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1997 Château Cos d'Estournel |
| Vintage | 1997 |  Label 1 of 44   | |
| Type | Red | ||
| Producer | Château Cos d'Estournel (web) | ||
| Variety | Red Bordeaux Blend | ||
| Designation | n/a | ||
| Vineyard | n/a | ||
| Country | France | ||
| Region | Bordeaux | ||
| SubRegion | Médoc | ||
| Appellation | St. Estèphe |
| Community Tasting History |
Community Tasting Notes (average 89.8 pts. and median of 90 pts. in 46 notes) | |
| Tasted by pjaines on 1/16/2010: Yowza! Picked this little chap up for £30 in a sale at the local wine shop and I have to say it is rocking right now. Wonderful nose of tobacco leaf, balsamic, damp soil, cedar - very complex and mature. Nice whack of menthol coming through as well. In the mouth it is much better than I was expecting for a 1997 - sweetness there, but backed up with a nice grippy tannic backbone that is not shouting out over the fruit but rather working with it to deliver up a nice complete semi-mature St Estephe. Lacks real punch in the mid-palate but this is more of a vintage issue - the more I drink these 97's the more I am liking them right now. This has a few years on it but there is nice tension right now between the acidity, tannins and fruit (305 views) | |
| Tasted by Tight Lines on 1/4/2010 & rated 91 points: (365 views) | |
| Tasted by astroman on 12/25/2009: Tabacco, earth and good freshness.... Palate slightly light with tannins mostly resolved. Some fruits still left. Drink it soon.. (530 views) | |
| Tasted by noppakit s. on 12/25/2009 & rated 91 points: I love Cos 1996 and 2005 but 1997 is my favorite. ( 4th testing ) It's good and easy delicious. That's enough. Drink 2011 - 2022.........................91+/100..................................... (533 views) | |
| Tasted by paul canet on 12/23/2009 & rated 90 points: Oeil: le pourtour est orangé mais le vin démontre qu'une minime évolution, c'est quand même opaque dans le verre. le vin fut carafé au moins une bonne heure et demi. Nez : Quand même expressif sur des notes de gazons, cuir ainsi que de tabac En bouche, on dénote la mine de crayon, la terre humide, les champignons. Le vin vin est très bien balancé, les tannins étaient bien intégrés. Le vin a été bu entre le Château tour du Sème 2000 et Pavie-Macquin 1997 (407 views) | |
| Tasted by twebst on 11/26/2009 & rated 90 points: Decanted for 30 min. before tasting. Color and clarity were perfect. Aroma was spot on with appropriate fruit and berry notes. (750 views) | |
| Tasted by Mindmuse on 11/5/2009 & rated 90 points: Medium dense brick ruby. Decanted about 30 minutes before first glass, with good profit for the nose. Initially cassis, with pencil lead, and with some nice fresh tilled black soil and dried mushroom. After a bit seemed to pick up some red fruits. Much later moved back toward a plum/prune aroma. There is also a lifted sweet spice element. Body is quite silky. Mixed berries with a dusting of spice. Tannins nearly gone. There isn't a lot of complexity and not much power, but it is remarkably smooth and balanced. I don't see any upside for longer aging, but it seems like it will hold in for a while longer. Seemed to oscillate between an 89 to 90 for me. Since it was hanging in pretty well day two I'll give it the 90. (922 views) | |
| Tasted by Tight Lines on 10/24/2009 & rated 90 points: (854 views) | |
| Tasted by winenuts on 8/26/2009 & rated 90 points: Vertical with 1996 on the same evening. 97 open much faster than 96, when open taste like a juicy not like a wine, not mouth feeling and after taste, but the nose is good, leather and earth. After put into the decanter and stay for about 30 minutes, the wine change much better, the Cos's feel coming back, but the finishing is short. (1221 views) | |
| Tasted by Anonymous on 8/26/2009: Decanted for 2.5 hrs, drank over 2.5 hrs. Fantastic nose with bell peppers and spice. Very smooth palate. Tannins were unobtrusive from age and decanting. (1276 views) | |
| Tasted by Goldstone on 7/9/2009 & rated 89 points: Cos d'Estournel Wine Dinner with Valentine Labarthe (The Pawn, Hong Kong): Deep red/purple colour, slightly translucent. Wow..... classic Cos nose that is absolutely stunning and surprisingly mature. Good fruity and chalky palate but thin and obviously from a wet year. Dry tannins are almost fully resolved on the back end. Pleasant but not one to keep. (1382 views) | |
| Tasted by jono9999 on 4/30/2009 & rated 85 points: Oregano or tobacco on the nose, soft and light on the first pour from the cellar, tannins gone. Bell pepper up front, raspberry/sour cherry on the medium long finish. A bit blandish but nice. (1681 views) | |
| Tasted by Dids on 4/18/2009 & rated 89 points: Blackberry, chocolate, touch of herbs and lead pencil developing on the nose. Blackberry again with a touch of lead pencil on entry. Fruits do get a wee touch more concentrated a touch of cassis towards the end. Tannins almost non existant initially, though good structure. They do start to encroach towards the end. An honest wine with no great concentration or intensity. But I feel with 5-10 years left in it. (89) (1772 views) | |
| Tasted by Lucky96 on 4/17/2009 & rated 93 points: Earthy, old leather tasting wine. Very comforting and round in the mouth. Thoroughly enjoyable and easy. About as good as this wine will get, I think. Drink up!! (1808 views) | |
| Tasted by Tight Lines on 3/16/2009 & rated 91 points: (1675 views) | |
| Tasted by Anonymous on 2/21/2009 & rated 90 points: Excellent, notes de sous-bois, truffles. (417 views) | |
| Tasted by zimmy07 on 1/31/2009 & rated 91 points: sweet red fruits with a great balance and backbone. Obviously well stored as it was still young and somewhat tight. Very silky wine, somewhat one dimensional, but good (1994 views) | |
| Tasted by jono9999 on 12/25/2008 & rated 98 points: Sweet nose - fruit and vegetables, but totally dry. First taste was soft and supple, with the tannins nearly gone, primarily leather with very, very light fruit (sour cherry or plum); the fruit is more apparent on the long finish. After about 30 minutes, the wine develops to be even softer, with a hint of chocolate. (1962 views) | |
| Tasted by lshantz on 11/27/2008 & rated 89 points: (1682 views) | |
| Tasted by Cortona5 on 2/27/2008 & rated 88 points: Light tannins but still alot of fruit. Drink now..not getting any better but enjoyable (2942 views) | |
| Tasted by John Nezlek on 1/3/2008 & rated 92 points: I realize that there are a of doubts about '97 Bordeaux. So far, I have had no problems (this is second or third wine of the vintage I have had). The bottle is a classic Cos in many ways. The tannins are present, but very well-balanced and in check. The wine has taste and some depth, but it is not fruity by any stretch of the imagination. We let this sit for about 90 minutes before we drank it over the course of a prime rib dinner. It opened up (or evolved because it was fine at first) over the course of the meal. I will let the next one sit for 3 hours or so just to see the difference. Very pleasant. (3193 views) | |
| Tasted by pic100 on 12/24/2007 & rated 88 points: (2617 views) | |
| Tasted by Jdog on 12/2/2007 & rated 91 points: Dinner out with Lurdan and Mrs. D. A lovely Cos in a lighter style. Ready to drink with a half hour of breathing, this wine exhibits a classic nose of barnyard and cassis. What follows is a charming, open-knit wine with plenty of peppery, dark fruit and loads of casis, as well as a hint of lead pencil. Despite its 45% Merlot content, the wonderful chocolate notes found in other underrated Cos, such as the 1988, are absent and the Cabernet component is completely dominant. Tannins are fully integrated and quite refined. The wine neither improved nor declined over the 2 hours, suggesting another several years of enjoyment, but no pay off from additional cellaring. Certainly not a blockbuster, this is beautiful claret representing a good value if purchased for $50 or less. (3405 views) | |
| Tasted by Grinner on 11/27/2007 & rated 90 points: Very obvious in a blind tasting of 25 Cal Cabs from same year. Slightly green tinge to the earthy (borderline barnyard), cigar box, and red/black fruit. 87 on day 2. (3428 views) | |
| Tasted by Vino Me on 10/17/2007 & rated 91 points: This was opened by a friend over the weekend in Michigan next to the 1997 Lafite Rothschild at their anniversary dinner. The cepage of this wine is 55% Cabernet Sauvignon and 45% Merlot. 1997 was a poor year in Bordeaux but this wine showed some character. It was a far cry from the quality of either the 1996 or 2000 Cos d'Estournel's that I have had in the last 5 years. We decanted this wine for 3 hours before dinner. It was moderately sedimented. A lot of character on the nose with pencil shavings, charcoal and forest floor aromas. This was medium bodied with integrated tannins. Notes of dried mushrooms, black fruit and roses. The finish was shorter than I expected. 90-91 points. (3645 views) | |
| Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
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| Producer website
About red wine The variety Red Bordeaux Blend on CellarTracker implies any blend using any or all of the five traditional Bordeaux varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec. As such, this is used worldwide, whether for wines from Bordeaux, Meritages from California and Canada, some Super-Tuscan wines etc. Vins de France (Office National Interprofessionnel des Vins ) | Pages Vins, Directory of French Winegrowers | French Wine (Wikipedia) Vins Bordeaux (Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux) | Simple Bordeaux primer Vins du Médoc (Conseil des Vins du Médoc) The eight precisely defined appellations of the whole of the Médoc (from Blanquefort Brook to the north of the Bordeaux built-up area, almost to the Pointe de Grave) may claim the Médoc appellation. But there is also a specific territory in the north of the peninsula which produces exclusively wines with this appellation. In the great majority, the Médocs come from the north of the peninsula. The great individuality of this region is that the number of vines has increased more recently here than elsewhere, apart from a few isolated spots where vines have grown for many years. Today, the size of the small estate has brought about the development of a powerful co-operative movement. Four co-operatives out of five belong to the group called Unimédoc which ensures aging, bottling and marketing a large proportion of their wines. Whereas the first activity recorded in Saint-Estèphe goes back as far as the Middle Bronze Age, the first vines date from the Roman Occupation. But it was the Bordeaux merchants who by aging and selling Saint-Estèphe wines themselves were largely responsible for this appellation's fame. And in the nineteenth century, noted for its prosperity, the great estates of today were created. The movement continues today with the merging of small estates. A land of great wines, Saint-Estèphe is situated almost in the centre of the Médoc, close to the Gironde Estuary. The appellation is equidistant from Bordeaux and the Pointe de Grave. The beds of soil are characterized by their remarkable diversity, the result of their undulating relief and excellent drainage. Quartz and well-rounded pebbles mingled with light, sandy surface soil are found everywhere, giving the wines a distinctive finesse. And the subsoil is made up of the famous Saint-Estèphe limestone, which outcrops on the west of the commune. Tasting Thanks to ideal conditions of climate and geology, Saint-Estèphe wines are characterized by their sturdy qualities and robust constitution. Accordingly, they can be laid down for a very long time while yet preserving their youth and freshness. Distinguished by a subsoil which is more clayey than that in the other communal appellations which lie by the river, the wine here attains a distinctive individuality : a very rich tannic structure, a fine deep red colour and an exceptional backbone with aromas of great finesse. Production conditions (Decree dated September 11, 1936): In order to have the right to the Saint-Estèphe appellation of controlled origin, red wines must: - come from the communes of Saint-Estèphe, "excluding any parcels in that area which are situated on recent alluvium and sand on impermeable subsoils", - satisfy precise production conditions : grape-varieties (Cabernet-Sauvignon, Cabernet-Franc, Carmenère, Merlot Noir, Petit Verdot, Cot or Malbec), minimum of sugar (178 grammes - 6.27 oz. - per litre of must) degree (an acquired 10°5) base yield (45 hectolitres per hectare). |
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