CHATEAU COS D'ESTOURNEL 2eme Grand Cru Classe, Saint-Estephe 2016 Bottle

Description

The 2016 Château Cos d'Estournel is an extraordinary Bordeaux, celebrated for its rich blackcurrant, plum, and cassis flavors, enhanced by cedar, mocha, and exotic spices. This opulent wine features silky tannins and lively acidity, achieving a perfect balance of power and elegance. It has earned widespread acclaim, notably 100 points from The Wine Advocate, which praised its complex layers of lilacs, crème de cassis, and wild blueberries. James Suckling also awarded it 100 points for its muscular yet well-defined character. Vinous echoed this sentiment with 100 points, noting its sublime balance. Decanter rated it 98 points for its form and richness, while Wine Enthusiast gave it 96 points for its powerful tannins. This vintage promises exceptional drinking pleasure and excellent aging potential.

*****

THE WINE ADVOCATE 100 points !!!
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Drink Date: 2024 - 2068
The 2016 Cos d'Estournel is blended of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot and 1% Cabernet Franc aged in 65% new and 35% two-year-old French oak for 15 months. Bottled in July 2018, it is deep garnet-purple colored and starts off a little closed and reticent, opening out slowly and seductively to reveal beautiful lilacs, rose hip tea, crushed stones and camphor nuances over a core of crème de cassis, kirsch, wild blueberries and mocha plus wafts of incense and wood smoke. The palate is simply electric, charged with an energy and depth of flavors that seem to defy the elegance and ethereal nature of its medium-bodied weight, featuring super ripe, densely pixelated tannins that firmly frame the myriad of fruit and floral sparks, finishing with epic length. Just. Magic.

JAMES SUCKLING 100 points !!!
This is muscular yet so well defined and toned. Full-bodied with deep and dense fruit on the palate, yet powerful and rich at the same time. So much sandalwood and blackberry character. Chewy and rich at the finish. This is a warm and generous wine, but the alcohol is just over 13 degrees. Not that high. Love the finish. Extravagant. Magical. Try from 2025.

VINOUS 100 points !!!
In my last sighted review of the 2016 Cos d’Estournel, I wrote: "I suspect it will close down for a period in its youth." Perhaps it is already beginning to shut down, because though this wine was deeply impressive, it fell just a notch short of ethereal previous bottles, despite its "pixelated black fruit" on the nose and "sublime balance" on the palate. I tasted the wine twice thereafter, though this time with a 4-6 hour decant, and this revealed the Cos d'Estournel that has amazed since I first tasted it out of barrel. - Neal Martin

DECANTER 98 points
Tasted by: Jane Anson
(at Château Cos d'Estournel. Bordeaux, 02 Jul 2018)
Part of Bordeaux 2016: 30 top-scoring and best-value wines
Drinking Window: 2026 - 2050
The form, richness, ripeness and depth of flavour are all clearly on display here. Just bottled, it's extremely different in character to the 2015 vintage; it’s hard to believe they're just one year apart. Harvesting finished in mid-October, the latest on record bar 2001. It is excellent quality, and I look forward to attacking this wine once it has started to really show itself. We need to be patient for a good while longer, but this should run and run. Right now it's the liquorice, slate and pulsating walls of vibrant tannins that are at the fore. There's a precision to the layers of fruit and a touch of salinity on the finish. Succulent is really the best word to sum this wine up - I loved it during en-primeur and perhaps it nudges even higher now.

WINE ENTHUSIAST 96 points
Powerful tannins show strongly in this elegant, structured wine. Rich black-currant and black-plum flavors are lifted by acidity. The wine has weight and concentration, but also is poised and fresh. This combination will allow the wine to age for many years. Drink from 2025. — Roger Voss