Cos d'Estournel 2010

St Estephe, Second Growth

Units	Size	Case size	GBP Price:	Quantities	Buy
12	75cl Bottle	Case 12	£1,900 per Case	Case	[Add to shopping basket]

Tasting Notes
There’s clarity and beauty to this wine as always with pure dark berry, stones and spices. Some clove too. Full body, firm and silky tannins and a long finish. Pure and precise wine with so much class. Try in 2020. Score: 98 James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com 22 September 2015
The 2010 is a more structured, restrained, less flamboyant version of the 2009. A final blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot that hit 14.5% natural alcohol, this wine (which represents only 55% of the estate's production) is full-bodied, classic and built along the lines of the 2000 (although that wine was made before Reybier acquired the estate and upgraded quality significantly). This wine exhibits beautifully pure notes of crème de cassis, blueberry liqueur, pen ink, graphite and hints of toast and vanillin. The wine is full and rich, and although aged in 80% new oak, the wood is a subtle background component. This beauty will take longer to round into shape than the dramatic and compelling 2009. Forget it for 5-8 years, and drink it over the following three-plus decades. (97+ Points) Score: 97 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2018-2048 01 February 2013
Representing 55% of the production and cropped at 35 hectoliters per hectare, Cos d’Estournel’s final blend in 2010 is 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot and the rest tiny portions of Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Compared to the massive 2009 (14.6% natural alcohol), the 2010 achieved slightly less alcohol, but also a lower pH, which accounts for its more tannic, backward, huge style. An inky/purple color is accompanied by aromas of damp earth, black currants, blackberries, licorice and charcoal. Firm, thick and super-concentrated, it is another outrageously impressive wine that will require 6-10 years of cellaring. It should keep for 30+ years. It is somewhat 2005-ish in its structure and palate impression. Score: 95 - 97 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 04 May 2011
Inky purple with a lifted pure nose of blue and black fruits, soy and ginger. Full-bodied, super-ripe and linear with tannins that are beautifully textured. Racy. Super-intense, smooth and long. Less flamboyant and more aristocratic than 2009. JG Prats describes the 2010 as a modern-day version of perhaps the freshness of 1959 which is still lively and young, 1986 with more ripeness, and 2005 but with more fat. Score: 96 - 98 Albany Vintners, - 27 April 2011
Finished blend. Very dark indeed. Glossy blackish purple. Very intense, with some freshness. Still extremely young but with almost brutal mulberry fruit and massive tannins but no suggestion of overripeness. Very ambitious. (17.5+ Points) Tasted 8 Apr: 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot. 55% of total production. A real tonic. Very, very deep blackish crimson. Real energy and vitality and racy stuff. Pure, refined perfect Cabernet - pretty rich and alcoholic underneath but much, much drier and more appetising than either the 2009 - or the average Napa Cabernet, for example. Minerals and fruit in a lovely tincture. Such great texture and nobility. Racy thoroughbred Great balance and potential. Purity and energy - but you’ll need to wait so long for it! (Score: 18.5 22-45) Score: 17 - 18** Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2020-2040 21 April 2011
Tasted twice just to check, several days apart, the first under cloudy skies, the second under blue. A blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot cropped at 36hl/ha, delivering 14.5% alcohol with a pH of 3.5 (it was 3.68 for 2009), this has a very refined, focused bouquet with pure blackberry, blueberry, Dorset plum scented nose with wonderful tension and mineralité. I really like the precision on this 2010, far more than the exotic 2009. The palate is full-bodied with quite assertive dry tannins on the entry rendering this a slightly more masculine Cos d’Estournel that is quintessential Saint Estephe but nods southwards towards Pauillac. Touches of graphite and cedar interlace the pure blackberry and briary fruit with great tension towards the finish. Very fine sense of symmetry here with great length in the mouth. Back to the Cos d’Estournel I love. Drink 2018- Tasted March 2011. Score: 96 - 98 Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2018+ 13 April 2011
Exotic tobacco leaf nose, superb ripe fruit and a violetty lift, more controlled and more classic than 2009, a great wine. Score: 19 Decanter, Decanter.com Maturity: 2018-2040 01 April 2011
This offers a terrific panoply of dark tea, cocoa, savory herb and red currant confiture aromas. Remarkably dense, with loads of strapping dark fruit and tar in reserve. There's massive structure, yet this is rounded and so, so long. A huge wine in the making. This is going to compete with the elite of the vintage. A truly superb effort. Contains 1 percent Petit Verdot, for first time since 2005. Tasted non-blind. Score: 96 - 99 James Molesworth, Wine Spectator 31 March 2011

Tasting Notes

There’s clarity and beauty to this wine as always with pure dark berry, stones and spices. Some clove too. Full body, firm and silky tannins and a long finish. Pure and precise wine with so much class. Try in 2020.

Score: 98

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com 22 September 2015

The 2010 is a more structured, restrained, less flamboyant version of the 2009. A final blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot that hit 14.5% natural alcohol, this wine (which represents only 55% of the estate's production) is full-bodied, classic and built along the lines of the 2000 (although that wine was made before Reybier acquired the estate and upgraded quality significantly). This wine exhibits beautifully pure notes of crème de cassis, blueberry liqueur, pen ink, graphite and hints of toast and vanillin. The wine is full and rich, and although aged in 80% new oak, the wood is a subtle background component. This beauty will take longer to round into shape than the dramatic and compelling 2009. Forget it for 5-8 years, and drink it over the following three-plus decades. (97+ Points)

Score: 97

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2018-2048 01 February 2013

Representing 55% of the production and cropped at 35 hectoliters per hectare, Cos d’Estournel’s final blend in 2010 is 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot and the rest tiny portions of Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Compared to the massive 2009 (14.6% natural alcohol), the 2010 achieved slightly less alcohol, but also a lower pH, which accounts for its more tannic, backward, huge style. An inky/purple color is accompanied by aromas of damp earth, black currants, blackberries, licorice and charcoal. Firm, thick and super-concentrated, it is another outrageously impressive wine that will require 6-10 years of cellaring. It should keep for 30+ years. It is somewhat 2005-ish in its structure and palate impression.

Score: 95 - 97

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 04 May 2011

Inky purple with a lifted pure nose of blue and black fruits, soy and ginger. Full-bodied, super-ripe and linear with tannins that are beautifully textured. Racy. Super-intense, smooth and long. Less flamboyant and more aristocratic than 2009. JG Prats describes the 2010 as a modern-day version of perhaps the freshness of 1959 which is still lively and young, 1986 with more ripeness, and 2005 but with more fat.

Score: 96 - 98

Albany Vintners, - 27 April 2011

Finished blend. Very dark indeed. Glossy blackish purple. Very intense, with some freshness. Still extremely young but with almost brutal mulberry fruit and massive tannins but no suggestion of overripeness. Very ambitious. (17.5+ Points) **Tasted 8 Apr: 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot. 55% of total production. A real tonic. Very, very deep blackish crimson. Real energy and vitality and racy stuff. Pure, refined perfect Cabernet - pretty rich and alcoholic underneath but much, much drier and more appetising than either the 2009 - or the average Napa Cabernet, for example. Minerals and fruit in a lovely tincture. Such great texture and nobility. Racy thoroughbred Great balance and potential. Purity and energy - but you’ll need to wait so long for it! (Score: 18.5 22-45)

Score: 17 - 18

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2020-2040 21 April 2011

Tasted twice just to check, several days apart, the first under cloudy skies, the second under blue. A blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot cropped at 36hl/ha, delivering 14.5% alcohol with a pH of 3.5 (it was 3.68 for 2009), this has a very refined, focused bouquet with pure blackberry, blueberry, Dorset plum scented nose with wonderful tension and mineralité. I really like the precision on this 2010, far more than the exotic 2009. The palate is full-bodied with quite assertive dry tannins on the entry rendering this a slightly more masculine Cos d’Estournel that is quintessential Saint Estephe but nods southwards towards Pauillac. Touches of graphite and cedar interlace the pure blackberry and briary fruit with great tension towards the finish. Very fine sense of symmetry here with great length in the mouth. Back to the Cos d’Estournel I love. Drink 2018- Tasted March 2011.

Score: 96 - 98

Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2018+ 13 April 2011

Exotic tobacco leaf nose, superb ripe fruit and a violetty lift, more controlled and more classic than 2009, a great wine.

Score: 19

Decanter, Decanter.com Maturity: 2018-2040 01 April 2011

This offers a terrific panoply of dark tea, cocoa, savory herb and red currant confiture aromas. Remarkably dense, with loads of strapping dark fruit and tar in reserve. There's massive structure, yet this is rounded and so, so long. A huge wine in the making. This is going to compete with the elite of the vintage. A truly superb effort. Contains 1 percent Petit Verdot, for first time since 2005. Tasted non-blind.

Score: 96 - 99

James Molesworth, Wine Spectator 31 March 2011

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