2003 | Cos d'Estournel | Saint-Estephe

A dense and powerful wine as always with very ripe fruit yet an underlying freshness and complexity with tobacco, dried fruit and fresh spices such as lemon grass and Thai basil.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: Harvest finished this year on September 25. The 2003 Cos d'Estournel is a blend of 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc. It has a deep garnet-brick color and quite an herbal nose with notions of dried Mediterranean herbs and roasted meats over a core of crème de cassis, stewed plums and unsmoked cigars plus a touch of new leather. Full, rich, concentrated and decadent in the mouth, the palate, though medium-bodied, packs a wallop of fruit with plenty of earthy/savory accents and an herbal lift to the finish.

• Wine Enthusiast: With its aromas of new wood, spice and black fruits, this promises from the start to be a powerful, polished wine. It is dense, very ripe (from the high percentage of Merlot in the blend), but still packed with tannins. It's a massive wine, bringing together the heat of 2003 with the big tannins of Saint-Estèphe.

Producer Information

Cos d'Estournel is a vineyard and winery in the Saint-Estèphe appellation of the Médoc. In the 1855 Classification, it was classified as a second growth and remains one of the most prominent and sought-after of all Bordeaux wines. Historically, the Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant grand vin has had a high percentage of Merlot compared with other Médoc growths, although this has lessened in recent years. Cos d'Estournel is dark, brooding and tannic when young, developing complexity and intensity with time. The estate is situated in the very south of Saint-Estèphe, just north of Pauillac's Lafite Rothschild. The south-facing vineyard slopes gently down to the Jalle du Breuil stream which separates it from Lafite. In old Gascon, "cos" means "hill of pebbles", and the vineyard does consist of deep Quaternary gravels and clay on limestone bedrock. It covers 91 hectares (225 acres) and is planted 60 percent to Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot. The estate is known for its cellars, whose unique architectecture is heavily influenced by the East Indies. In the early part of the 19th Century Cos d'Estournel was exported to many countries, with India being one of the ley markets. Louis Gaspard d'Estournel , who founded the estate in 1811, preferred to sell direct to customers, bypassing the negociant system of Bordeaux. Accordingly, this was one of the first Bordeaux estates to bottle, label and sell their own wine. This practice continued until Louis' death in 1852.

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