96
Jeb Dunnuck Tasting Note
The Grand Vin 2019 Château Cos D'Estournel checks in as 65% Cabernet Sauvignon and 35% Merlot coming from 43 hectoliters per hectare and hitting a healthy 14% alcohol. Brought up in just 55% new French oak, it's a pretty, elegant, seamless Saint-Estèphe that has plenty of redcurrant and cassis-like fruit as well as lead pencil, graphite, and chalky minerality. Medium to full-bodied, it has supple, fine tannins, wonderful purity, and a classy, regal profile that will be loved by staunch traditionalists out there. Exceedingly elegant and finesse-driven, with a touch of Château Lafite-like character, I compared this wine to a more elegant version of the 2016 from barrel, but now from bottle, I think 2014 is a better comparison in its weight, balance, and just overall style. It has a silky, charming style that already offers pleasure but won't hit maturity for a good 7-8 years and will have 25+ years of prime drinking.
96
Wine Spectator Tasting Note
Dark and winey, featuring black currant, fig and blackberry preserve flavors laced with a smoldering hint of cast iron, plus notes of anise, apple wood, sweet bay leaf and warm earth. The finish offers a long sanguine thread that stitches it all up. Gorgeous. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best from 2024 through 2040. 15,000 cases made, 3,000 cases imported.
97
Vinous Tasting Note
The 2019 Cos d'Estournel was picked from 23 September to 7 October at 43hl/ha and matured in a judicious 55% new oak. It marks a serious and tangible upgrade over the Les Pagodes as you would expect: far more intensity, more fruit and complexity. It delivers gorgeous, very pure scents of blackberry, raspberry, crushed stone and just a hint of truffle. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannins, pitch perfect acidity and a satin-like texture. One of the most harmonious Cos d'Estournel that I have encountered in barrel and, though it is not quite touching the same ethereal level, it reminds me of the 2016 towards the finish. Utterly divine.
99
James Suckling Tasting Note
This is so aromatic with blackcurrants, black berries and raspberries. Pure fruit,...
97
Wine Advocate Tasting Note
The 2019 Cos d'Estournel has turned out brilliantly, exhibiting aromas of minty cassis, sweet wild berries and wild plums mingled with hints of spices, loamy soil and potpourri. Full-bodied, broad and enveloping, it's polished and seamless, its ample chassis of fine, velvety tannin entirely concealed in its deep core of succulent, crunchy fruit. Beautifully integrated at this early stage, the last decade has witnessed a number of changes at this address, including a trend toward less aggressively late picking, cooler fermentations and élevage with fewer rackings and more moderate percentages of less heavily toasted new oak: in 2019, the results speak for themselves.
