Cos d'Estournel

“It’s Bordeaux! Bravo!” were the first few words I wrote after plunging my nose into the 2011. Now, please don’t take this the wrong way Jean-Guillaume, but 2009 and 2010 have been Bordeaux but almost 'Bordeaux Plus' on steroids.

Both were truly remarkable wines and mostly above their peers qualitatively, they were just different. Rigorous selection was made in 2011 and only 30% of the entire crop went into the Grand Vin, so it is somewhat reined in this year. It is still deeply intense, ripe, powerful and complex, but with far more subtlety than the two previous vintages.

It’s almost like the incredible, state of the art, 'Starship Enterprise' of a new chais, was a wild Arabian stallion in 2009 and given time, passion and sheer endeavour has been broken, a little, over the last few years, and now the rider and horse know each other perfectly. Although the 2011 Cos is a magnificent wine and should be considerably cheaper than 2009 and 2010, I honestly believe “we ain’t seen nothing yet” and this estate will go from strength to strength.
Simon Staples, Berrys’ Fine Wine Director

We drank this at our Cos dinner on 20th November 2009, with Jean Guillaume and a host of older vintages. We had 2003 and its the best 2003 I have tried in 3 years and better than at least 2 of the First Growths from that hot year. However as magnificent as his 2003 is the 2005 is on another ,higher, level. Its beautiful. Powerful, structured but seamless. Its very young of course but as the customer I was sitting next to remarked, "Where is the tannin?" . They are so fine and perfectly integrated with the glorious black fruit , whimsical acidity and non obvious alcohol it really is a glorious harmonious triumph. With the First Growths in 2005 at £5000 per case plus, qualitatively this is a steal.
Simon Staples - Asia Wine Director - 21-Nov-2009


Cos is polished and rich, with a fantastic acidity that will enable it to age majestically.  Made with 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, this is a wonderful, dense wine with earthy St Estèphe minerality amidst the incredibly rich fruit. General Manager Jean-Guillaume Prats thinks that 2005 might be as good as their legendary 2003 - but we definitely thought it was better. This fantastic wine is the first serious candidate for wine of the vintage.
Simon Staples, Apr-2006

This has a fantastic nose of Cabernet fruit; on the palate, it is cool and fresh with lovely dark-cherry fruit and a real sexiness. The tannins are there but very well integrated. It has a long, powerful finish, but is in balance.
Nick Pegna, Director (South-East Asia)

65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc

This is the exception that proves the rule in 2006. St Estèphe had a difficult time in this vintage, but you wouldn't know it tasting this sophisticated, classically structured wine. Just a notch above Montrose in quality, and more masculine in style, this is highly polished with an intense concentrated spicy cassis nose, a lovely purity of rich black fruit with licorice hints and a fine tannic structure. The finish is very long.

50% of the estate’s crop was used in the production of the Grand Vin this year, which is reflected by this wine’s intense power and complexity. The challenging weather conditions meant that careful management in the vineyard and use of modern technologies in the winery were critical in 2012. Fortunately, Cos d’Estournel was able to do both and the result is a concentrated and juicy wine. 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot complete the blend.

Cos d’Estournel’s multimillion Euro renovation project (as seen on Wine: The Firm) has turned its winery into a futuristic sight incredible to behold. Gravity flow is now all-important to ensure that the wine is moved around in the gentlest way possible. The 2008 is the first vintage to be made in the new winery and fortunately for investors in Cos’s grand project, we think you can taste the difference. This was by far the finest wine we tasted in St Estèphe. The majority of wines from this cooler commune were austere and lacking the ripe fruit found elsewhere in Bordeaux in 2008. This however has dark, brooding fruit yet is elegant and fine with lovely minerality and savoury complexity. It may need a while but this should be very impressive indeed in fifteen years’ time.

With 70% of the crop going into this brilliant wine, what you really have this year is almost what you got from the Grand Vin in great Cos years like 2001 and 2002. Very serious, deep, sweet and gloriously savoury. Cool dense core of dark black ripe fruit. Really sumptuous and should come in at a price this year that we will all be able to afford. Here’s hoping.
Simon Staples, Berrys’ Fine Wine Director

Beautiful and refreshingly beguiling on the nose and the palate. Real coolness, precision with a great weight and balance. Coming in at less than 13% alcohol, nothing about this feels pushed, enhanced or fake. Classic in a very complementary way. 
Simon Staples, Asia Wine Director

Dense and deep, the 2017 is reserved and brooding on the nose – coming at you with a wave of blackcurrant and crème de cassis. A blend of 66 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 32 percent Merlot, one percent Cabernet Franc and one percent Petit Verdot, the palate is suave and silky, with a fresh, seductive character and a graphite, spicy finish. Really very good. 

With and astonishing generosity of fruit and incredible concentration, this is, in our opinion, one of the top second wines of the vintage. The wine is so incredibly pure, with intense blackcurrant coulis fruit and yet a wonderful freshness adding poise and focus. Superbly integrated and with unbelievably ripe tannins for St Estèphe, this really is quite an achievement but very pricey.

Iconic. Inspirational. Electric. A sensory overload but not in an over-extracted, phony way – just in such a dense, pure and decadent sense. It’s massive but with a rapier-like precision of cool and eucalyptus-fresh Cabernet that takes your breath away. It has a very defined and ridiculously long finish, and I cannot wait to drink this in 15 years or so. A finer more Bordeaux-like perfection than 2009, it is quite humbling actually. Another ‘New First’ for the mere mortals like us. Cos d’Estournel 2010.
(78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot)
(Simon Staples, BBR Fine Wine Director)

Sweet, soft, succulent, juicy, sexy, round, joyous, this Pagodes seems a tad more ‘fun’ in comparison to its big, more sensible, yet profound brother. I don't mean to make it sound frivolous, and not the dense and really gorgeous glass that it is. Far from it, but it's like a GT Continental convertible versus a Bentley Arnage; it is a little less serious and just a tad flash! This is certainly the best Pagodes we have tried to date. Scrumptious! 
(62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot)
Simon Staples, Fine Wine Director

The strict selection for the grand vin has benefited the second wine, the 2005 Les Pagodes de Cos. It is already delicious. Offering plenty of cedar, cappuccino, and black cherry notes in a medium-bodied, seamless style with no hard edges, it will provide plenty of pleasure over the next decade. Robert Parker - Wine Advocate - Apr 08

Cos Estournel 2009 is truly remarkable. The USS Enterprise-like, state-of-the-art winery Jean-Guillaume Prats has installed over the last few years, combined with the incredible, meticulous sorting he has done in the vineyard and the astounding 2009 vintage itself, has culminated in this astonishing wine.

I have been lucky enough to try this wine four times this year and I have never tasted anything quite like this in 22 years of tasting Bordeaux. Massively concentrated, but not in an over-extracted fashion, you can feel that feel; every centilitre has been lovingly nurtured from the vine to the glass.

It's high in alcohol and tannins but they are integrated into its total balanced enormity. I'm pretty sure this will taste full-bodied, decadent and voluptuous from when its bottled and possibly for another 50/60 years. Also, I bet the farm that this will be THE most talked and controversial wine of the vintage.
Simon Staples, BBR Sales & Marketing Director