97
Jeb Dunnuck Tasting Note
Crème de cassis, spicy oak, graphite, and lead pencil shavings, with that classic Saint-Estèphe damp earth character, all emerge from the 2023 Château Cos D'Estournel, a deep purple-hued effort based on 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot, and 1% each of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot that was aged in 50% new French oak. It's a rich, concentrated, powerful Cos offering plenty of tannins, ample mid-palate depth, beautiful sweetness of fruit, and a great finish. This serious, brilliant 2023 deserves 5-7 years of bottle age (you'll be excused for drinking bottles today) and will keep for 40-50 years. Drink 2030-2075.
94
Wine Spectator Tasting Note
Offers up showy flavors of crushed loganberry, blackberry and black cherry preserves that feel forward but are soon harnessed by singed cedar, alder and incense accents that catch them from behind. The sweet tobacco–gilded finish flows with generosity. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2027 through 2039. 10,000 cases made, 2,500 cases imported.
96
Vinous Tasting Note
The 2023 Cos d'Estournel, picked from September 12 to 29 and matured in 50% new oak, blossoms in the glass. The aromatics deliver nearly immediate gratification: black cherries, wild strawberries, crushed violet petals and vanilla pod. It’s all quite sumptuous but very well focused. The palate is medium-bodied with finely chiseled, slightly powdery tannins. It’s beautifully balanced with a very pure and seductive finish. This is a notably composed and assured Cos d'Estournel, almost a lesson in how less can be more. It’s only a couple of steps behind the previous vintage.
99
James Suckling Tasting Note
Wow. This is so classy and long, with balanced and intense tannins that give it a seamless and almost endless nature. It's dense, with a medium body and intensity that gives it so much verve. A superb wine for the vintage. It’s reminiscent of old, great Cos bottlings, but with more form and modernity. A renaissance of Cos. 65% cabernet sauvignon, 33% merlot, 1% cabernet franc and 1% petit verdot. Best after 2029.
96
Wine Advocate Tasting Note
With a shortened cuvaison of 21 days instead of the usual 30, lower fermentation temperatures (around 26 degrees Celsius) and the abandonment of crushing, the 2023 Cos d'Estournel shows to striking effect. It opens with a complex, seductive bouquet of mulberries, cassis, flowers, rose petals and exotic spices, seamlessly interwoven with new oak. Full-bodied, deep and layered, it is built around a fleshy, concentrated mid-palate framed by velvety, finely structuring tannins, unfolding with notable fluidity and concluding with an ethereal finish. Impeccably controlled and confidently expressive, it marries charm with a strong sense of place, standing out as one of the estate’s most accomplished recent renditions. Drink 2028-2053