Cos d’Estournel Saint Estephe 2020

The call of faraway lands. As mysterious and intriguing as a lone adventurer returning from a solitary sail, Cos dEstournel is slow to reveal itself. Little by little, it evokes stories of distant places, market stalls brimming with unfamiliar fruits, spices and wares, village festivities warmed by the joy of revelers and the setting sun, and sumptuous visions of ladies and their voluptuous curves. A myriad of scents, colors and tastes appeals to the senses. The Grand Vin of Cos dEstournel is both demure and deliberately sensuous, a fascinating and elegant nectar. Blend 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot

Critical Acclaim

99 Jeb Dunnuck

Based on 62% Cabernet Sauvignon and 38% Merlot, the deep purple-hued 2020 Chteau Cos D’Estournel has, dare I say, an almost Lafite-like sense of elegance and class, offering gorgeous cassis and darker currants fruits as well as tobacco, lead pencil, acacia flowers, and graphite. Hitting 13.46 alcohol, with a pH of 3.9 and an IPT of 80, this flawless, full-bodied, incredibly elegant Saint-Estphe has silky tannins, perfect balance, and a great, great finish. It will need a decade of cellaring to hit its prime drink window. Of the trilogy of 2018, 2019, and 2020, it’s clearly my favorite (thats splitting hairs), with a similarity to the 2016, and will most likely merit another point at maturity.

98 James Suckling

A brooding and deep wine just on the nose, with blackcurrants, redcurrants, spices such as cardamom and nutmeg, as well as black truffles with earth. Complex. Full-bodied with fine yet chewy tannins, that are wonderfully interwoven. Very structured and long. Needs five to six years to come around. 62% cabernet and 38% merlot. Try after 2028.

96 Wine Enthusiast

This wine’s complex structure and powerful tannins are shot through with freshness. It is already impressive, the spice and black fruits in harmony with the texture. The wine will age well. Drink from 2027.

94 Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate

The 2020 Cos d’Estournel is a bold, demonstrative wine, bursting with aromas of cassis, dark berries and plum liqueur mingled with exotic spices, burning embers and petals, framed by a generous application of creamy new oak. Full-bodied, broad and low acid/high pH in style, it’s rich and extracted, with a layered, mid-palate and a long, clove-inflected finish. While it isn’t anywhere near as extreme as the 2009, the 2020 does appear to mark a move back toward a more turbo-charged style after Cos d’Estournel’s shift toward elegance, exemplified by the brilliant 2016but perhaps that’s merely an illusion created by the vintage?

94 Wine Spectator

A broad, rich, enticing wine, built on a core of exotic mulberry and loganberry notes laced with black tea, spices and incense. Rounded through the finish, with the fruit cruising through under a suave gloss of toast. A real crowd-pleaser, with a luxurious feel that makes this hard to lay off of now. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.