Chateau Cos d´Estournel 2005

JAMES SUCKLING: "The purity of fruit in 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."

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "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 WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "This just keeps getting better and better as it slowly works its way to maturity. The wine is deep, full-bodied, concentrated and multi-faceted. The gorgeous fruit is perfectly ripe, sweet, round, opulent and fresh. Still youthful, give it 7-10 years and this will be a rockstar wine with all its sensuous textures accompanied by complex aromatics and a long finish, perfect to show off its purity and poise."

WEINWISSER: "Mitteldunkles Granat, dezent matt im Innern. Offenes Bouquet, ausladend, warm mit dunklen Röstnoten, schöne Cabernet- Süsse mit schokoladigem Untergrund und feinen Minzspuren. Weicher Gaumen mit wunderschön integrierter Säure, wirkt sehr elegant und hat seine Harmonie bereits gefunden. Im Nachklang zeigt sich dann die Adstringenz auf der Zunge und hemmt den Genuss jetzt, garantiert ihn aber in ein paar Jahren."

DECANTER: "There have of course been great vintages since 2005, but the top examples from this year could be the greatest wines of the past two decades. The 2005 grapes were near perfect during the growing season, with flowering completed in three days, followed by similarly smooth and quick colour change and a harvest that finished on 9 October – a touch earlier than many of the neighbouring estates. The percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend is among the highest ever at this château. It tastes much younger than the 2004 vintage right now, as you would expect, but it's the rich and complex layers that really express the quality. It has the sense of cramming a handful of fruit into your mouth straight from the hedgerow, with cassis and crushed blackberry flavours. The tannins are soft but doing their job, with wonderful layers of liquorice and slate. Brambly, cheerful and effortless, there's an almost wild side to this wine, both free-flowing and more than living up to its reputation. Good luck trying to predict when this wine will reach its end."

WINE ENTHUSIAST: "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."

WINE SPECTATOR: "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."

FALSTAFF: "Tiefdunkles Rubingranat, opak, violette Ränder, in der Nase sehr einladende Heidelbeer-Cassis-Noten, sehr feine Holzaromen, zart nach Karamell und Honig, ungemein vielschichtiges Bukett, mineralische Anklänge. Am Gaumen sehr frisch und dabei enorm konzentriert, feine Tannine, sehr mineralisch, feiner Kakaotouch, ein sehr nerviger Wein mit klassischem Zukunftspotenzial, feine Adstringenz, die ihn zum perfekten Speisenbegleiter machen wird."