A first-growth level wine. With aristocratic ease it conveys nimble energy and sneaky sensuality. Pencil lead, white tobacco, cassis, juicy blackberry and cherry gorgeously delineated with refined tannins providing impressive structure for long-term cellaring. The pH is the highest since 2003, but you get neither heat nor imbalance. Impressive dry extract and rather 'normal' alcohol at 13.5% evokes a positively classic feel, leading to a subtle yet super-long finish. For owner Michel Reybier, the vintage marks 20 years of 'passion at the helm'. Comes encased in a uniquely gold-coloured engraved bottle with the phrase 'C’était Cos sinon rien' - Cos or nothing else.
Based on 62% Cabernet Sauvignon and 38% Merlot, the deep purple-hued 2020 Château Cos D'Estournel has, dare I say, an almost Lafite-like sense of elegance and class, offering gorgeous cassis and darker currants fruits as well as tobacco, lead pencil, acacia flowers, and graphite. Hitting 13.46 alcohol, with a pH of 3.9 and an IPT of 80, this flawless, full-bodied, incredibly elegant Saint-Estèphe has silky tannins, perfect balance, and a great, great finish. It will need a decade of cellaring to hit its prime drink window. Of the trilogy of 2018, 2019, and 2020, it's clearly my favorite (that’s splitting hairs), with a similarity to the 2016, and will most likely merit another point at maturity.
A gorgeous, stylish wine, here you find a series of waves packed with blackberries, black plums, black cherries, smoke, licorice, dark chocolate, soy and an array of spices. Rich, deep and intense, the wine hits all the right notes as it melds power, fruit, freshness and elegance to create an opulent, velvety, silky finish that builds and expands as it hangs with you. This is so good now, it will be hard to wait to pull a cork. But its best days are all in the future. So, wait a bit and you will be amply rewarded with an incredible wine. Drink from 2028-2060
A brooding and deep wine just on the nose, with blackcurrants, redcurrants, spices such as cardamom and nutmeg, as well as black truffles with earth. Complex. Full-bodied with fine yet chewy tannins, that are wonderfully interwoven. Very structured and long. Needs five to six years to come around. 62% cabernet and 38% merlot. Try after 2028.
The 2020 Cos d’Estournel has a deep garnet-purple color. It is very closed at this youthful stage but with much shaking it opens out to vivacious notes of crushed blackcurrants, juicy blackberries, kirsch, and cinnamon stick, plus suggestions of star anise, lilacs, and crushed rocks. The medium-bodied palate shimmers with energetic black fruit and mineral layers, supported by fine-grained, beautifully ripe tannins and seamless freshness, finishing very long and fragrant. A very elegant expression of Cos, and absolutely beguiling!
The 2020 Cos d'Estournel, which was bottled in July, has lost some of the exoticism that it showed out of barrel. Within five minutes of aeration it develops a complex bouquet: black fruit laced with graphite and subtle cedar aromas, a charcoal back-note and later pressed iris flowers. I foresee this gaining more nuance with bottle age. The palate is taut, lean and precise. Lightly spiced on the entry, with finely-chiseled tannins, again, not quite as precocious as it showed in barrel, allowing the terroir to come through more. There is something almost understated about this vintage vis-à-vis others, razor-sharp precision with just the right amount of salinity on the finish. This is a classy offering that will mature beautifully in bottle. A keeper.
Brilliant, just so much complexity and depth. The serious tannic heft means this is not the most exuberant Cos d'Estournel but it is such good quality, with edges of violet and peony alongside black tea, turmeric, cloves, blueberry, raspberry, waves of confident tannins, and sea-salted bitter chocolate. Harvest September 10 to 24, 39hl/ha yield, 3.9ph.
This wine's complex structure and powerful tannins are shot through with freshness. It is already impressive, the spice and black fruits in harmony with the texture. The wine will age well. Drink from 2027.
The 2020 Cos d'Estournel is a bold, demonstrative wine, bursting with aromas of cassis, dark berries and plum liqueur mingled with exotic spices, burning embers and petals, framed by a generous application of creamy new oak. Full-bodied, broad and low acid/high pH in style, it's rich and extracted, with a layered, mid-palate and a long, clove-inflected finish. While it isn't anywhere near as extreme as the 2009, the 2020 does appear to mark a move back toward a more turbo-charged style after Cos d'Estournel's shift toward elegance, exemplified by the brilliant 2016—but perhaps that's merely an illusion created by the vintage?
A broad, rich, enticing wine, built on a core of exotic mulberry and loganberry notes laced with black tea, spices and incense. Rounded through the finish, with the fruit cruising through under a suave gloss of toast. A real crowd-pleaser, with a luxurious feel that makes this hard to lay off of now. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Drink now through 2038. 13,000 cases made, 2,000 cases imported.
Technical Details
Blend62% Cabernet Sauvignon and 38% Merlot
CountryFrance
RegionBordeaux
AppellationSaint-Estephe
OakFrench oak
Production13000 cases
Shop All Wines Chateau Cos d'Estournel Saint-Estephe Grand Cru Classe 2020 (Pre-Arrival)
Chateau Cos d'Estournel Saint-Estephe Grand Cru Classe 2020 (Pre-Arrival)
Chateau Cos d'Estournel! This top Saint-Estephe estate is absolutely stunning in 2020 – which should come as no surprise any longer. For years, this estate has massively over-achieved, consistently drawing comparisons to Bordeaux’s most elite (and far pricier) First Growths, especially its next-door neighbor (and across the border into Pauillac), Château Lafite. We scored access to just 5 cases...arriving to the doorsteps of the fastest among you this coming spring!
I mean, I haven’t tasted this 2020 vintage since a little preview tasting of Bordeaux back in early 2022 – but even then, my notebook scribbles were full of praise: “Impressive. Deeply structured. Ageworthy, and seamless. Dark fruits, exotic florals, mineral finish. Get this.” I can only imagine how far this beauty will have come along by this spring! I mean, Decanter calls this, “A first-growth level wine. With aristocratic ease it conveys nimble energy and sneaky sensuality...”
Jeb continues to heap on the praise with notes like, “...2020 Château Cos D'Estournel has, dare I say, an almost Lafite-like sense of elegance and class...Of the trilogy of 2018, 2019, and 2020, it's clearly my favorite (that’s splitting hairs), with a similarity to the 2016, and will most likely merit another point at maturity.”
It was the passion of Louis Gaspard d’Estournel that drove the estate to great renown in the late 1700s – adding on some 30 hectares to his original 14, and continually investing all of his fortune into the betterment of the property and wines. At one point, he invested so heavily that he was forced to sell his beloved estate, only to buy it back a few years later as his debts were paid off. His efforts led the property to be included as a 2nd Growth in the 1855 Medoc Classification, though he sadly passed just two years prior to the announcement. Today, and for the past couple of decades, the estate has a new champion. Since 2000, Michel Reybier has owned and guided the estate through the challenges of a new re-birth. The embodiment of the notion that is engraved on their bottles, “C’était Cos sinon rien” or “Cos – or nothing else” – Michel has pushed this already great estate to even greater heights, and this stands as one of their top achievements to date. The 2020 vintage is a stunning example of Saint-Estephe, and this hill of gravelly stones will be a stunner in any cellar for many, many years to come! Only 5 cases, people, so claim yours while it lasts!
About the Producer
Chateau Cos d'Estournel is a revered, first rate winery in St.-Estephe though it was classified a Second Growth in 1855. The chateau itself is one of the most recognizable in all of Bordeaux, as it sits atop a ridge, resembles an opulent Asian pagoda and neighbors with Lafite Rothschild. In old Gascon, Cos translates to "the hill of stones" which describes its gravely, limestone, well drained terroir.
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