Château Cos d'Estournel, 2eme Cru Classé, St Estèphe, 2022
We really admire what the Cos team has done over the last few years, but the 2022 left us slightly perplexed. We know the team has been angling for a more refined, toned-down style, but we couldn't help feeling this needed a bit more of the old Cos umph. It could all knit together beautifully during élevage; at present it feels a bit sturdy and lacking in flesh. With notes of mint, sage, wild herbs and blackcurrant, this needs quite a bit of coaxing to reveal glycerol rich berries and some really alluring perfume. The mid-palate feels a touch diffuse – very structured and austere fruit, but ripe. There is potential – let's hope it comes together in barrel. 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot.
critic reviews
The 2022 Cos d'Estournel has a more savoury, tertiary bouquet than its peers, with touches of ash and dark chocolate permeating the black fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with gentle grip. Quite a solid Saint-Estèphe, grippy, certainly this does not short-change in terms of persistence, but it has yet to develop a personality to engage with. That will surely come. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting in London.
The blend of the grand vin is 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot and 1% each Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, picked during what was the estate’s earliest harvest since 1989, and this accounts for more than half the production in this vintage, higher than usual, a sign of the quality within 2022. The élevage was in 50% new oak, and it was bottled in July 2024. The aromatics are dark, concentrated and spiced, with dried blackcurrant fruits, black olive, damson and rose, crushed gravel and a touch of fragrant mint. A supple, polished, seductive texture follows on the palate, with a wealth of dark liquorice and dried olive fruits wrapped in a superb frame of tightly knit and confident tannins, which linger with a tight and spicy intent on the finish. A wine which combines the dark and exotic fruit of the vintage with a fresh, powdery, sooty and tannic structure. Hugely impressive, with a great future. One for the cellar, as I can see this benefiting from a couple of decades of gentle slumber. Tasted twice. The alcohol is 14.04%, with 14% on the label.
Intense, concentrated, spicy, cured leather, ink, saddle, creamy cassis and black cherry fruits, laced with bitter chocolate, concentrated incense and velvety tannins. Exceptional quality. Tasted twice, second time at the estate, 50% new oak, Dominique Arangoïts technical director, Eric Boissenot consultant.
The 2022 Cos d'Estournel unwinds in the glass with aromas of sweet berries, plum liqueur and rich spices, followed by a full-bodied, broad-shouldered and muscular palate that's rich and structured, with a ripe core of fruit and chewy tannins. Harvest dates were relatively early this year, and maturation is occurring in only 50% new oak; yet the 2022's chunky, glass-staining style makes it Ducru Beaucaillou's only rival for the title of most extracted second growth of the Medoc.