You might not like the wine, that’s on you. But Cos has one of the great terroirs in Bordeaux. The hill of Cos with its slopes and elevations, deep gravel, clay with limestone and views of the Gironde are about as good as it gets.
The stars of 2014 are in the Northern Medoc.
Cos, Calon Segur and Montrose, Pichon Lalande, Pichon Baron, Grand Puy Lacoste, Mouton, Ducru Beaucaillou, Pontet Canet and others. Pessac Leognan has some nice wines as well. I think some of the Right Banks over the years have become less interesting as they’ve aged.
Most are precocious so it should be a fun tasting.
And the “after”: Passed out, side of his face in the meat pie. Grin from ear to ear…
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Meyney is a top value in 2014. Had it last night. At the beginning of its drinking window. Taste of black currant, eucalyptus, red fruit… A good freshness, some tannins left, quite a long finish. Very classic Saint Estephe (93+). Still available at a fair price (30-35$).
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I have yet to find a reason to love or even like Cos. It has has gone through a number of winemakers and different styles, and not one has produced a wine that gets close to Montrose, Las Cases, Ducru, Palmer etc.
I have tasted pretty well every post war vintage up to 2015, and it was an exercise in disappointment. The complexity which excites me in a wine is just not there.
The 10 year tasting is on Thursday, Feb 8th. I will be on the lookout for any coverage. It would be great if others could post any relevant links if they get to it first.
We drank the Baron and Montrose last night. They were both meh, purple hue, plum, salinity and tannic. May try the '16 Baron tonight.
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One of my favorites from the '16 vintage. Hope is shows well!
I’ve had the 2014 Pichon Baron once – – – I think it was within the last year. My number one Takeaway was that it is a total waste to drink them now, and my second Takeaway was that I think it will be excellent in the future.
This was my 11th half-bottle of Baron and 4th Montrose. This was definitely the worst showing for both. I thought they were decent shortly after release and they were cheap so I did not mind opening a bottle now and then. Having had better bottles, I assume these are just in a dumb phase, but as much as I want to be wowed by this vintage, I am lukewarm about it at best. For my palate, nothing beats '16 in this century. I exclude the vintages after '16 as I just don’t have enough experience with them to have an opinion.
I just opened the half-bottle of '16 Baron, gave a taste, and just wow. Completely different from the '14. Ruby red, cherry fruit, great acidity.
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I just gave it a taste and it is great.
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I’ve liked many 14s but I don’t think we can exclude the possibility the vintage is a little overrated on the whole because it followed three below-average years and was the first sensibly-priced campaign in some time. There was pent up demand for good Bordeaux that you could actually afford.
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But then it was followed by 5 above-average years, so is now underrated.
Although this thread is mainly left bank oriented, I enjoyed this a bit and thought there might be some right bank fans interested:
2014 Ch. Rouget, Pomerol, 2/3/24
Medium ruby with no bricking. Lovely, large scale, and forward nose upon opening without aeration. Coffee, plum, cherry, sage, bay leaf, something like cinnamon, cigar box and a little bit of cedar. While it’s restrained on the palate, medium bodied and well structured it’s got a downright showy nose, flamboyant comes to mind. Good backbone leads me to believe this will drink well with aging. Very good, excellent, 4 (out of 5).
The best and/or most powerful vintages of this wine to me are somewhat unique in delivering a distinct raspberry puree character in the nose, palate and even in texture. I did not detect that character in the 2014 version but was nevertheless really pleased with a powerful, interesting and complex nose…
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Very nice to hear that additional context from you, Jon —- you’ve been able to follow both of these quite carefully over the past few years. I only have two bottles of the Montrose, and haven’t touched either one —- I’m relying on folks like you, who bought heavier, to guide me. So, thank you. 
Reasonable hypothesis.
I can say — without a doubt —- that I love the vintage character. Do I place 2014 in my absolute upper tier of vintages? No. But is it pretty darn high in my second tier? Absolutely.
Tom Parker of Farr Vintners included this at the foot of his Southwold post, it does explain the Medoc/left bank focus in general.
“Vintage ranking, decade to 2020 :
Top tier: 2016, 2019, 2020 (at its peak)
Second tier: 2018, 2015, 2014 (northern Médoc)
Third tier: 2014 (elsewhere), 2017, 2012, 2011
Bringing up the rear: 2013”
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Ed,
The Baron was awesome. Great drinking young Bordeaux. Ruby red color, red and black fruits, cherry, raspberry, rhubarb, blackberry. It has the amazing acidity that I find in many wines from this vintage.
Brian,
Always glad to add my experience although these are just my opinions. Of the bottles I have had so far, the Montrose has been the better wine vs the Baron. You know better than I do when I say hold those bottles. I am going to avoid opening any more '14’s, except maybe VCC, which I have not tried yet and I keep seeing some great reviews. I plan on checking in on some more '16’s of which I was able to acquire many in half-bottles. I love the acidity and freshness of this vintage. A half-bottle of '16 Haut Brion I opened a couple of years ago was one of the best young wines I have ever tasted and the CT score of 98.4 is justified IMO.
This was me. After the high prices and high alcohol content of the '10 vintage (many over 15% and Troplong over 16%!), I was happy to go deep on '14, which was described as a return to classically styled wine making and prices were cheap. Mouton for less than $300 and Lafite for less than $400 seemed like a no-brainer to me. Now, however, I think '16 is the vintage or me.