St. Estèphe, Médoc

Château Cos d'Estournel

Saint-Estèphe Red Bordeaux Blend 1986

1986 vintage. Sampled five bottles for a 1986 BDX tasting @ Mister A's in San Diego. Double decanted and tasted over four hours. Medium body. Pretty rustic early on and that stayed consistent till the end. Opened up a little later with a splash of bright cherry fruit. Should stay the course for another 5-6 years. 3.14.24 — 4 days ago

Lyle, Jan and 8 others liked this

Château Capbern-Gasqueton

Saint-Estèphe Red Bordeaux Blend 2006

Beautiful nose. Savory notes of salt, soy sauce, oregano, tomato bisque, earth and forest floor, mushroom, dusty, all the amazing things to expect from Saint Estephe. Medium acid still lingering, tobacco, hints of graphite , cedar, and classic cassis. Beautifully balanced and structured 13% — a day ago

Château Haut-Marbuzet

St. Estèphe Red Bordeaux Blend 2004

Old lady holding her own very well. Mellowed but still lovely. — 4 days ago

Charlie liked this

Château Montrose

Saint-Estèphe Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 1986

1986 vintage. Sampled 5 bottles for a BDX dinner at Mister A's-San Diego. Double decanted and tasted through 5 hours. Rustic and chunky. Zero finesse but it's Montrose. Can hold steady at this quality for another 7-8 years easy. 3.14.24. — 4 days ago

Ira, Paul and 11 others liked this

Château Calon-Ségur

Le Marquis Saint-Estèphe Red Bordeaux Blend 2018

strawberry, peach sweetness, graphite and forest moss on the nose. — 10 days ago

Severn, Jay and 1 other liked this

Château Capbern

St. Estèphe Red Bordeaux Blend 2020

Blend of 69% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 1% Cab Franc and 1% Petit Verdot, aged for 18 months in 60% new French oak, deep Ruby color with aromas of berry fruit aromas and sweet tobacco notes. On the palate flavors of blackberry and black cherry, with tobacco, cacao and cedar notes. Fine chewy tannins, long finish ending with fruit, earth and spicy mineral tones. Give this a few years in the bottle before opening. — 21 days ago

Anthony, Daniel and 6 others liked this

Château de Pez

Saint-Estèphe Cabernet Franc Blend 2020

2020 vintage. Supposedly from the same winemaker as Pichon-Lalande. Big. Some chunkiness. Some refined qualities. Decent thrust and balance. Value play without any specific, remarkable, go-to quality. 3.6.24. — 12 days ago

Lyle, Ron and 9 others liked this

Château Ormes de Pez

Saint-Estèphe Red Bordeaux Blend 2020

Nariz: mora, arandano, cassis. Nariz tipica del LB.

Boca: Tanino M+, Acidez M, Alcohol M

Bueno por precio.
— 7 days ago

Paul, Ron and 4 others liked this

Château Calon-Ségur

Saint-Estèphe Red Bordeaux Blend

From mag. Band aid, blood., dark roast meat, pencil lead. This is intense and soulful and delicious x. A really remarkable bottle. Wow. — 19 days ago

Tony GarciaMatt Lichtenberg
with Tony and Matt
Vanessa, Lyle and 7 others liked this

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou

Saint-Julien Red Bordeaux Blend 1986

Still shows some lovely primary redfruits, cassis, currants, quite tannic as well (characteristic of the 1986s I cellared), long, lingering finish, should show even better after my wife’s grilled lamb and my grilled steak come off the grill. I will say I was nervous when the final 1/8-inch of the cork severed off my old Ah-So cork puller, but not a problem!

Interesting sidebar — I purchased this upon arrival in 1989 at K&L in SF — by that time there were widespread reports of bad corks in Ducru from (at least) 1985 and 1986, so when I visited the shop I explained the situation and committed to purchasing 6 bottles, but only if I knew this batch didn’t have the cork problems — so, I said I’d pay for another bottle and we could open it together in the shop, I’d pay and also buy the other 6 bottles if it was NOT corked, and said if it was corked, then they’d pay for the opened bottle and I wouldn’t take the 6 other bottles — they agreed, we mutually tried the bottle then and there, no cork taint so I paid for 7 bottles total.

Telling the story in part because K&L has always been, IMHO, one of the classiest wine shops in the U.S., and they deserve credit agreeing to my deal (BTW, Wine Advocate had written about the cork taint issue within the preceding 3-6 months, so they were aware of the potential for it) — anyway, they’ve gotten a lot more of my business in the past 35+ years since!!
— 9 days ago

Jim Powers
with Jim
Severn, Bob and 12 others liked this
David T

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K&L is the gold standard Wine Merchant example for the rest of the country!
Doug Powers

Doug Powers

@David T, I cannot disagree!!
Jay Kline

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@Doug Powers great story. Thanks for sharing!