romo

9.1

Called Gran Riserva Rioja. Some oak threw me off the cola cherry notes. — 9 months ago

Aaron Tan

9.1

Of the 2020 releases from Marc Delienne (which has been quite the trip to work through), this was the cheapest, cleanest, and my favourite. Needs a little air to unfurl aromas of pomegranate, raspberry, and tomato leaves. Bright and juicy, with a rich texture to boot. Nice underlying minerality and spice. Finished in one seating, so a one in the binary scale. — 5 years ago

Lois Hale

9.0

Dad likes. — 5 years ago

Ken Venezio

9.4

Loved this Cab. Inky purple in the glass. A beautiful floral nose and loads of blueberry and blackberry fruit. This a full-bodied, complex wine with elegant tannins and structure. — 6 years ago

Conrad Green

9.2

Very bright and sappy. Clear lemon, good minerality and a peachy midpalate. Great clarity- still dynamic with a flinty backbone — 7 years ago

with Matt

Patrick V

9.1

Much more minerality than expected; fantastic balance I would have placed in a Meursault than Saint Aubin. — 8 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.1

Is there anything better than Ribeye & Claret? From my perspective, no. This is the second wine from one of more prestigious Chateaus in St. Estephe. Bordeaux rule number 2, buy the hell out of good producers second wines in very good vintages, like 2005. You’ll get great wines at more affordable prices. Providing, you exercise patience; which is rule number 1. Decanted for 3 plus hours. On the nose, ripe; blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, baked strawberries, black plum & cherries pull up the rear. Incense, herbaceous character, anise, scorched dark earth, burnt ambers, anise, baking spices dominated by vanilla, black tea, black cherry cola, loamy dry soils, dry & fresh red florals with violets for days. It’s in a great phase with many years ahead. The body is full and round. The texture has you wanting more. It’s velvety and ripe. Tannins soft and powdery, around 65-70 resolved. The fruits are ripe & ruby...showing the excellence of the 05 vintage. Blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, baked strawberries, black plum & cherries pull up the rear. Incense, herbaceous character, anise, scorched dark earth, dry stones, leather, cigar with ash, burnt ambers, anise, baking spices dominated by vanilla, black tea, black cherry cola, loamy dry soils, dry & fresh red florals with violets for days. The acidity is dead on. The length, structure, length & balance is harmonizing like America on the album, “ Horse with No Name.” The long finish is; ruby, rich, elegant, round, beautiful and lasts a minute plus. Beautiful wine. 9.4 with the steak. 9.2 on its own. Photos of; Chateau Cos d’ Estournel, hosting/tasting area, private wine stock and barrel cellar. Producer notes and history...Chateau Cos d’Estournel has a long history in the appellation of St. Estephe. Louis Gaspard d’Estournel, gave his name to the estate after founding it in 1811. It only took a few years before Chateau Cos d’Estournel became famous with wine lovers and royalty all over the world. In the early days, the wines of Cos d’Estournel were not sold through the Negociant system. The owner preferred selling his wine directly to his customers. In fact, Chateau Cos d’Estournel was exported to numerous countries across the globe, with a large portion of the production being sold to India. It was that connection to India that inspired much of the unique, east Indian design we see at Cos d’Estournel today. Chateau Cos d’Estournel was one of the first Chateaus to bottle, label and sell their own wine. This practice continued until the death of Louis Gaspard d’Estournel in 1852. After his death, the estate was purchased by an owner that sold their wines on the Place de Bordeaux, using the negociant system. If the Chateau had not been selling their wines through the negociant system, it would never have been included in the 1855 Classification! Chateau Cos d’Estournel was sold to the Charmolue family, the owners of the neighboring Chateau Montrose. They continued to own the estate until 1917, when it was bought by Fernand Ginestet. The purchase was the next major step in the development of Cos d’Estournel. The next era in the development of Chateau Cos d’Estournel took place in 2000, when Chateau Cos d’Estournel was bought by Michel Reybier, who made his fortune in the food industry. Michel Reybier hired the son of Bruno Prats, Jean-Guillaume Prats to manage Cos d’Estournel. Things improved with the efforts of Jean-Guillaume Prats who helped design the most modern wine making facilities in the entire Bordeaux wine making appellation at the time. A complete renovation of Cos d’Estournel took place in the winemaking facilities and cellars. The wine making facilities are completely modern, using 100% gravity. On October 15, 2012, Jean Guillaume Prats announced he was leaving Chateau Cos d’Estournel to join LVMH. Jean Guillaume Prats was replaced by Aymeric de Gironde. Following the departure of Aymeric de Gironde in 2017, the owner, Michel Reybier took over managing the estate. In 2018, the estate released COS100, produced from their oldest Merlot vines that were 100 years of age. It was limited in production to a 100 Jeroboams, (3 litres) and 10 Balthazars (12 litres) and a few other sizes were produced from only 2 barrels of wine. The proceeds from COS100 go to the charity, Elephant Family, that is devoted to protecting and nurturing Asian elephants in their own, natural habitat. Cos d’Estournel’s new cellar is a joint reflection by the technical team, the architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte and Jean Guillaume Prats. It’s a marvel blend of simplicity and modern technology. Cos d’Estournel is unique to Bordeaux and the rest of world. What makes this special is that the cellars of Cos d’Estournel are entirely operated by gravity. There are no pumps of any kind to force the wine. The purpose is to allow a gentleness to the wine and improve its purity allowing for expression of their special terroir. It set a new benchmark for cellars not only in the Left Bank, but in all of Bordeaux. The new cellars at Chateau Cos d’Estournel include 72 isothermal cone shaped stainless steel vats. The vats are specifically designed for thermal inertia. The 72 vats have a wide range of capacities to correspond with the needs of each parcel of vines. The vats range in size from as small as 19 hectoliters all the way up to 115 hectolitres. 12 of the smaller vats that are designed to handle between 19 and 60 hectoliters that have two levels in each vat. In other words, this offers the technical equivalent of 24 separate vats. Each of the vats are double lined, which allows for more exact and temperature control. None of the vats use interior heat coils. Perhaps the most inventive part of the cellars is the four 100 hectoliter lift tanks or wine elevators that replace the pumps used in the traditional pumping over and racking off processes, which introduce air and often destabilize the marc. From the moment the grapes arrive, everything travels by the flow of gravity. Jean Guillaume Prats called this process a pumpless, pump over. What takes place is, the wine is released from the main vat where the skins remain. By gravity, the juice is then moved into smaller vats which are on wheels. These small vats are sent to the glass elevators where they are moved up one floor and returned back into the vat by gravity to cover the skins. At this point, the process is still unique to Chateau Cos d’Estournel. The wine production of Cos d’Estournel is labor intensive starting the moment the grapes enter their new facility. The berries travel through a tunnel that instantly lowers the temperature of the fruit to 3-5 degrees Celsius. This sudden chilling stops the loss of juice while also slowing oxidation. Next, the grapes are cold macerated at 7-9 degrees Celsius for about a week. Pump overs are done by gravity recycling. The juice from the top of the vat moves to the bottom of the vat entirely by gravity. The fermentation takes place at low temperatures to avoid over extraction or harsh tannins. The 91 hectare vineyard of Chateau Cos d’Estournel is planted to 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. The vineyard is located close to the border of Pauillac and Saint Estephe at the southern tip of the Saint Estephe appellation. The vineyard has cultivated 84 hectares of vines. Even though the vineyard has been expanded over the years, the grape varietals planted here have remained consistent. The vineyard, located on the hill of Cos, has gentle elevations of up to 20 meters. On average, the vines are 35 years of age. However, the estate has very old Merlot vines as well, which date back more than 100 years. Part of the terroir is situated on the hill of Cos, which is at a high elevation for the Medoc at 20 meters. Cos d’Estournel is translated from old Gascon speech; which means the hill of pebbles. It describes the terroir along with clay, gravel, sand and limestone soil. However, there is a unique aspect to the soil at Cos d’Estournel, as you find more gravel and less clay here than you do at other neighboring vineyards. Because the fruit is grown close to the Atlantic ocean in a cool climate, Cos d’Estournel is often among the last of the properties in the Medoc to harvest. The vineyard is managed by teams and each team member is given 45,000 vines to look after. The vineyard, which is almost one large block, can be further divided into 72 separate parcels. — 8 years ago

Uglii

9.1

Pinot Noir elegante, ligero pero a la vez con buen cuerpo y gran permanencia. Para las chicas 🩷 — 3 years ago

Jelle Lars Heijmans

9.6

Very nice drinking now! — 5 years ago

Romain Fitoussi

9.0

Fresh, light, tense, juicy, soft and digestible texture testifying to respectful winemaking. Very nice surprise on this bottle fun at a very reasonable cost. 2018 at its peak.

Frais, léger, tendu, gouleyant à souhait, texture souple et digeste témoignant d’une vinification respectueuse. Très belle surprise sur cette bouteille plaisir à coût hyper raisonnable. 2018 à son apogée. — 5 years ago

Gregory Fulchiero

9.0

The reserve nose opens up with Initially with a waft of VA but then with air displays aromas dried purple flowers, stewed fruits, moss and pine needles. This could have really benefited from one hour decant and warmed up. No need to hold this unless you’re intrigued - I would drink this now without reservation. — 7 years ago

Keith Crump

9.0

Grand Chardonnay — 7 years ago

Maya Bourdeau

9.2

A natural wine favorite- rich, nutty yet fresh apple and a hint of smoke — 8 years ago

with Wesley

Ian Hamel

9.2

2022/7/12-14. Compared to the Joseph Colin Compendium, this was a bit fatter, richer and showed more oak influence (though certainly not excessive in that regard). There’s more smoky mineral in the nose - perhaps a bit of reduction as well - and a bit more juice and depth to the fruit. A few years to integrate more could make it even better. — 4 years ago

Kate

10

Sister in law opened this for me at her girls party. So good. — 5 years ago

Rebecca Kirkpatrick

9.0

White florals, white grape, melon, chalk, — 5 years ago

Rachel Wesley

9.2

Love this wine...a tiny parcel, close to be exact is one of our favorites from Olivier Leflaive. 2010 vintage with honey suckle notes. Several years in this excellent 1er cru!! Still bright acid. Bob’s “house wine”... he wishes! — 6 years ago

with Bob

Christy

9.2

St. Croix vineyard MN. Art & Wine Festival. Very good. Taste vanilla. Cherry & blackberry — 7 years ago

Brian R

9.3

On the fruity side of French Chardonnay but not flabby. Hit the spot with fish on a cold night. — 8 years ago

Ray Vanderhoff

9.0

Lots of plumy fruit flavors. Hints of cola and tobacco. A bit young but quite good for the price point. A little astringent alcohol on the finish, but bottle age should smooth that out. Excellent value for a CDP. Revisited in February 2020. As predicted, the astringency has mellowed out. Wine comes out of the bottle very fruit forward, but the organics come to the surface in short order. Thank you Keith S. — 8 years ago