Coz it's time for Cos

Coz it’s time for Cos
March 19, 2019

A vertical tasting by 6 of the fun, regular Bordeaux crew, plus 2 gracious cameo-guests, landed at a New York City midtown restaurant where the tomahawks were brandished and the crab cakes devoured.

1995 Charles Heidsieck Blanc de Millenaires Champagne
Ripe and quite lush, but good acidity nonetheless. Hint of tropical fruit. Good length. B+

2014 Cos d’Estournel Blanc
Ripe, and sweet fruit. Some waxy texture. Oak. Not in same playing field as most Graves’ whites. B

1982 Cos d’Estournel
Cigar, fruitcake and a tiny bit of fishy smell. Ripe blue fruit, smooth and a little mint. Comparably a little lean for the vintage. B+

1985 Cos d’Estournel
Plenty of leather, herbs, earth on the awesome bouquet. Cherry, more herbs, mineral and good core of Cabernet-based fruit. Full-bodied elegance. A beauty. My and group’s WOTN. A-

1986 Cos d’Estournel
More cigar and herb smell. Robust, complex and good savory taste sensation. Consistent with bottles that I’ve had before in delivering solid claret experience with that nice sense of austerity. My and groups 2nd-place WOTN. A-

1989 Cos d’Estournel
Some hollowness and lean for the vintage. Some said still young, but also consistent with my prior bottles experiences in being an average, non-pound-the-table-wow, experience. B/B+

1990 Cos d’Estournel
Another captivating bouquet this time with more sweetness. Ripe, some savory notes, and long finish. B+

1995 Cos d’Estournel
Usually punched well above its young weight in many tastings I’ve been to, but this time the youthfulness showed and possibly masked that extra oomph that it could show, but I still believe that this wine will continue to do well with the components it has. High acidity and, perhaps, could have used a day-long decant prior to drinking. B+

2000 Cos d’Estournel
More youthful but another bottle that one can look forward to with more cellar time. Hold, definitely and optimistically. B

2003 Cos d’Estournel
Just as in a Cos dinner-tasting 5 years ago by (almost) the same group, this could not live up to anywhere near the level that the rest of the bottles performed. None of the seemingly efficient balance and house-flavor as the other bottles. If blinded, I likely wouldn’t think Bordeaux. I brought the bottle, offered along with 2 other vintages, but the group had always planned to maximize offered vintages in verticals, and still heard grumbling from an attendee that I should shoulder a good portion of the dinner bill just for bringing this one. C/B-

Great notes, Ramon. Poor showing by the 82, but otherwise the wines seem like they were on form.

6 of our Bdx group regulars and 2 guests met at Bobby Van’s for a Cos d’Estournel vertical Tues night Nice group, I enjoyed my crab cakes and ribeye( and B-sprouts, fries, hash browns, missed out on the spinach) as well as the company.

1995 Charles Heidsieck “Blanc de Millenaires” Champagne
Apple, peach and croissant, lively, good length, high dosage. B+/A-

2014 Cos d’Estournel Blanc
My first time tasting this. Pear, grapefruit and oak, flavor profile like an oaked Loire, but without the snap. Think a rounder Dagueneau. Perfectly pleasant, but poor QPR. But really fun to try. B-/B

The reds
1982 Ch. Cos d’Estournel
I think others liked a lot more than I did. Some leathery brett, dark fruits, more advanced than most 82 classed growths I’ve had recently. B

1985 Ch. Cos d’Estournel
This is about as close to elegant as you’re going to get with Cos. Red cherry, tobacco, a little lead pencil. Full and powerful but with balance. B+/A-
1986 Ch. Cos d’Estournel
Fresh cassis fruit, powerful, extracted without being heavy. Some coffee/mocha. A-/B+
1989 Ch. Cos d’Estournel
This is tannic, tight and surly. Not like other ‘89s I’ve had recently. Not fun. B- for drinking this night
1990 Ch. Cos d’Estournel
Ripe , smoky, pushing the edge but I liked. B+

1995 Ch. Cos d’Estournel
More open than expected but still young, this has a lot of potential. Black fruited, B/B+ for now but think this will be quite good

2000 Ch. Cos d’Estournel
Ripe but with tangy acids, cassis and black olive, I think this will be good, lots of potential. For now B/B+
2003 Ch. Cos d’Estournel
Jammy, a little volatile note, tannic. I think others liked more than me but that didn’t take much. I’ve had 2003 Medocs I like, this just wasn’t one. B-/C+

Group voting
1985 19
1986 17
1982 6
1990 3
1995 3


Grade disclaimer: I’m a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. Anything below C means I wouldn’t drink at a party where it was only choice.Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

This wine needs a long time to come around. Thanks for these great notes. I agree that the 2000 will be a very good wine one day.

You’re not kidding. The '86 was my bottle and it was the best that I’ve had. Also my last bottle of course.

I didn’t think it was a poor showng by the ‘82. It was just eclipsed by a few bigger standouts this evening. Verticals seem to do that, i.e. point out the best and worst in a producer.

Although, I do recall one or two recent verticals where 85s had upstaged the 82s.

Many thanks Ramon and Dale for your notes, you both set a consistently high bar and are withering in not bandying out high scores, it is so refreshing.

Funnily enough I am provisionally planning to do a Cos Vertical in London after I stumbled across a bottle of the 1975. But we are not quite there yet.

My observations are that the 1982 can be highly variable, but when it is on form it tends to canter away. I am also one of the lonely minority that prefer 1989 Cos to Montrose, so was interested in your impressions, maybe not a good bottle?

In my experience Cos made one of the least awkward wines in 2003, but the more you examine it the more its deficiencies become apparent. If your bottle fell so short it does not speak well for this controversial vintage.

I love Bordeaux, and I can’t think of one, from 1982 forward, where I said I would never want to drink that one again…except the 2003 Cos. I opened one bottle about 5 years ago and got rid of my remaining bottles. While I am not a big fan of the vintage, I have had some that I have enjoyed.

I tend to share Dale’s opinion on both Cos and LLC, even more so for LLC. A little too foursquare.

But I at least always enjoy and occasionally love Cos from 1982-1996. We are having an 82 on Thursday, and my hopes are high.

Things took a big turn for the worse at Cos in my book around 2000 or thereabouts. I had a 2002 a few years ago that was liquid licorice and oak shavings.

Wow great notes

Sorry just catching up to this. It was a fun dinner!

Another consensus from the group was that while Cos is very good to excellent with consistency, there was no truly outstanding ‘WOW’ wine in the bunch. The wines are great, they deliver, but none among them had that extra level of punch provided by the top wines of Bordeaux.

Loved the 1985 and 1986 Cos. Probably my two all-time favorite Cos. Sadly they are all gone.

The 1982 Cos we had last Thursday in Denver was wonderful - finished 2nd overall among 16 top notch red Bordeaux. I had it third on my scorecard. Other top wines were 1983 Pichon Lalande, 1983 Gruaud Larose, 1982 Talbot, 1982 Certan de May, 1990 Cos and 1966 Haut Bailly.

From the title, I thought this was about the Sicilian winemaker COS. Maybe next time you do a Cos d’Estournel tasting, you should throw a “blind” Cos into the mix, but make it a COS Nero d’Avola with a bit of age on it!

Of course! But, frapatto is better, imho. Will need to mask the bottle, too.