Cos d'Estournel 2014

The 2014 Cos d’Estournel has another intense bouquet with blackberry, graphite, tobacco and mint aromas, almost Pauillac in style. The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannin that exert plenty of grip. This is surfeit with sappy black fruit, graceful and tensile with a beautiful, svelte finish that fans out gloriously. There is real panache to this wine, persistent and satisfying, the aftertaste of graphite and tobacco extraordinarily long. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. 2022 - 2055

If you want to know what St.-Estèphe smells like, this is it. Aromas of spices, black truffles, forest floor, dried strawberries and tar. It’s full-bodied yet pinpointed on the palate with fabulous density and richness. It’s opulent but in a reserved and checked way. This needs at least five or six years to come around, but it’s already fantastic. What harmony and structure. Try in 2022 if you can keep your hands off it!

Inky depths to this wine, from the first pour you are aware of the exceptional quality, really standing out in this horizontal tasting of the appellation. Inky in colour, heading to soft ruby around the edges, brushed velvet texture, and loaded up with graphite, turmeric, cassis, mint leaf, clove, chocolate and mandarin peel. Impactful and confident, just a shame that the bottle is so heavy. Michel Reybier owner, Aymeric de Gironde director.

Tasted blind. Very deep crimson. Clean, fresh attack. Very rich and smooth and worked. Intense and attention-grabbing. Sweeter and plummier than some – which is arguably not an attribute in a St-Estèphe.
Drink 2023-2038

Cos is in Saint Estephe but borders Pauillac and, in particular, the vineyards of Chateau Lafite. Quality was good in the 1990's but, since the 2001 vintage, it has reached another level. In some vintages the quality level is not far from that of the first Growths. The stunning new winery is the most modern and sophisticated in all of Bordeaux, with the world's only 100% gravity cellar - no pumps used at all. Cos is now battling it out with Léoville Lascases, Ducru Beaucaillou and Palmer as the Médoc's best non-First Growth. Following the departure of Jean-Guillaume Prats the new man at the helm is Aymeric de Gironde who has joined from Pichon Baron. The only problem at Cos is the en primeur pricing policy which has seen vintages not yet in bottle being offered at higher prices than those at which the consumer can buy recent mature vintages. 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc. Very deep purple colour. Big, saturated black fruit nose. Blackberries, mulberries, lots of layered creamy vanilla and toasty French oak. Opulent and ripe entry with a dense core of fruit for the vintage. Generous and soft with lots of refined tannins giving a little grip. Packed with glycerol. This is strong, robust, intense and impressive, with fresh acidity to give it precision. Spicy and chocolatey at the same time on the long finish.

For the Chateau's 2014 brochure click here.

For a video produced by the Chateau click here.

The grand vin 2014 Cos D’Estournel is gorgeous, and I think a step up over the 2015. A blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc, this deep, inky-colored 2014 boasts a gorgeous perfume of ripe currants and cassis fruits, loads of chocolaty oak, cedar and scorched earth, full-bodied richness, and building, firm, yet ripe tannin. It’s certainly one of the gems in the vintage, as well as one of the more structured, opulent and age-worthy. Give bottles 4-5 years of bottle age and enjoy over the following two to three decades. 2022 - 2052

Intense, with a roiling core of luscious loganberry, blackberry and black currant fruit. Singed spice, apple wood and black tea accents emerge steadily on the finish. Has a rare combination of density and precision. Will cruise in the cellar. Best from 2020 through 2035. 14,000 cases made.

Bilberry fresh the nose has fragrance the start of the palate fresh. Richness in the middle fruit power hints of liquorice the tannins are supple the back palate fleshy and rich. 2027-40

After a stylistic wobble in 2009, Cos has made a run of impressive wines in recent years. The 2014 is right up there with the very best of them: deftly oaked, spicy and green pepper scented with a core of sweetness framed by fine-grained tannins and underpinned by tangy acidity.