Château Cos d'Estournel, 2eme Cru Classé, St Estèphe, 2023
As with the Pagodes, the Cos team decided to pick early and chose cooler, shorter macerations with a soft remontage. Again, we questioned whether they attained enough ripeness. We commend them on attempting to make lower alcohol, more restrained wines, but this verges on the austere. There is some attractive perfume with notes of chalky minerality, flowers, bright plums and cherries, high toned, controlled and focussed. But while this is definitely an understated Cos of finesse and delicacy, we couldn't help wondering whether they picked a bit too early. Hopefully it will develop some flesh during élevage. 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot at just 12.9% alcohol.
critic reviews
The 2023 Cos d'Estournel is deep garnet-purple in color. Energetic notes of cassis, wild blueberries, and fresh juicy raspberries pop from the glass, giving way to underlying hints of rose oil, black pepper, and anise. The light to medium-bodied palate is taut with tightly wound, shiny black and red berry layers, framed by firm grainy tannins and bold freshness, finishing long and minerally. The blend is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot, with pH 3.75 and TPI 72.
Step into Cos d'Estournel, with its richness, depths and layers of cocoa bean, liquorice, espresso, chocolate, exceptional chewiness on the tannins, making things fairly serious at this early stage, with a promise of slow-revealed pleasure over the decades ahead. First time doing green harvest in the vineyards since 2008, causing some worries over the late heat waves on already ripening grapes, but they have retained balanced alchols here, and there is plenty of juice to lift things up on the finish. Harvest September 12 to 29 (last year finished September 22). 50% new oak for ageing, 53% 1st wine. In organic conversion (that began in 2021, but have had to extend after addition of a few more plots to the vineyard).
The 2023 Cos d'Estournel, picked from September 12 to 29 and matured in 50% new oak, blossoms in the glass. The aromatics deliver nearly immediate gratification: black cherries, wild strawberries, crushed violet petals and vanilla pod. It’s all quite sumptuous but very well focused. The palate is medium-bodied with finely chiseled, slightly powdery tannins. It’s beautifully balanced with a very pure and seductive finish. This is a notably composed and assured Cos d'Estournel, almost a lesson in how less can be more. It’s only a couple of steps behind the previous vintage.
A contemporary classic in the making, the 2023 Cos d'Estournel has turned out beautifully, reflecting a lighter touch with extraction that has delivered more sensuality and harmony without the loss of any of the estate's signature power and authority. Wafting from the glass with deep aromas of cassis, wild berries, orange zest and exotic spices, framed by well-integrated new wood, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, with a concentrated core of fruit, beautifully suave tannins and a cool, seamless profile. It's a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot and the balance Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot that attained 12.9% alcohol and is being matured in 50% new oak.