The 2009 Cos d’Estournel is exactly as I predict on the nose, almost overwhelming with over-ripe black plum, raisin, fig and black olive, smudged and lacking the precision and tension of the 2009 Montrose. The palate is sweet and cloying on the entry, hedonistic and voluminous, yet unequivocally bereft of tension and sense of terroir on the finish. Frankly, it is ageing exactly as I predicted when I first tasted it from barrel. Not my style yet still enjoyable. Tasted at BI Wines & Spirits' Ten Year On tasting. - vinous.com, March 2019

[65CS/33M/2CF] Dense, raisiny ripe fruit to smell; powerful, muscular wine with a mass of fruit, alcohol, extract and tannin - huge and forceful. Abundant, dry, slightly raisiny fruit, the refreshing vitality gone, and a slightly fierce presence instead, long and complex in the mouth, spicy, potent, and persistent. New world come to Bordeaux with a considerable tenacity of flavour, and a marked bitter chocolate finish. Jean-Guillaume Prats agrees that it will be controversial, and argues that "the issue is a stylistic one, not a quality one". I'm not at all sure you can really separate the two. It is very good of its type, I acknowledge, and that is how I have scored it. But that type is almost unrecognisable as claret as most of us know it (have known it?). Can't see this ever being pleasurable for a palate like mine... It raise the issue, stuck with scores as we are, of quite how to mark such a wine. What are we marking for? One mark for power to impress: 20/20? One mark for drinkability: 14/20? And a third for investment potential? Oh, and possibly one for claret 'typicity'....? It certainly draws attention to itself, and perhaps that is a large part of its point. 2025-50+

100pts - Deep garnet colored, the 2009 Cos d'Estournel features a myriad of wonderfully intense notes, including blackcurrant pastilles, redcurrant jelly, kirsch and blueberry compote with hints of rose hip tea, sautéed herbs, underbrush, pencil shavings and Indian spices. Full-bodied, rich and opulently fruited in the mouth, it has beautifully plush tannins and fantastic freshness, finishing very long and very spicy. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, March 2019

100pts One of the greatest young wines I have ever tasted, the monumental 2009 Cos d’Estournel has lived up to its pre-bottling potential. A remarkable effort from winemaking guru Jean-Guillaume Prats and owner Michel Reybier, this blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot (33%) and a touch of Cabernet Franc (2%) was cropped at 33 hectoliters per hectare. It boasts an inky/black/purple color along with an extraordinary bouquet of white flowers interwoven with blackberry and blueberry liqueur, incense, charcoal and graphite. The wine hits the palate with extraordinary purity, balance and intensity as well as perfect equilibrium, and a seamless integration of tannin, acidity, wood and alcohol. An iconic wine as well as a remarkable achievement, it is the greatest Cos d’Estournel ever produced. It is approachable enough at present that one could appreciate it with several hours of decanting, but it will not hit its prime for a decade, and should age effortlessly for a half century. - Robert M. Parker, December 2011