Collectors Dinner with Etienne de Nantes from Cos D'Estournel at WWWB

Thursday, March 22, 2018 - 07:30 PM

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"It wasn't always like this. Before Paris, people didn't drink our wine. I mean, my friends did. But you could hardly consider their palates discerning..."

Bo Barrett - Bottle Shock 

 

 

 

We are big fans of Chateau Cos D’Estournel so when I heard that Etienne de Nantes was coming into town I knew that we had a lot of Chateau Cos D’Estournel collectors out there that would love to bring a bottle out of their cellar to share with our group tonight.

 

Our collector series tasting event is where we ask you, our wine drinking people, to come up with some wine from your wine collection to add to the party in exchange for your ticket to the event.  That’s correct the collector series tasting portion of the event is FREE, all it will cost you is one bottle of Chateau Cos D’Estournel from your cellar!!

 

Image result for Chateau Cos D’Estournel

Chateau Cos D’Estournel Collectors Cellar Tasting
with Special Guest Etienne de Nantes at WWWB
Thursday March 22th
7:30pm

 

Let me explain further- this is a two part event:

 

Cos D’Estournel Collectors Tasting Part 1

The first part of the evening begins at 7:30pm, this is where we will be tasting through a vertical selection of 10 vintages of Chateau Cos D’Estournel. The price of admission is one bottle of Chateau Cos D’Estournel from your cellar, but here is the catch- we only need 2 bottles of each wine, so the longer you wait to respond the harder it will be to get a seat as you will have to go further back in time because the youngest vintages will be filled up by the first collectors who respond.

If you would like to attend the vertical tasting just respond to andy@winewatch.com with the vintage of Chateau Cos D’Estournel you would like to trade for your seat. 

 

**There are only 20 spaces available for this event.

 

Here are the vintages that we have already:

 

 

1966 Chateau Cos D'Estournel St. Estephe

 

 

1988 Chateau Cos D'Estournel St. Estephe

(92 points) Beautiful aromas of fresh herbs, such as tarragon and mint, with berry and cherry undertones. Medium- to full-bodied, with fine tannins that are polished and very pretty. Caressing finish. (JS, Web Only-2009)  Wine Spectator

 

1990 Chateau Cos D'Estournel St. Estephe

(94 points) Not as concentrated as the 1982, or as most of the vintages made since 2001, the 1990 Cos has reached full maturity. It exhibits sweet berry fruit intermixed with spice box, herbs, and spring flowers. Expansive, round, and sensual, with wonderful purity as well as lushness, this irresistible wine can be enjoyed over the next 6-10 years. (RP) (6/2009) Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

 

1996 Chateau Cos D'Estournel St. Estephe

(94 points) Tasted at the château, the 1996 Cos d'Estournel was aged in 65% new oak (unlike the 1995 which was 100%) and is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon and 35% Merlot. It has a straight down the line, intense and focused, graphite and melted tar bouquet. It is almost Pauillac in style, no surprise given its proximity. The palate is medium-bodied with fresh acidity, finer tannin than the 1986 Cos d'Estournel tasted alongside, but sharing those same leitmotifs of black pepper and sea salt. I like the nonchalance of this Cos d'Estournel. At 20 years it is not an ostentatious wine, not determined to go out and impress, but its nuance, stylishness and classicism grow on you. Its virtues seem to register only after you swallow the wine and find yourself tempted back for more. Excellent. (NM) (10/2016) Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2000 Chateau Cos D'Estournel St. Estephe

2001 Chateau Cos D'Estournel St. Estephe

2002 Chateau Cos D'Estournel St. Estephe

(93 points)  One of the candidates for wine of the vintage, this beauty has a dense purple color to the rim and a classic, noble nose of graphite intermixed with black currant, spice box, licorice, and red and black fruits. Medium to full-bodied with exceptional precision and definition, this beautifully textured wine stands out as one of the most successful wines of this irregular vintage. A brilliant effort, it should be at its best between 2008 and 2020. (RP) (4/2005) Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

 

2003 Chateau Cos D'Estournel St. Estephe

(97 points) Two terrific efforts from this vintage, the 2003 Cos d’Estournel (70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot and the rest Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc) remains one of the superstars of the vintage. It offers an opaque ruby/purple hue as well as notes of incense, camphor, licorice, creme de cassis and graphite. Full-bodied, opulent, incredibly fresh and well-delineated... Kudos to the team at Cos d’Estournel. (RP) (8/2014) Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

 

2005 Chateau Cos D'Estournel St. Estephe

 (97 points) The 2005 Cos d’Estournel is another great success from this property, which is owned by Michel Reybier. A superstar of St.-Estèphe in this vintage, this wine has a dense ruby/purple color, beautiful, sweet cassis and blackcurrant fruit, some floral notes, spice and a touch of oak in a full-bodied, layered, impressive multi-dimensional style. The tannins are surprisingly sweet and well-integrated, as is the acidity, alcohol and wood. This is a beauty and certainly the top wine of St.-Estèphe. Drink it over the next 25+ years. (RP) (6/2015) Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

 

2006 Chateau Cos D'Estournel St. Estephe

 

2008 Chateau Cos D'Estournel St. Estephe

(92 Points) Closed but promising, this is a classic Cos revealing lots of tannin along with damp earth, black currant, sweet black cherry, graphite, licorice and truffle characteristics. This medium to full-bodied, structured, firm, broodingly backward, impenetrable effort demands 5-6 years of bottle age; it should drink well for 20-25 years. 92+  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

 

(I will add the vintages as people respond with the vintage they are bringing.  We have 9 vintages before sending out this announcement!)

 

 

 

Part Two: Dinner with Etienne de Nantes

 

The dinner starts at 8:30pm (this part is optional but we will have extra wine left over from the tasting and we are already seated at a restaurant...) Toni Lampasone will be making a special menu for those that would like to stay for dinner and finish the tasting wines.  The fee for the dinner is $75 + tax.

 

Menu

 

Selection of Cheese and Charcuterie

Creamy Wild Mushroom Soup wtih Crispy Julienne Carrot sticks

Beef Shortrib with Bordeaux Natural Sauce Pomme Frites

Canele Cakes with Rum Pineapple Sauce

 

Additional Wines for dinner:

Goulee Blanc 2015

Goulee Rouge 2015

Pagodes de Cos 2012

 

Chateau Cos D’Estournel available direct from Bordeaux

These wines are still in Bordeaux and will take a few months to get here so they will not be available to get you into the tasting tonight.

 

A bit about Cos:
Cos D'Estournel lies across a marshy meadow and up a slope from what may be the world's most famous wine estate, Château Lafite Rothschild.  Cos has always been an odd curiosity among the stately châteaux of the Médoc, for the property is unlike anything else in all of France.  At the top of the hill with vineyards gently fanning down and out over the surrounding slopes sits the great chai - a fantastic architectural amalgam of Chinese gothic and French country château.  D'Estournel is the legacy of its first proprietor, Monsieur Louis Gaspard D'Estournel, who used to breed horses and ship them to the Orient.  Monsieur D'Estournel was inspired by what he saw on his many trips; the entrance to Cos D'Estournel probably best embodies the former owner's taste for the exotic and the unusual of the East.  The main door to the chai once formed the entrance to the harem of the Sultan of Zanzibar and is carved with vine leaves, bunches of grapes, flowers, and wondrous animals.  Three Chinese style pagoda turrets grace the structure, and a triumphal arch leads to the main road.  The visual impact is almost shocking in the context of its surroundings; one can just imagine the controversy it must have aroused in the staid and somber Médoc of the early 1800's.

Unlike its immediate neighbors to the South in Pauillac - who were producing wines of world fame by 1800 - Cos was a late bloomer.  Although wine may have been made on the property in the late 1700's, it wasn't until the early 1800's when, according to legend, Louis decided to sell some of his home-grown stuff on one of his trips to the Orient.  However, the folks back East didn't buy a drop, and he had to cart it all the way back to France.  At the conclusion of the lengthy round trip, he found that not only did his wine travel well but that time had softened it up marvelously.  It fetched a very high price on the Bordeaux market; and from that point forward, Cos D'Estournel was in the wine business.   Louis D'Estournel continued to improve Cos all the way into the 1850's and sold it just before his death in 1853 at a price equivalent to that paid a year earlier for the great Château Mouton Rothschild.  That Cos D'Estournel had risen to a position of prominence in that era was confirmed by the 1855 Grand Cru Classification of Bordeaux.  It was ranked a second cru as well as being rated the highest rated wine of the commune of St. Estèphe.

After Mon. D'Estournel's death, the estate changed ownership several times and was bought in 1919 by the Ginestets, one of Bordeaux's leading wine families.  The proprietor at that time, Bruno Prats, was a son of one of the Ginestets (his mother was the sister of Pierre Ginestet, the former owner of Château Margaux).  Prats spent his summers at Château Marbuzet, for there has never been a real château at Cos D'Estournel - only the great chai (the winery and barrel aging facilities).  In fact, it was not until the mid seventies that the word Château was affixed to the name; before that time the label said only Cos D'Estournel. Although Cos D'Estournel has always been considered the best wine of St. Estèphe, it was never considered in the same league as some of the great châteaux of Pauillac, St. Julien, and Margaux.  All that changed under the stewardship of Prats, and Cos has gone from strength to strength.  Excellent wines were produced there in 1978 and 1979, and the Château probably produced the greatest wine in its history in 1982 - it rivaled the wines produced by the first growths.  The 1985 was every bit as good as the 1982, this elevated the prestige of Cos D'Estournel to even higher levels. 

In 1998, the PRATS brothers sold Cos d'Estournel to the Merlaut family, the owners of the Taillan group, and to Argentinian investors represented by Mr Mayano.  Cos was sold again in 2000 and currently belongs to the Société des Domaines Reybier.  With this most recent change in ownership came Jean-Guillaume Prats, great-grandson of Fernand Ginestet and son of Bruno Prats who was also the manager of Cos from 1970 to 1998.  Since Jean-Guillaume as taken the helm many critics felt that Cos D'Estournel is producing a wine that is on par with the first growths of the Médoc! 

The production of Cos D'Estournel is approximately 20,000 cases a year of a wine that is built for aging, fairly austere when young Cos needs 10-15 years of age in a great vintage like 2001 and can last for upwards of 30 years if cellared properly.  The 2001 is a typically large-scaled Cos D'Estournel, but the wine still has remarkable elegance and approachability for a wine from Saint-Estèphe.  This may be attributable partially to winemaking practices, partly to the grapes in the final blend (the vineyard is planted to 60% Cabernet and 40% Merlot), and partly to the soil.  The estate's attributes are best described by the noted English authority, Clive Coates, who says:  "Cos is really a different wine from any other St. Estèphe...a wine which is somewhat softer and more elegant, less aggressively powerful...Cos, however, has both the power and finesse, both the body and the delicacy, both the backbone and the fruit”.  In the words of Clive Coates, "Grand Vin, indeed!"

 

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