2024 Cos d'Estournel 2eme Cru Classe, Saint-Estephe

There is huge depth and lots of intensity from this year's Cos. Quite powerful, deeply colored and dense, but there is freshness. Concentrated and tight-grained, with a full body and a pretty lengthy finish. Quite unique for its broadness and density, with lots of blackberries in the finish.

The 2024 Cos d'Estournel could very well be one of the wines of the vintage. Bright and vibrant in the glass, with tons of energy, the 2024 impresses with its vertical structure, depth and overall balance. Blue/purplish fruit, spice, new leather, lavender and mocha are beautifully delineated throughout. The 2024 is super-classic. The modest 12.8% alcohol is notable, especially because that also means there is less extraction of wood. Cos is one of my early favorites in 2024.

The 2024 Cos d'Estournel is shaping up beautifully. Offering up aromas of sweet cassis, plums, pencil shavings and iris, it's medium to full-bodied, supple and suave, reflecting this estate's pivot to a more harmonious, less aggressively extracted style. With a layered, seamless core of fruit framed by plenty of sweet, powdery tannin, it's a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot, 1.5% Cabernet Franc and 0.5% Petit Verdot that checks in at 12.7% alcohol. Cos is an early-ripening terroir, and that clearly played to the relative strengths of the vintage. Harvest here began with the estate's old-vine Merlot on gravel on September 23, concluding with the last Cabernet Sauvignon on October 7.

With a pleasing depth of color, the wine exudes a blend of dark currants, Asian spices, flowers, smoke, and crème de cassis, enhancing the aromatic profile. On the palate, the wine is fresh, supple, elegant, and almost creamy, providing the perfect backdrop for its layers of mineral-driven fruits. This is an excellent example of a modern take on old-school classicism. Allow it a few years to develop further, and it will be even better. This shows remarkable strength for the vintage. The wine comprises 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot, and 1% Cabernet Franc, with 13% press wine. It has an ABV of 12.8% and a pH of 3.57. The harvest occurred from September 23 to October 7, yielding 30 hectoliters per hectare. The Grand Vin was produced from 46% of the harvest. The wine will be approachable early in its life, yet it possesses the potential to age for decades. Drink from 2029-2060.

Highly textural, with layers and depth, this shows savoury and slim black fruits, real finesse, beautifully precise and grippy texture, cocoa bean, espresso, lovely quality. This feels genuinely old school in the best sense of the word. Harvest 23 September to 7 October. 3.52 pH. 20% new oak, 46% 1st wine.

The 2024 Château Cos D'Estournel is a clear step up, with a concentrated, rich, yet still elegant profile. Cassis, graphite, crushed stone, and freshly sharpened pencil notes all define the aromatics, and it's medium to full-bodied, has a focused, structured mouthfeel, good acidity, and building tannins. It's going to require patience but is clearly an outstanding Cos in the making. Based on 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot, 1.5% Cabernet Franc, and a splash of Petit Verdot, resting in 50% new oak, it hit 12.76% with a pH of 3.57 and an IPT of 71.

The 2024 Cos d'Estournel was picked from September 23 to October 7 and matured in 50% new oak. This has an atypically powerful bouquet, revealing black fruit laced with graphite and gravelly scents. The palate has a Pauillac-like entry that's fresh but certainly intense. There's plenty of grip in this Cos d'Estournel that's a little sweeter and reassuringly persistent on the finish compared to its peers. It does not deliver the mineralité of a top-flight Cos d'Estournel, though there's certainly much more fruit intensity than you would expect given the growing season. I observed more classicism during my second record, which suggests that the depth of fruit may become more prominent during barrel maturation. Readers should note it displayed more depth and precision on my second visit on the final day in Bordeaux.

60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot, 1.5% Cabernet Franc, 0.5% Petit Verdot. Cask sample.

Purple-black hue. Reserved nose but good concentration. Tight and firm on the palate with layered extract. Mid-palate presence and a certain power but tough and chewy on the finish and just a little austere for now. (JL)

12.8% Drink 2032 – 2050