14 Jun 2023

"One of the finest wines to ever pass my lips, the 2022 Château Cos D'Estournel is a monument in the making...98-100 points" Jebdunnuck.com

Released this afternoon for sale en primeur, 2022 Château Cos d'Estournel and its second and 'third' wines Pagodes and 'G' d'Estournel were high on our list of favourite wines from this year's cask tastings.

This is not always the case, even though the wines are always impeccably made and slickly presented.  Often, difficult to taste, the grand vin can be rather austere and charmless.  The 2022 was a revelation, with huge intensity and majestic tannins, but also a creamy texture and an energy that made it thrilling to taste.  James Suckling nailed the finish in his note, describing it as starting off "full-bodied and flavorful, but continues to unfold in an energetic and weightless way". 

Our tasting at Cos was also one of the most illuminating when it came to understanding the 2022 vintage.  We tasted with an off-duty winemaker who seemed to be a bit de-mob happy at being let at the public.  He spoke with great passion about how the recent string of hot years has given the vines a 'memory' of how to respond.  This is all based on the science of how plants can respond to classical conditioning stimuli and undergo epigenetic changes in a matter of a few seasons. This would go a long way to explain the extraordinary quality of the 2022 vintage.

Pagodes de Cos (£460 per dozen) and the 'third' wine, Le 'G' d'Estournel (£245 per dozen), which in fact comes from a separate estate in the Médoc, were just as entrancing in their own way, with clear DNA linking them to the grand vin, both with wonderful texture and a saline character in Pagodes which we loved.

If you ever plan to have wines from this château in your cellar, we suggest this is a vintage to own.

 

Bordeaux En Primeur, Landing in spring 2025.

To order, e-mail us at sales@richardkihl.ltd.uk

 

 

Producer Profile

Château Cos d'Estournel, St-Estèphe Grand Cru Classé

Château Cos d'Estournel is a Deuxième Cru Classé in St-Estèphe, established in 1811 by Louis Gaspard d’Estournel, who also gave the estate its name.  'Cos' is a local dialect term for 'hill of pebbles'.  D’Estournel kept his wines outside of the negociant system, with the result that they found a wider range of customers around the world than some comparable estates. 

The wine was exported to India, leading to the East Indian design influence at the château, with its famous elephants which are so visible from the road as you approach.  Cos was also one of the first estates to bottle and label their wines at the château.  The 100 hectare estate is planted with a slightly higher proportion of Merlot than the norm for this commune, contributing to the rich mouthfeel and texture which is a hallmark of Cos. 

In the early 1970s Cos came under the ownership of the Ginestet and Prats families and was run by them for many years, first by Bruno Prats and then his son Guillaume.  Since 2000, Cos has been owned by entrepreneur Michel Reybier.

Pagodes de Cos might be called the 'second wine' but perhaps a 'second label' is a more accurate term.  The wine is in fact from a separate plot of vines, averaging forty years of age.  The name comes from the distinctive pagoda-like oriental towers at the château. 'Le G d'Estournel' is a third label, known until 2020 as Goulée du Ch. d’Estournel, which comes from a separate vineyard in the Médoc.  Reybier acquired the vineyard in the early 2000s having identified the potential of the terroir.