The purity of fruit to this is fascinating with plums, currants and other dark fruits. Then there is another layer of spices and chocolate. So much cassis. Full and very layered with chewy polished tannins and a long, long finish. Just starting to open. Changes all the time. Still needs a year or two but gorgeous to drink already.
A lesson in genuinely great wine, the 2005 Cos d’Estournel is a monster of a wine that delivers an incredible level of opulence and decadence while staying weightless and elegant on the palate, with no sensation of heaviness. This is what truly great wine is all about. Based on 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, and the final 4% Cabernet Franc, this dense ruby/plum-hued Saint-Estèphe offers up a monster bouquet of blackcurrants, unsmoked tobacco, licorice, toasted bread, classy oak, and cedar pencil. While it starts out reserved and almost understated, this is a wine that blossoms with air (I drank this bottle over two days, showing best on day two). Full-bodied, powerful, and decadent on the palate, with moderate acidity, it has a wealth of silky tannins, a stacked mid-palate, and a great, great finish. It reminds me of the 2009, if not an improved 1982, or even a slightly fresher 2003. Regardless, it’s a thrilling wine in every sense, and I fear with the focus on acidity and freshness in today's wine world, we might not see this style of great wine for some time.
The 2005 Cos d'Estournel is blended of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet colored, it is still a little closed and youthfully shy. With coaxing, the nose is just beginning to offer glimpses at vivacious kirsch, red roses, violets, licorice and mocha scents over a crème de cassis, blackberry pie and chocolate-covered cherry core with wafts of chargrill, mossy bark and truffles. Full-bodied, concentrated and wonderfully complex in the mouth, the palate is just beginning to reveal the true potential of this wine, with tightly wound layers of perfumed black fruits and earthy notions bound by a rock-solid frame of firm, grainy tannins and finishing with epic persistence. This still needs 5-6 years, but I love how this beauty is shaping up!!
The 2005 Cos d'Estournel is a magical wine. The aromatics alone as mesmerizing. Mocha, dried flowers, herbs and a whole range of deeply-pitched spice notes soar out of the glass. Explosive, deep and so full of character, the Cos dazzles from start to finish. Time in the glass brings out hints of rose petal, cedar and chocolate to round things out. Cos is one of the most exotic wines of 2005 and one of the vintage's undisputed successes. What a wine!
Saint-Estèphe has a reputation for tannins, and this 2005 Cos lives up to that. But it does much more, because the tannins add richness along with intensely ripe black fruits, dark plums and figs. The dense tannins are finely balanced with fresh acidity, and a long-lasting aftertaste. Impressive.
#28 in Top 100, 2008. Still tight despite a gorgeous wave of rich melted licorice, fig bread, warm plum compote and steeped blackberry flavors. Lovely alder, black tea and balsam wood details give this added range and a sense of detail through the finish before a wall of graphite-edged grip shows up. We're still in wait mode here.—Blind '01/'03/'05 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2017). Best from 2020 through 2040. 25,000 cases made.
TWI
96pts
The Wine Independent
The 2005 Cos d'Estournel is a blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, and 3% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-brick in color, it delivers blackcurrant pastilles, baked plums, and blackberry pie scents with smoked meats, cigar box, new leather, and dusty soil hints in the background. Full-bodied, concentrated, and muscular, it has firm, fine-grained tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and mineral-laced. Drinking well now, it should cellar through 2045 and beyond. In 2000, Michel Reybier - former food mogul and subsequent owner of the La Reserve group of luxury hotels, spas and restaurants - purchased this property. Jean-Guillaume Prats, Bruno’s son, was asked by Reybier to stay on for a period as the managing director of the estate and it has to be said that he treated the property with the same passion and shared vision for greatness as ever. In 2004, Dominique Arangoits came on board as winemaker and remains today as the humble, down-to-earth orchestrator and rock of this estate.
This inky, dark wine is seductive and immediately approachable, with a nose of sweet black fruit touched with honey and a bit of earth. The texture is silky and dense but not lacking in substance or structure. The blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon and 19% Merlot with a bit of Cabernet Franc was one of the leading lights in the appellation in 2005, as is often the case. Drinking now, it should continue to improve for decades.
