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Cos d'Estournel 2009

RegionBordeaux
Subregion France > Bordeaux > Left Bank > St Estèphe
ColourRed
TypeStill
Grape VarietyCabernet Sauvignon/Merlot
Also available in the following mixed case:

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Label

Tasting Notes

The tour de force, and a sleeper of the vintage that I mentioned early on, was the 2009 Cos d'Estournel, a monumental wine that may well go down in history as this vintage's 1947 Cheval Blanc.

100
Robert Parker, Hedonists Gazette, January 2016

The 2009 Cos d’Estournel has an expansive and undeniably seductive bouquet, a mélange of red and black fruit, cold slate, damp earthy bordering on mulch-like aromas all delivering with ample freshness and certainly better delineation that it showed in its infancy. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, quite rich in style, decadent with a sweet core of fruit that is attractive but very un-Bordeaux like. Cos d’Estournel? Plush but bereft of intellect. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting. 2022 - 2040

91
Neal Martin, vinous.com, March 2019

What a fabulous nose of currants, raspberries and Indian spices. Nutmeg and clover. Full-bodied, with an amazing precision and superb compacted fruit. Endless. Laser guided. Shows such intensity. Decadent and rich and changing all the time. Mystical wine. Dense, yet agile. More refined than when I tasted it in November in Hong Kong. Try in 2018.

100
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, February 2012

Deep garnet colored, the 2009 Cos d'Estournel features a myriad of wonderfully intense notes, including blackcurrant pastilles, redcurrant jelly, kirsch and blueberry compote with hints of rose hip tea, sautéed herbs, underbrush, pencil shavings and Indian spices. Full-bodied, rich and opulently fruited in the mouth, it has beautifully plush tannins and fantastic freshness, finishing very long and very spicy. Drink 2020-2065.

100
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate, March 2019

Very dark indeed. Blackish crimson. Not much scent though obviously very ripe. Firmer than some of the more obvious Napa Valley-style wines in 2009 with the tannins much more obvious. But a coolness on the finish. This may come round eventually. It is much more demanding than most 2009s and will need SO long. A very exaggerated wine with a bit of a hole in the middle. A definite lack of freshness. Does remind me a little bit of Pavie 2003. To be generous I'm assuming that in the far distant future it may resolve itself but I can't quite understand why they let the grapes get so ripe. Harvest dates are pretty similar to Ch Latour but the results are very different. 14.5%. Date tasted 1st April 2010. Drink 2024-2040.

16.5+
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com, April 2010

The nose is not giving a lot at this stage although behind all of the tightness there are rich black fruits. Hard tannins show on the palate surrounding the fruit, a steel banded cage. The core is quite sweet with lots of cassis and black cherry and with time the fruit should emerge. Drink 2024-2050.

90/94
Derek Smedley MW, April 2010

The 2009 is a controversial wine, an all out attempt to produce a claret that bludgeons the taster into submission. There's no denying the quality of the fruit - or the investment that has been made in the vineyard and cellar here - but this seems OTT to me, closer to a Shiraz than a red Bordeaux in style and flavour. A massive, super-charged number that will divide opinions. 15+ years.

95
Tim Atkin MW, April 2010

Superb black red, very full and spicy, very broadly structured, really quite massive (14.5abv) and will take years to pick up finesse, a 'baroque' almost Porty wine, explosively rich and definitely impressive if not a typical Saint-Estèphe. Drink 2018-40.

18.5
Steven Spurrier, Decanter.com, April 2010

A very bold, ripe and complex wine with excellent concentration and a warm, engaging personality (cinnamon and allspice) that's hard to resist. With aeration a hint of dried fruit character emerges. Massive, yet polished finish. It’s been rated 100 in the past. We will see. Drink or hold. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019)

98
Stuart Pigott, JamesSuckling.com, March 2019
Read more tasting notes...

Blended of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc, the deep garnet-purple colored 2009 Cos d'Estournel takes a little coaxing to encourage the full array of exotic spices and decadent black fruits to emerge here: crème de cassis, baked plums, blueberry compote and Black Forest cake intermingled with star anise, fenugreek, cumin seed and Sichuan pepper plus wafts of menthol, violets and smoked meats. Wow—the full-bodied palate bursts with powerful, hedonic black fruit preserves and spices, completely coating the mouth with decadent fruits that are perfectly framed by very firm yet very ripe, grainy tannins and bold freshness, finishing with a veritable firework display of floral, spice and red fruit notes. Just stunning.

100
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate, November 2018

One of the greatest young wines I have ever tasted, the monumental 2009 Cos D'Estournel has lived up to its pre-bottling potential. A remarkable effort from the winemaking guru Jean-Guillaume Prats and owner Michel Reybier, this blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot (33%) and a touch of Cabernet Franc (2%) was cropped at 33 hectoliters per hectare. It boasts an inky/black/purple color along with an extraordinary bouquet of white flowers interwoven with blackberry and blueberry liqueur, incense, charcoal and graphite. The wine hits the palate with extraordinary purity, balance and intensity as well as perfect equilibrium, and a seamless integration of tannin, acidity, wood and alcohol. An iconic wine as well as a remarkable achievement, it is the greatest Cos d'Estournel ever produced. It is approachable enough at present that one could appreciate it with several hours of decanting, but it will not hit its prime for a decade, and should age effortlessly for a half a century. Drink 2022-2072.

100
Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (199), March 2012

The 2009 Cos d'Estournel is one of the greatest young wines I have ever tasted ... in the world! An extraordinary effort I tasted on two separate occasions, this blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest primarily Merlot with a dollop of Cabernet Franc has a whopping 14.5% alcohol, but a remarkably normal pH of 3.69. Kudos to Jean-Guillaume Prats and owner Michel Reybier for this amazing wine made from yields of 33 hectoliters per hectare. It will be a legendary claret that should last for 50-60 years. A black/purple color is accompanied by aromas of graphite, ink, creme de cassis, blackberries, cedar, and incense. Full-bodied and unctuously textured, with an ethereal personality, tons of nuances, and a burgeoning complexity, it is an enormously well-endowed, fresh, perfectly balanced tour de force in winemaking. As mentioned above, it should drink well for 50-60 years. This wine possesses this vintage's classic characteristics of enormous power, massive fruit, and extraordinary freshness and precision - largely unprecedented, particularly for Cabernet-based wines in the Medoc. (Tasted two times). Drink 2010-2070.

Robert Parker added an asterisk to this wine score to signify that it is a wine he considers has the finest potential of all the offerings he has ever tasted from this estate in nearly 32 years of barrel tasting samples in Bordeaux.

98/100
Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (188), April 2010

This smells like Harlan a bit. Supercharged in fruit, with intense aromas of tar, spice, cardamon, clove, blackberry and black pepper. Crazy nose. Full-bodied, with masses of fruit, yet focused and in form. Chewy tannins, with great length. This goes on and on. Incredibly exotic. Could be best ever from here?

97/100
James Suckling, WineSpectator.com, March 2010
Please note that these tasting notes/scores are not intended to be exhaustive and in some cases they may not be the most recently published figures. However, we always do our best to add latest scores and reviews when these come to our attention. We advise customers who wish to purchase wines based simply on critical reviews to carry out further research into the latest reports.