Manchester Sheldon

9.0

Strawberry, baked brioche, and luscious bubbles! — 4 years ago

Walt M Britt

8.9

Drank to celebrate the calling of the election for Biden-Harris ticket and the FACT that Georgia was blue again! — 4 years ago

Randy Fuller

9.6

This salmon-pink Loire crèment is a bottle of pure pleasure. Cab Franc rosé Brut, with all the trimmings. Great fruity nose, a bit of toast in it. The palate offers a fabulous swath of cherries, strawberries and a hint of raspberries. The fruit is all on the ripe side, and the acidity is nothing short of a razor line. Great sipping, great pairing with just about anything. — 5 years ago

Squirrel23

9.5

Loved it. Must have in the wine cooler — 6 years ago

Gregory Fulchiero

9.2

Par excellence - Boozy but already integrating - Kirsch, spice, garrigue, cinnamon and plum-hoisin sauce. At 16-17% this is strangely drinkable. — 7 years ago

Bryce Wiatrak

9.8

Stoic and utterly profound, this wine is an infant, but demonstrates incredible promise. Togni is a master, having crafted the 1969 Chappellet - likely the best wine I’ve ever tasted. His daughter Lisa holds the reigns now, and continues her family label’s string of excellence. “Old School” — 7 years ago

Ryan Fell

9.1

Diesel and honeydew nose. Clean crisp apple mid weight excellence. 30 minutes later oxidized notes appear, matching the color. Find it if you can! — 7 years ago

Christian Limón

9.1

Great Bordeaux. Tart & smoky with some body — 8 years ago

Sam Cornwall

9.1

Great find at whole foods. Way better than expected! — 4 years ago

Willie Carter

9.1

Consistent excellence. Pure gold in the glass with a creamy mousse and a ton of tiny, fine bubbles. On the intoxicating nose you’ll find some smoke, apple cider, and orange peel. Tasty honey and apricots make their presence known here. Just hints of the yeast and toasted nuts for now but will be more present as time goes on. Oak, dark fruit, and some really lively violets top this off.

So much richer and more voluptuous than most similar offerings, Bollinger always stands out from the pack. Quite the vivacious champagne, this is full of life and full of power. Muscular in nature but still has more than enough finesse with a velvety mouthfeel. The complexity and depth is definitely a step above, due to the amount of reserve wines used in the blend.

The palate pleases with chalk, apple pie, and lemon rind. More orange and the thought of warm biscuits to go with baking spices and pears. Long finish featuring spice and cream. How many other entry level bottles from the other big champagne houses can compare? Excellent champagne, a beautiful journey. — 4 years ago

Jessica Andersson

9.4

Lent, lättdrucket. Inte så sött. En varm sommardag då man vill ha mousserande. — 5 years ago

Mark Flesher

9.2

This is definitely a little bit of a departure from other Cabernets that were enjoyed tonight. Still extremely elegant. Enjoyed En Magnum. This is 15 years of Columbia Valley excellence. The news on this wine was clove, truffle, black cherry. The entry had a little bit of a bleu cheese, green grapestem, black cherry, fig. The middle is where this one started to settle more to a red and black fruit profile.... but mostly favored the black fruit side of things. Finishes with a little bit of black pepper, with softened tannins that carried it through to the finish. If in 750, I would say it is definitely time to start popping and enjoying these. If it is in Magnum, this is actually a rather enjoyable wine and I feel it will likely develop a bit more. — 6 years ago

with Dan and Shay

Gene Buonviri

9.1

Luxurious Bubbly Excellence — 7 years ago

with Toby and Justinian

Andy Presland

9.3

Spice from the rousanne evident in this delicious bargain southern white. — 8 years ago

Peter Hladun

9.0

Champagne 2 of 4 and second place in the tasting. Older vintage so brought out some interesting funky characteristics of baked apple pie and brioche. — 4 years ago

Maggie Jashinsky

9.9

This is our favorite bottle at our favorite restaurant. It is ALWAYS good. — 5 years ago

Sipping Fine Wine

9.4

Recently had ‘16. Royal St. Robert Cuvee named in honor of Dante and Carlo Mondavi's grandfather who taught them to be committed to excellence. Medium Ruby with layered aromas of fresh berry fruits with floral and smoky spice notes. On the palate flavors of strawberry and raspberry with cigar box, oak and herb floral notes. Well balanced, savory fine tannins, long finish ending with oaky earthy notes. Very nice! Has ample room to age. Nice! — 5 years ago

Colin Cahoon

9.3

Barn yard funk nose. Tart fruit, toffee, and tobacco on the palate with a long acid finish. — 6 years ago

with Susan

Mitchell Wiatrak

8.9

Opening volley of our wine tasting tonight. Very crisp and clean. Delightful. I think this is an excellent sparkling wine, especially for the price. — 7 years ago

with Stacy and Bryce

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.1

Is there anything better than Ribeye & Claret? From my perspective, no. This is the second wine from one of more prestigious Chateaus in St. Estephe. Bordeaux rule number 2, buy the hell out of good producers second wines in very good vintages, like 2005. You’ll get great wines at more affordable prices. Providing, you exercise patience; which is rule number 1. Decanted for 3 plus hours. On the nose, ripe; blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, baked strawberries, black plum & cherries pull up the rear. Incense, herbaceous character, anise, scorched dark earth, burnt ambers, anise, baking spices dominated by vanilla, black tea, black cherry cola, loamy dry soils, dry & fresh red florals with violets for days. It’s in a great phase with many years ahead. The body is full and round. The texture has you wanting more. It’s velvety and ripe. Tannins soft and powdery, around 65-70 resolved. The fruits are ripe & ruby...showing the excellence of the 05 vintage. Blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, baked strawberries, black plum & cherries pull up the rear. Incense, herbaceous character, anise, scorched dark earth, dry stones, leather, cigar with ash, burnt ambers, anise, baking spices dominated by vanilla, black tea, black cherry cola, loamy dry soils, dry & fresh red florals with violets for days. The acidity is dead on. The length, structure, length & balance is harmonizing like America on the album, “ Horse with No Name.” The long finish is; ruby, rich, elegant, round, beautiful and lasts a minute plus. Beautiful wine. 9.4 with the steak. 9.2 on its own. Photos of; Chateau Cos d’ Estournel, hosting/tasting area, private wine stock and barrel cellar. Producer notes and history...Chateau Cos d’Estournel has a long history in the appellation of St. Estephe. Louis Gaspard d’Estournel, gave his name to the estate after founding it in 1811. It only took a few years before Chateau Cos d’Estournel became famous with wine lovers and royalty all over the world. In the early days, the wines of Cos d’Estournel were not sold through the Negociant system. The owner preferred selling his wine directly to his customers. In fact, Chateau Cos d’Estournel was exported to numerous countries across the globe, with a large portion of the production being sold to India. It was that connection to India that inspired much of the unique, east Indian design we see at Cos d’Estournel today. Chateau Cos d’Estournel was one of the first Chateaus to bottle, label and sell their own wine. This practice continued until the death of Louis Gaspard d’Estournel in 1852. After his death, the estate was purchased by an owner that sold their wines on the Place de Bordeaux, using the negociant system. If the Chateau had not been selling their wines through the negociant system, it would never have been included in the 1855 Classification! Chateau Cos d’Estournel was sold to the Charmolue family, the owners of the neighboring Chateau Montrose. They continued to own the estate until 1917, when it was bought by Fernand Ginestet. The purchase was the next major step in the development of Cos d’Estournel. The next era in the development of Chateau Cos d’Estournel took place in 2000, when Chateau Cos d’Estournel was bought by Michel Reybier, who made his fortune in the food industry. Michel Reybier hired the son of Bruno Prats, Jean-Guillaume Prats to manage Cos d’Estournel. Things improved with the efforts of Jean-Guillaume Prats who helped design the most modern wine making facilities in the entire Bordeaux wine making appellation at the time. A complete renovation of Cos d’Estournel took place in the winemaking facilities and cellars. The wine making facilities are completely modern, using 100% gravity. On October 15, 2012, Jean Guillaume Prats announced he was leaving Chateau Cos d’Estournel to join LVMH. Jean Guillaume Prats was replaced by Aymeric de Gironde. Following the departure of Aymeric de Gironde in 2017, the owner, Michel Reybier took over managing the estate. In 2018, the estate released COS100, produced from their oldest Merlot vines that were 100 years of age. It was limited in production to a 100 Jeroboams, (3 litres) and 10 Balthazars (12 litres) and a few other sizes were produced from only 2 barrels of wine. The proceeds from COS100 go to the charity, Elephant Family, that is devoted to protecting and nurturing Asian elephants in their own, natural habitat. Cos d’Estournel’s new cellar is a joint reflection by the technical team, the architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte and Jean Guillaume Prats. It’s a marvel blend of simplicity and modern technology. Cos d’Estournel is unique to Bordeaux and the rest of world. What makes this special is that the cellars of Cos d’Estournel are entirely operated by gravity. There are no pumps of any kind to force the wine. The purpose is to allow a gentleness to the wine and improve its purity allowing for expression of their special terroir. It set a new benchmark for cellars not only in the Left Bank, but in all of Bordeaux. The new cellars at Chateau Cos d’Estournel include 72 isothermal cone shaped stainless steel vats. The vats are specifically designed for thermal inertia. The 72 vats have a wide range of capacities to correspond with the needs of each parcel of vines. The vats range in size from as small as 19 hectoliters all the way up to 115 hectolitres. 12 of the smaller vats that are designed to handle between 19 and 60 hectoliters that have two levels in each vat. In other words, this offers the technical equivalent of 24 separate vats. Each of the vats are double lined, which allows for more exact and temperature control. None of the vats use interior heat coils. Perhaps the most inventive part of the cellars is the four 100 hectoliter lift tanks or wine elevators that replace the pumps used in the traditional pumping over and racking off processes, which introduce air and often destabilize the marc. From the moment the grapes arrive, everything travels by the flow of gravity. Jean Guillaume Prats called this process a pumpless, pump over. What takes place is, the wine is released from the main vat where the skins remain. By gravity, the juice is then moved into smaller vats which are on wheels. These small vats are sent to the glass elevators where they are moved up one floor and returned back into the vat by gravity to cover the skins. At this point, the process is still unique to Chateau Cos d’Estournel. The wine production of Cos d’Estournel is labor intensive starting the moment the grapes enter their new facility. The berries travel through a tunnel that instantly lowers the temperature of the fruit to 3-5 degrees Celsius. This sudden chilling stops the loss of juice while also slowing oxidation. Next, the grapes are cold macerated at 7-9 degrees Celsius for about a week. Pump overs are done by gravity recycling. The juice from the top of the vat moves to the bottom of the vat entirely by gravity. The fermentation takes place at low temperatures to avoid over extraction or harsh tannins. The 91 hectare vineyard of Chateau Cos d’Estournel is planted to 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. The vineyard is located close to the border of Pauillac and Saint Estephe at the southern tip of the Saint Estephe appellation. The vineyard has cultivated 84 hectares of vines. Even though the vineyard has been expanded over the years, the grape varietals planted here have remained consistent. The vineyard, located on the hill of Cos, has gentle elevations of up to 20 meters. On average, the vines are 35 years of age. However, the estate has very old Merlot vines as well, which date back more than 100 years. Part of the terroir is situated on the hill of Cos, which is at a high elevation for the Medoc at 20 meters. Cos d’Estournel is translated from old Gascon speech; which means the hill of pebbles. It describes the terroir along with clay, gravel, sand and limestone soil. However, there is a unique aspect to the soil at Cos d’Estournel, as you find more gravel and less clay here than you do at other neighboring vineyards. Because the fruit is grown close to the Atlantic ocean in a cool climate, Cos d’Estournel is often among the last of the properties in the Medoc to harvest. The vineyard is managed by teams and each team member is given 45,000 vines to look after. The vineyard, which is almost one large block, can be further divided into 72 separate parcels. — 7 years ago