2005 Cos d'Estournel, St Estèphe, Bordeaux

I have been fortunate to taste the 2005 Cos d'Estournel three times in recent weeks, and it has never been anything less than stunningly beautiful, as it is once again this night. The interplay of dark, ripe fruit and the more mineral, savoury-inflected nuances typical of Saint-Estèphe yield a compelling, wonderfully complete Bordeaux that simply has it all.

An exotic mélange of graphite, gravel, smoke, cured meats and dark-fleshed fruits flow through to the explosive finish. Riveting today, the 2005 Cos will continue to thrill those fortunate enough to own it for several decades. Given its price vis-à-vis many of the high-flying wines of the year, the 2005 Cos remains a terrific relative value in its class.

Drink 2015 - 2040

This inky, dark wine is seductive and immediately approachable. Its nose is of sweet black fruit touched with honey and a bit of earth. The texture is silky and dense but not lacking in substance or structure. As is often the case, the blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon and 19% Merlot with a bit of Cabernet Franc was one of the leading lights in the appellation in 2005. Drinking now, and it should continue to improve for decades.

Drink 2021 - 2040

The purity of fruit in this is fascinating, along with plums, currants, and other dark fruits. Then, there is another layer of spices and chocolate. There is so much cassis. Full and very layered with chewy polished tannins and a long, long finish. It's just starting to open. Changes all the time.

Hold +3 years or carafe for 4 hours.

Vibrant, with stately ruby red depths, touches of smoked oak, grilled cocoa bean and liquorice. This is powerful, with depths to the slate-strewn tannins. Tobacco, saffron, sage, crushed stones, baked earth, there is an opulent ripeness to the fruit, just on the precipice of tertiary—a lovely wine, big-shouldered still, with a few years before reaching its plateau. A few years ago, I wrote about the Cos 2005, 'Good luck trying to predict when this wine will reach its end', and I still absolutely stand by that comment—100% new oak.

Drink 2022 - 2050

Gorgeous blackcurrants, smoked tobacco, chocolate, gravelly earth, and spicy notes all define the 2005 Château Cos D'Estournel, a deep, full-bodied, powerful expression of this terroir that does everything right. Massively concentrated, rich, and unctuous, it nevertheless stays flawlessly balanced and has ripe, polished tannins. Needing plenty of air to show at its best, it's just now getting to the early stages of its prime drinking window and has another 30 years or more of longevity. A word of warning, I have found some variability in this wine, with some bottles being more evolved and tired than expected. Provenance is key.

Drink 2024 - 2054

The 2005 Cos d'Estournel is blended of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-coloured, it is still a little closed and youthfully shy. With coaxing, the nose is just beginning to offer glimpses at vivacious kirsch, red roses, violets, liquorice and mocha scents over a creme de cassis, blackberry pie and chocolate-covered cherry core with wafts of chargrill mossy bark and truffles.

Full-bodied, concentrated and wonderfully complex in the mouth, the palate is just beginning to reveal the true potential of this wine, with tightly wound layers of perfumed black fruits and earthy notions bound by a rock-solid frame of firm, grainy tannins and finishing with epic persistence. This still needs 5-6 years, but I love how this beauty is shaping up!!

Drink 2018 - 2045

Cassis on the nose, followed by a touch of liquorice and pencil lead, but there is still a lot more to come here – it's emerging at a snail's pace. The tannins are already drinkable so that you might coax more out of this with decanting. You'd never guess this was already a teenager—one for the long term. 

Drink 2015 - 2040

The 2005 Cos d’Estournel is another great success from this property, which Michel Reybier owns. A superstar of St.-Estèphe in this vintage, this wine has a dense ruby/purple colour, beautiful, sweet cassis and blackcurrant fruit, some floral notes, spice and a touch of oak in a full-bodied, layered, impressive multi-dimensional style. The tannins are surprisingly sweet and well-integrated, as are the acidity, alcohol and wood. This is a beauty and certainly the top wine of St.-Estèphe. Drink it over the next 25+ years.

Drink 2015 - 2040

Good ruby-red. The knockout nose combines currant, plum, minerals, liquorice, and graphite. It is wonderfully sweet, rich, and deep, but with near-perfect balancing acidity to frame the wine's lush fruit. This superb 2005 has it all. It finishes with noble, sweet tannins and palate-saturating persistence. On my most recent visit, Prats told me he considered 2005 to be superior to the 2003 and that the '05 may be "our best wine ever."