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. — 8 years ago

Roel van der Burg

Sommelier at Restaurant Entrepot

9.1

Structured style, generous in it's dense fruit expression. The Busardières vineyard (soil of calcareous clay on top of tuffeau) is located high up in the hills of the Bourgueil appelation, protected from cold northern wind by a huge forest on top of the hill. Grapes get ripe here a bit easier. Charming expression of Cabernet Franc. — 11 years ago

Patrick Ayotte

9.0

Light gold color with green hue. Nose of petroleum, lime, pine tree and rocks. On the palate it is quite fat (Vaseline?), hint of minerals and green with pine and dry herbs flavors, acidity and fruit on the finish. A type of Riesling I’m not having that often, more opulent and ripe, but quite tasty. Very good+ (90)

Drank along a Tonschiefer Riesling Trocken 2012 from Dönnhoff, this Mesh Riesling was the group favorite, but mine was the Dönnhoff for its higher acidity level and the additional “bite” it has.

Wine made by Jeffrey Grosset and Robert Hill Smith, renowned Australian winemakers. Made of Riesling from two vineyards and have an alcohol level of 12.5% #dansmonverre — 11 years ago

Linn Browning

8.9

My favorite mead so far. #Vawine #mead — 11 years ago

Steve Gerths

9.7

Very good Pinot from 2012 Santa Rita Hills around Santa Barbara. Foley has many wineries and is a high quality producer. Owns Merus and Chalk Hill also. Nice spice and vanilla flavor on top of cherry fruit — 12 years ago

Vinny Eng

10

Tree of life. — 13 years ago

Julie Northshield

9.0

Great taste of summer, but great wine any meal. Try with a winning hand in poker or take to share on the top of a hill with a great view. Balanced , smooth — 13 years ago

Mark Flesher

9.4

Firing. On. All. Cylinders. Wine was purchased about 3.5 years ago in a six-pack and was intended to be consumed rather fast. Back story: ran into a 12 pack of 2005 "Prima Voce" close to 10 years ago at about 10 bucks per bottle and was told it was "ok" for an Italian blend but it wouldn't last longer than a year or so (but noone knew for sure). It. Killed. Come to realize the only reason it was available readily in the states was because Kendall Jackson acquired them. Fast forward about 6 years from that and requested to find this one. Today, Arceno is still under the KJ umbrella. Have slowly been drinking on the ones I found a few years ago. This wine is rather aromatic even from Coravin. Dirty raspberry, grilled meat, Italian spice on the nose. Medium + density and mouthfeel. Acidity has died down quite a bit, allowing a floral dirty raspberry to show up front, losing a lot of sweetness. that I remember,Leathery and "bloody" in the middle. Finishes with some brambly herb, green olive, and a hint of black pepper spice. This wine is RIGHT at the top of the hill now. There are many 12 year old Chiantis that I would gladly pass on, but this one is a definite "yes please" even at 12 years of age. Ratings likely in the 8's because people just don't give this one the time that it needs. D — 8 years ago

Mike Beltran

9.0

Lovely straw green/gold color with lots of glycerin. At eight years this wine is full of CHARDONNY flavors without oak tones. With salmon this was a good match. Stony Hill produces pure top quality CHARDONNY . Kudos to Mike Chelini and his wine making skills. — 9 years ago

Shay A

9.4

A group of guys decided to meet up at our Wine Storage facility and bust out some unique bottles! Scores and notes to follow!

I have two of these courtesy of the man, the myth, the legend, @Martin G Rivard . WOW. Out of the 15+ wines that were opened tonight, this was easily in the top half, if not near the top 5. Intoxicating nose. Cork was basically black. Blueberry compote and blackberry preserves on the nose. Vanilla and plum finish. Hands down the best mixed black wine I've tasted to date. Martin, THANK YOU! — 9 years ago

with Mark and Weston

Brian Ihnacak

9.1

Grigliata July '16, top of the hill — 10 years ago

Kelly C

9.4

This blend is quite a good drink to share with friends, even if you don't like the wine all that much, the view from the top of the hill where their new tasting room is located is simply beautiful and worth the trip. — 10 years ago

Benjamin Hickey

9.1

Savoury and rounded Riesling but still dry acidity. — 11 years ago

Steve Thompson

9.8

Earthy, mineral red with absolutely stunning fruit made on top of a beautiful, chilly hill in Willamette.
This is the wine that made me start taking this world a little more seriously. — 11 years ago

Brecht Spileers

9.2

Just over the top of the hill. Still good. — 11 years ago

with Charlotte

Neil Walsh

9.7

Drinking a little too young but delicious. Very small NZ producer of top wines. — 11 years ago

Ed Matthews

9.9

2006 Ghost Hill Pinot, among the top five best Pinots I have ever tasted. — 13 years ago

Andrew Lampasone

Owner Wine Watch Selections

9.2

180 cases Grenache Syrah and Mourvèdre blend the only one in Tuscany Syrah at the top of the hill the Grenache and Mourvèdre are in the middle of the hill barrel fermented then put in concrete eggs which helps hold in the heat during fermentation this also helps refresh the wines also they also a have 3 rows of Carignan the wine has a bit of floral garrigue but more earthy with dark spices and sundried fruit black licorice a cross between Rhône and Tuscany. Very smooth and velvety tannins with great freshness and ripe berry pie like fruit with dried flowers and fresh earth notes very sexy juice. Finish 45+ sage Thyme rosemary the dried herbs found in this region. Excellent+ — 13 years ago

Ron Haber

9.3

Found a 2010 in the cellar. Lively, round juicy on the palate. Owners are great peeps — 9 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.0

On the nose, sour fruits of; dark currants, blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, green bell peppers, tree bark with sap and fresh very dark florals. The palate is medium bodied & the tannins are medium soft and round. The fruits are; blackberries, dark cherries, an array of blue fruits, poached strawberries, green bell pepper with additional vegetal notes, dusty, dry, loamy dry top soil, crushed dry rocks, olive pit with flesh, herbaceous notes, nail rust, light funky gym locker notes and a round, soft acidity and a finish that a 1/3, 1/3 and 1/3...fruit, vegetal and earth. 9.0 with the potential for a bit more with cellaring. Photos of; Irouléguy, Jean-Claude Berrouet and a classic Basque dish. Producer history & notes...Irouléguy is located in Basque Country...the southwestern most part of France wine regions and is only a half an hour from Spain. Irouléguy received its appellation contrôlée in 1970, with about 250 acres of vineyards cultivated by 60 growers. Jean-Claude Berrouet is an Irouléguy native who left the area for more than three decades to be the winemaker at Château Pétrus. Jean-Claude eventually returned home. He named his estate “Herri Mina.” In Basque, herri means “country,” and mina means “homesick.” I guess you could say he missed the area he grew up. Jean-Claude also makes a white blend of Gros Manseng, Petit Corbu and Petit Manseng. His vines are planted on the steep south facing slopes of the Pyrénées at around 400 feet above sea level. His vineyard has a climatic influence from the Atlantic. They are protected from cold north wind and receive more sunshine than most other French vineyard regions. Jean-Claude also produces a small amount of this Irouléguy Cabernet Franc; which is 100% Cabernet Franc-Tannat. A classic Basque pairing (shown) for this wine is a flour dredged fried chicken with stewed red and green peppers, tomatoes, onions & garlic.
— 9 years ago

Justin Brilman

9.2

Very enjoyable. Granny Smith apple on top of a tropical but not overly sweet palate. Need another year or 2 and will score 2-3 points higher. — 10 years ago

Jeanne Kesten

9.2

Full body Shiraz but still quite light for a Shiraz One of the top rated wines by LCBO in October — 10 years ago

Tony Bubbles

9.3

These folks are playing at the top of the game — 10 years ago

Randy Fuller

9.1

This wine is deep ruby in color with just a little light getting through the glass. The nose is pretty and flowery and fruity at first, but Mr. Savory sneaks in after it opens up a bit. Right at the top of the glass are smoky, leathery spices and earth. The palate is full of black and blue berries with a layer of minerals over them. The earthy component lasts well into the finish. — 10 years ago

Mircea Dincă

8.9

First time I see anything from them in Boston.A decent Saison, with raisins and faint cloves overtones on top of hay and grass. I hope the rest of their stuff is significantly better — 11 years ago

Benedikt Zimmermann

8.9

Enjoyed this well-aged bottle of Pinot Noir that was part of the March 2015 Mission Hill Wine Club shipment with a great top sirloin steak. — 11 years ago

Fabien Lainé

Blogger VinDeling.com

8.9

Dominant Syrah with a touch of Viognier, this wine starts to get more elegant with rounder tannins, very ripe black fruits and wild berries, the oak is well integrated, a nice wine that will pair nicely with rich dishes :) Quinta do Monte d’Oiro (“Hill of Gold”) was founded by winemaker José Bento dos Santo in 1990. His goal was to develop top-quality wines in a European style while respecting his vineyard’s unique terroir — 11 years ago

Alison Story

TexaCali Ali - Owner of www.texacaliwine.com & Co-Owner of the upcoming www.smithstorywinecellars.com

9.5

among the top 5 reds of the year for me — 11 years ago

Tim Kravitz

9.0

Found at zinburger in cherry hill New Jersey — 13 years ago

Goran Doreski

9.8

2010 Malvazija. Kozlović is top malvazija, as good as it gets. Only better Malvazija than this one is his own other barand, from the hill of Santa Lucia. — 13 years ago