2005 Château Cos d'Estournel

Mid shaded ruby. Faint nose and then a great whack of sweet fruit on the front palate. Creamy, almost buttery palate. Lots of pleasure here even if it’s not exactly a typical stony St-Estèphe. Positively luscious! But perhaps not such longevity as Montrose. (JR)

Gorgeous blackcurrants, smoked tobacco, chocolate, gravelly earth, and spicy notes all define the 2005 Château Cos D'Estournel, a deep, full-bodied, powerful expression of this terroir that does everything right. Massively concentrated, rich, and unctuous, it nevertheless stays flawlessly balanced and has ripe, polished tannins. Needing plenty of air to show at its best, it's just now getting to the early stages of its prime drinking window and has another 30 years or more of longevity. A word of warning, I have found some variability in this wine with some bottles being more evolved and tired than expected. Provenance is key.

Vibrant, with stately ruby red depths, touches of smoked oak, grilled cocoa bean and liqourice. This is powerful, with depths to the slate-strewn tannins. Tobacco, saffron, sage, crushed stones, baked earth, there is an opulent ripeness to the fruit, just on the precipice of tertiary. A lovely wine, big shouldered still with a few years before reaching its plateau. A few years ago I wrote of the Cos 2005, 'Good luck trying to predict when this wine will reach its end', and I still absolutely stand by that comment. 100% new oak.