Cos d'Estournel 2019

The 2019 Cos d'Estournel is tasted from two bottles, the first not representative. The second has a perfumed bouquet with blackberry and raspberry fruit, sous-bois, and light spicy scents. The palate is medium-bodied with finely sculpted tannins, fresh and tensile, gradually building with a mineral-rich and very persistent finish. Vibrant and energetic, this Cos d'Estournel is built for the long-term. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.

Score: 97

Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2025-2040 01 February 2023

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.

Score: 96 - 98

Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2025-2060 16 June 2020

The 2019 Cos d'Estournel is a deep, powerful wine. That has been true on both times I have tasted it recently. Readers will have to be patient. Those who can afford it will be rewarded with a towering, statuesque Saint-Estèphe. With a bit of air the fruit starts to emerge, but this is a very reticent Cos that does not show the opulence that it often does in its youth. Gravel, smoke, incense, tobacco and dried flowers gradually unfurl over time, hinting at a very bright future. The 2019 is impressive. That's all there is to it. Tasted two times.

Score: 98

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2029-2069 01 February 2022

The 2019 Cos d'Estournel is exquisitely beautiful. Dark, pliant and wonderfully inviting, the 2019 has so much to offer. Readers will find a wine of notable restraint and dramatic beauty. The purity of the fruit is just striking. Time in the glass brings out the wine's textural depth and rich, driving resonance. The combination of ripeness and energy is compelling.

Score: 95 - 97

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com 01 June 2020

Powerful and enjoyable Cos. Needs to be given time in the glass to reveal the impressively velvety texture, and the sheer depth of bitter black chocolate, black truffle and coffee notes. The tannins sit back and then build slowly to full bristling impact by the close of play. Feels extremely sophisticated, with the always-present Cos glamour. This was a vintage where the heat was starting to be worrying until the September rains that began around 22nd, and helped bring the Cabernet back into a more classical line, and away from the extremes of 2018. 40hl/h final yield.

Score: 98

Jane Anson, Decanter.com Maturity: 2027-2044 25 May 2020

Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the 2019 Cos d'Estournel soars out of the glass with vibrant black raspberries, Black Forest cake and crushed blackcurrants scents plus nuances of red roses, wild sage, dark chocolate and cast-iron pan with a waft of woodsmoke. The medium to full-bodied palate is taut, muscular and built like a skyscraper, with firm, grainy tannins and seamless freshness supporting the concentrated black fruit flavors, finishing with incredible length and depth. This wine so beautifully, clearly captures the juxtaposition between the periods of dry heat and those hallelujah moments of refreshing rain - the hallmarks of this great vintage. It's a vinous masterpiece in the making. Harvest for the grand vin began on the 23rd of September and finished on the 7th of October. Composed of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon and 35% Merlot (with no Petit Verdot or Cabernet Franc this year), yields for this wine in 2019 were 43 hectoliters per hectare, and it is aging in 55% new oak. It came in at an alcohol level of 14.02% and an IPT of 67.

Score: 97 - 99

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 03 June 2020