2012 Cos d'Estournel

(75% Cabernet Sauvignon/22% Merlot/2% Cabernet Franc/1% Petit Verdot)
Nose is so tight and brooding. Pure black cherry fruit. Even and ripe. Great concentration of ripe cherry and plum fruit, vibrancy and depth. Feels balanced if powerful. According to Cos "Grand terroir, old vines, and gentle handling is the key to success in 2012". Amen to that.

The 2012 Cos d'Estournel is a blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. It has a deep garnet-purple color and reveals expressive black cherries, black raspberries and red and black plums scents with subtler notes of cassis, menthol, pencil lead and cigar box plus a touch of lavender. Medium-bodied and elegantly styled, with a rock-solid frame of chewy tannins, it delivers a lively lift on the long finish. This is a lovely wine with slightly chewier tannins and less stuffing than the 2011. Needs 4-5 years.
Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Nov 2018

Tasted as a barrel sample at the château. The Grand Vin is a blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot that is being raised in 70% new oak. It delivers 13.79% alcohol and represents half of the total crop. It is initially quite taciturn on the nose with blackberry and briary notes, the Cabernet component coming through strongly with hints of iodine. Returning after 10 minutes, the mineral aromas are more pronounced. The palate is medium-bodied with grippy tannins. It is certainly well balanced, quite assertive at this stage with bold, dry tannins on the finish that is more concentrated than you would expect given the growing season. There is a pleasant salty note on the aftertaste that lingers long in the mouth. This is a steadfast, well-judged Cos d’Estournel, though it falls somewhat short of the mighty 2010. Tasted April 2013.

[75CS/22M/2CF/1PV] Fresh ripe fruit and sweet, creamy oak; rich and plump for the year, elegant, fresh, generous, firmly but finely tannic; fleshy, juicy almost, with an easy, flowing core fruit, but with a clear minerality too, a fine complexity and excellent, almost smoky gravelly length. St Estephe firmness of tannins, but scope and length and elegance. An excellent Cos. 2020-35+ [M.Schuster, Bordeaux Mar/Apr 2013]

This is very tannic -- perhaps slightly too much -- but shows very pretty, intense fruit with blueberry and mineral character. Full and dense. Mineral and dried spices such as cloves under it all. Very muscular.

Drink 2025-2040
Very dark and purple. Very interesting, almost putty nose. Intriguing and not so flamboyant and flashy as in some years. Really rather like Lafite 2012 on the nose! Perhaps a little tiny bit bitter on the finish but no excess of sweetness nor alcohol. Very measured. Solid impact. Very dry finish. I absolutely love the nose but find it a bit austere on the finish – but at least it is classic St-Estèphe. Slightly hard work at this stage; the most youthful wine I have tasted so far. '100% gravity-fed cellar helped us to be restrained in extraction', explained the new director Aymeric de Gironde.

Quality 900 | Brand 996 | Economics 714 |
Quality: The highest Quality score in its peer group for the 2012 vintage, at 900 compared to a peer group average of 686 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