbao/Rioja, Spain; San Francisco/Napa Valley, USA and Valparaiso/Casablanca Valley, Chile.

A unique Bordeaux experience
The Cazes family has created a number of unique experiences under the name of Lynch-Bages & Cie which combine wine, history, culture and the French art of living. Among the unforgettable must-see features : Château Lynch-Bages and its historic vat-house, the Relais & Châteaux hotel Cordeillan-Bages and its 2 Michelin star restaurant, the cookery school, the picturesque village of Bages, the "personal winemaking" experience at VINIV. Excellence, authenticity, charm, elegance, hedonism and simplicity are part of the “voyage”. An array of unusual and tailor-made activities are also offered to visitors all year long: arrival by helicopter, classic-car rallies…
On November 12, Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum was the scene of the 2016 international  ‘Best Of Wine Tourism’ awards ceremony sponsored by the Great Wine Capitals Global Network.  The ceremony took place during the gala dinner that marked the end of the Network’s annual general meeting. The international award winners are chosen from among the ‘Best Of’ winners from each Great Wine Capital.  This year, there were 386 nominees and 50 local award winners. On the evening, each of the eight member regions was awarded with regional and global awards. Within the Bordeaux region there were a number of regional winners, including Chateau Carbonnieux, Chateau de Reignac, Domaine de Grange Neuve, Chateau de la Dauphine and Chateau Coutet.

Read more about the Great Wine Capitals Global network on www.greatwinecapitals.com