Opened a 2019 St Cosme CDR and the cork was very difficult to remove, so naturally once it was loose I checked it out. Turns out it’s stamped 2017 w verbiage other than St Cosme.
Any idea what could have happened? Cork shortage for 2019 or surplus from 2017?
Maybe, the cork is correct, but the bottle is strange.
Otherwise, this seems another data point that corks are outmoded sealers.
The verbiage is standard for St. Cosme but it’s strange that it’s a different year.
Aged wine.
Now, aged corks.
Super helpful, Victor.
That’s odd. My guess is that you’re right: cork surplus from the 2017 vintage. Why waste them on a low-margin CdR I suppose?
Just had this wine. The least of my worries is the cork…
I once had a similar issue with a bottle of burgundy. The label said 2011 and the cork said 2009. I contacted the Domaine and they responded, saying it was certainly the 2009 vintage as indicated by the cork, since they buy the exact number of corks based on the harvest quantities. Not sure if this applies to your bottle and if they do things the same way at St Cosme, but things like this do happen.
Not a fan of the wine?
I liked this bottle and others of their CdR, maybe one of my favorite CdRs actually.
What didn’t you like?
It was extremely ripe. It felt like a lab made CdR with added sugar or mega purple or Welches Grape juice. No balance to this wine. My wife almost punched me when she took a sip. “Why would you try to give me diabetes in a glass”… It was so bad it went down the drain.
I have trouble drinking newer vintages of most red wines now, for that reason. My palate feels as if a jacked-up urban pickup truck just hit it.
Hmm, this bottle definitely didn’t taste like that and I’m AFWE from a palate perspective, generally. I mean it is a 2019 Syrah so it’s not going to show tertiary aspects at this juncture, and it is a CdR. Judging it like that I thought it was OK but struck by the odd cork.
I recently poured a 2017 Shafer 1.5 down the drain (totally my bad, I should have read how the wine has changed over the years) b/c it was all oak.
Do you recall if it had a 2019 cork or not? Just curious.
I don’t remember. I don’t think I paid attention to the cork. Sorry! You might have gotten the 17 version of this wine, which could be very different. I think 2019 was a very hot year and it’s it wasn’t, I’m sure someone will correct me. I’ll say this, the 2019 version of this wine, made Apothic seem lean.
If you live near DC, I’ll give you a bottle to try. I’ll most likely use it to cook venison or boar stew.
I opened a bottle of this the other day and the cork from mine had “2027” on it! Otherwise, the cork looked the same as yours.
Maybe it’s not a vintage but a lot number of some kind. Seems to be a space between the 20 and the 17.
Also about this wine, a couple CT notes indicate that this is 100% Syrah. Looks like this is info from Suckling’s tasting note. Aren’t these large production CdRs usually Grenache heavy?
According to the technical sheet on the St Cosme website, this is 100% Syrah (only Syrah is mentioned as a grape so I am guessing that it is at least predominantly Syrah).
According to the WA review, it is 100% syrah, from multiple s. rhone estates in the Gard and Vinsobres. Regardless of where it’s from, it was a hard no for me when I tasted it the other night. Juice, meet drain. Cork said 20 23. FWIW, my experience with an '18 was the same as this one.
