Chateau Cos d´Estournel 2008

WINE ENTHUSIAST: "96-98 Barrel sample. All the right elements are here. The wine is powerful, but has a wonderful lift of fresh fruit, spiced with wood but never too much. The tannins are sweet, ripe and delicious. It shows both gorgeous fruit and a dense structure."

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: 95 THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "In 2008 Cos d’Estournel experienced its lowest yields since 1991. This deeply colored wine with purple tints is almost opaque. On the nose are oak, boysenberry, blueberry, and blackberry liqueur with cassis scents. Here is a big wine, filled with dense, ripe fruit. The tannins are elegant and polished. The wine displays great purity of fruit. The finish is intense, clean, pure, and balanced. 2008 is the first vintage wherein Jean Guillaume Prats used his amazing new, 100% gravity cellars, with onespecifically sized vat per block, allowing him great precision in the wine making. 94-96 Pts"

JAMES SUCKLING: "A very decadent wine on the nose with so much meat, spice and ripe fruit character. Sea shell as well. Full body, tight and structured with silky tannins and a lots of intense fruit. Vibrant wine. Better in 2020 but already fascinating to drink."

JANCIS ROBINSON: "Extremely deep purplish crimson. It even feels heavy in the hand... Dense terroir expression dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon. Then some spice and much less brutal than some earlier vintages. Extremely vital and lively. Not as concentrated as Latour but (slightly) more energetic than Lafite. Great balance and very fine tannins. Some old hands will object that this is a little ´lighter´ than, say, 2005 - but I think it´s very well judged. Not a trace of unripeness of fruit or tannin. And some real personality jumps out. Should have an unusually long drinking window. Very ,very clean. Fine and neat. Livelier than many other vintages. "

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "Tasted ex-chateau and single blind in Southwold. This bottle of Cos d’Estournel 2008 is not as scintillating as the one tasted at the property, but it remains a great performer. Compared to its peers it is more forward on the nose: quite meaty and savoury, some expressive, slightly herbaceous Cabernet Franc here that I have not noticed previously. The palate is medium-bodied with good extraction: fleshy and supple in the mouth, a lot of creamy new oak and perhaps just lacking the mineralite on the finish that I discerned on other bottles. Very fine indeed although it will improve with bottle age. Tasted January 2012." - Neal Martin.

WINE SPECTATOR: "This has a slight hint of the vintage´s crisp, angular feel, but there are impressive layers of fruit here, with a bright mineral edge cutting through the damson plum and red currant notes. This has put on a little bit of weight in the bottle, too. Showing well.—Non-blind Cos-d´Estournel vertical (December 2015). Drink now through 2021. 20,000 cases made."