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!
Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Nov 2018

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.

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. May 2023

The 2010 Cos d’Estournel has long been my preference over the 2009. That vintage kowtowed to the crowd and yes, to critics. The 2010 is less compromising but more intellectual. It has a scintillating, pixelated bouquet with intense black fruit, asphalt and mint aromas – vivid and bright, much more focused and certainly less flamboyant than the 2009. The palate is medium-bodied with a huge chassis; a Saint-Estèphe clearly built for the long-term with enormous grip and enthralling tension. As before, there is a liberal sprinkling of white pepper towards the finish and is exceptionally long. The 2010 is the finest Cos d’Estournel until the more finessed 2016 comes along. It is a deeply impressive wine but it will appeal more to those that prefer classic Bordeaux to one boasting tons of fruit, as pleasurable as that might be. Tasted at the Cos d’Estournel vertical in London.

A great contrast to the '09, this feels even denser, with dark plum, black currant and fig sauce flavors that pump along. The spine is all graphite and chalk, giving this a riveting feel through the finish. The cut is terrific, no easy feat considering how dense the fruit is. A stunning wine.--Non-blind Cos-d'Estournel vertical (December 2015). JM

2nd Growth St Estephe (55% harvest, 38hl/ha, 14.5%)[78CS/19M/2CF/1PV] Fresh, minerally, delicately gravelly, a particularly refined nose with a subtle ripe blackcurrant cabernet fruit, which should make a superb bouquet; wonderfully, discreetly balanced Cos, full, fresh, and with an exceptionally refined tannin texture; long, elegant, fragrantly sweet, complex, subtle and minerally; marked spiciness, great scope, great harmony, a superb tenacity of flavour in the mouth, with absolutely no excess, and splendid fragrant, cassis-perfumed aromatic length. A truly beautiful, refined, classic Cos d'Estournel. First growth quality of effortless grace, finesse and completeness, an excitingly luminous expression of a great terroir, the absolute opposite in style and character of its 2009. 2024-45+ [M.Schuster, Bordeaux Mar/Apr 2011]

Quality 968 | Brand 996 | Economics 851 |
Quality: Predicted life of 22 years, one of the longest drinking windows in its peer group for the 2010 vintage, which averages 12 years Brand: Strong restaurant presence, featuring on 48 of the world's top wine lists, including De Librije Economics: More traded at auction than its peers, its top 5 vintages having seen 3,203 75cl equivalent bottles traded in the past year Production: Higher production than its peer group average of 137,727 bottles

- www.wine-lister.com June 2017