2010 Cos d'Estournel, St Estèphe, Bordeaux

Darkly fragranced, with chocolate, blackcurrants and violets, ripe fruit and soft woody touches. Tense and compact, tannins with a lovely texture. Nice weight and balance. Silky and streamlined, polished and poised. Long, clean finish with a salty liquorice, tobacco mineral touch. Great structure, weight and definition.

Darkly fragranced, with chocolate, blackcurrants, violets, ripe fruit, and soft woody touches. Tense and compact, with tannins with a lovely texture. Nice weight and balance. Silky and streamlined, polished and poised. Long, clean finish with a salty liquorice and tobacco mineral touch. Great structure, weight, and definition.

Drink 2027 - 2048

Saturated bright ruby. Captivating, intense aromas of dark berries, red cherry, mint and tobacco. Dense, sweet and fruity in the mouth if still a bit youthfully tight, with great purity to the flavours of red and dark berries, exotic herbs and liquorice. It finishes smooth and extremely long, with wonderfully silky tannins. This very big wine will need plenty of time, but I have no doubt this will be remembered as a great Cos.

Jean-Guillaume Prats pointed out that though the analytical numbers IPT, alcohol, acidity) are very similar to those of the '09 Cos, the two wines could not be more different. He emphasised that the numbers only tell part of the story. I should point out that the 2010 Cos contains only 19% Merlot, down from the 33% of 2009—and Merlot that had overripened at that.

The 2010 Cos-d'Estournel offers a terrific panoply of dark tea, cocoa, savoury herb and red currant confiture aromas. Remarkably dense, with loads of strapping dark fruit and tar in reserve. There's massive structure, yet this is rounded and so, so long. A huge wine in the making. This is not just any wine, it's a contender, ready to compete with the elite of the vintage. A truly superb effort. Contains 1 percent Petit Verdot, for first time since 2005.

As always, this wine is clear and beautiful, with pure dark berry, stones, and spices—some clove, too. It has a full body, firm and silky tannins, and a long finish. It's a pure and precise wine with so much class.

Try in 2020

There’s clarity and beauty to this wine as always with pure dark berry, stones and spices. Some clove too. Full body, firm and silky tannins and a long finish. Pure and precise wine with so much class. Try in 2020.

Very healthy, deep crimson. Luscious fruit. Very beguiling. It spreads right across the palate. Extremely seductive. It's just slightly inky on the finish at the moment, but there are masses of ripe fruit and tannin here.

Drink 2020 - 2038

Naughty heavy bottle. Bright dark crimson. The vintage that followed the notoriously overripe 2009. Still pretty rich and sweet on the nose. And a sweet start to the palate. Next to the Montrose it seems to lack a bit of conviction and density. Just a tad smudgy, with very marked tannins. Awkward and a bit alcoholic. A bit too much cocoa.

Stands head and shoulders above the 2009 at this point, here you get the creaminess and power of a great vintage, with tannins that head towards monster-territory, and yet there is real delicacy and hidden complexity here, gorgeous quality, brilliant stuff, exoistc, incense , cinnamon; 100% new oak.

100% new oak. Ideal with a four-hour carafe

At this point, it stands head and shoulders above the 2009. Here, you get the creaminess and power of a great vintage, with tannins that head towards monster territory, and yet there is real delicacy and hidden complexity. Gorgeous quality, brilliant stuff, exotic incense, cinnamon.

Drink 2025 - 2048

The 2010 Château Cos D'Estournel is based on 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and the rest Petit Verdot that was pulled from just 55% of the total production and aged in 80% new French oak. Hitting 14.5% natural alcohol, this still dense purple-hued beauty offers extraordinary notes of blackcurrants, unsmoked tobacco, graphite, freshly sharpened pencils, and chocolate. Full-bodied, massively concentrated, and flawlessly balanced on the palate, it has building tannins, a skyscraper-like mouthfeel that opens up with time in the glass, and a great, great finish. Made in a much more focused, precise, and structured style compared to the more flamboyant 2009, it needs another 7-8 years of bottle age and will be a 50, 60, if not 75+ year wine.

Deep garnet in colour, the 2010 Cos d'Estournel unfurls slowly, measuredly, releasing delicate notes of dried mulberries, stewed plums and blackcurrant pastilles before giving way to notions of potpourri, black cherry compote and chocolate box plus touches of dried sage, tobacco and new leather. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has a rock-solid foundation of very firm, grainy tannins and very lively acidity supporting the remarkable intensity of tightly wound fruit layers, finishing very long and fragrant. Give it another 4-5 years in bottle, and this will be stunning!

Drink 2024 - 2060

Deep garnet in color, the 2010 Cos d'Estournel unfurls slowly, measuredly, releasing delicate notes of dried mulberries, stewed plums and blackcurrant pastilles before giving way to notions of potpourri, black cherry compote and chocolate box plus touches of dried sage, tobacco and new leather. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has a rock-solid foundation of very firm, grainy tannins and very lively acidity supporting the remarkable intensity of tightly wound fruit layers, finishing very long and fragrant. Give it another 4-5 years in bottle and this will be stunning!

The 2010 Cos d’Estournel is a blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot. Deep garnet colored, it needs a lot of shaking and swirling to unlock notes of crème de cassis, blueberry pie, and Indian spices, leading to fragrant wafts of dusty soil, cigar box, and dried lavender. The palate gracefully grows into a rich, full-bodied behemoth, delivering a rock-solid structure of firm, grainy tannins and bold freshness to support the taut, muscular fruit, finishing long and minerally.

The 2010 Cos d'Estournel is cut from a different cloth to the previous vintage. This is much fresher on the nose and crucially displays more typicité, yet it delivers just as much punch as the 2009. Black fruit commingles with melted tar and smoke. A sprig of wild mint surfaces with continued aeration. The palate possesses immense gravitas and dimension, analogous to a magnificent suspension bridge. It is less ostentatious than the 2009, with firmer grip and greater control and sapidity on the finish. Whilst I can understand some might prefer the 2009, the 2010 Cos d'Estournel is just more...Cos d'Estournel, though be warned, it would still benefit from a couple more years in bottle. Magnificent.

The 2010 is a more structured, restrained, less flamboyant version of the 2009. A final blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot that hits 14.5% natural alcohol, this wine which represents only 55% of the estate's production) is full-bodied, classic, and built along the lines of the 2000 although that wine was made before Reybier acquired the estate and upgraded quality significantly).

This wine exhibits beautifully pure notes of creme de cassis, blueberry liqueur, pen ink, graphite and hints of toast and vanillin. It is full and rich, and although aged in 80% new oak, the wood is a subtle background component. This beauty will take longer to round into shape than the dramatic and compelling 2009. Forget it for 5-8 years, and drink it over the following three-plus decades.

Drink 2018 - 2048

This is reassuringly familiar for anyone who found the 2009 Cos rather over-blown, more like the 2005 in style. The investments at the château’s cellars seem to be paying off. The nose has lovely mint and tangerine notes, backed up by black fruits, hints of chocolate and Asian spices, and rich, concentrated tannins. It’s the greatest young Cos I’ve ever tasted.