The mouthfeel immediately shouted over-extraction, with sweet and spicy dark fruits developing mocha from the mid-palate through to the finish. I found this soupy and muddy, lacking the focus and structure I expect from fine claret. A lighter touch on the tiller could have improved this no end. CHP 87pts
This was just…wow. Reserved with initial notes and closed off. With a 3.5 hour bottle decant, this turned out to be the most remarkable wine I have had in a very long time. Its evolution reminded me of the 05 Baron de Pichon but this sang in the most amazing way. The nose showed menthol, cedar, and dark black fruits. The color was inky with bricking at the rim. The palate shows juicy dark black fruits (mostly seared blackberry), licorice, milky dark chocolate, a finish that goes forever, and truly “SILKY” tannins. The finish goes forever. My heart melts that this is my only bottle.
Relativt lukka på duft rett fra flaska. Men synger i munnen! Flott tanninstruktur som holder orden på en deilig fruktsødme. I bakgrunnen litt skogbunn og blyantspiss. Tanninene snerper godt ennå. Noe tobakk og skogbunn dukker opp på duft etter noen minutter i glasset. Venter.
Noen timer seinere er tanninene helt supre til entrecote. Men er det lufta eller er det fettet? Herlig er det i alle fall. Fremdeles litt tilbaketrukket på duft, noe skuffende for en 2 cru. Uansett en fin opplevelse. Kan vente en hos stund med neste.
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Opened this bottle after having a flawed bottle of '02 La Tache. This bottle wasn't singing like the others I've had. Tannic and just not open for business even after a couple of hours of decant.
From a double mag. Opened 3 hours in advance. Decanted the whole bottle through a filter to remove fine sediment. Rinsed bottle and poured back in. Everyone in the party of 14 had at least a taste and we all were entranced. It tasted marvelous and we enjoyed it very much.
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This is the first time I’ve had this wine before, but my impression is that it is going thru an awkward phase, or phase shift, from young to old. There was a unique ‘greek yogurt’ note present that I’ve only ever tasted in Promontory barrel samples previously, that really seemed to crowd out the tobacco and cedar notes that were just barely beginning to emerge. We decanted for 3 hrs and then drank it slowly over another few hours and it was ever so slowly continuing to evolve with air.
All signs point to ‘hold’.
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2005 vintage. Decanted and tasted immediately and through 3 hours. Great fill/appropriate aging cork. Medium sed. Noticeably dark color. Any trace of the usual Cos baby fat for the first decade+ after release long gone geek. Interesting. This was a lean, mean, street-fighting machine with "minerality" to spare. Intense. Compact. Unsure if it will continue to menace in the next decade of life or retreat into a reclusive, "turtling" period. Best guess? Street-fighter par excellence. Regardless of taking the high or low road, it's not devolving into a drink 'em if you got 'em any time soon scenario. Thanksgiving 11.23.23.
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Open six hours. Fairly low-intensity nose, restrained nose. Palate is showing only a little fruit and solid tannin. Showing promise but still quite young and needs more years.
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Decantered for 20 mins, then back in the bottle for a couple of hours. (Plenty of sediment in the bottle) Very dark in colour, ripe blackcurrant, powerful. Likely needs more time to peak and, with hindsight a longer decant
Nice wine. I’m about 94-96 on this one
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Still an abundance of dark red fruit, cigarbox, and a hint of oriental spices, although still present tannins mask everything a bit. Elegant and multilayered structure. This was pure joy.
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Two hour double decant. Hints at greatness as hugely structure with wonderful fruit but it’s all a bit tightly wound and didn’t reveal more than a tease. Next bottle in two years. Enjoyment 92 potential 97.
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For me, this was the wine of the night. Tasted alongside Montrose and Cantanec Brown in a 2005 horizontal. Double decanted three hours before serving. The wine is in a great place - smooth and elegant with lovely bright fruit. Delicate floral notes. This wine has a LONG life ahead of it - although it was drinking beautifully last night. Sadly, this was my last bottle. I will have to go find more!
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An exquisite bottle not quite at prime. Dense and packed with flavors yet elegant. While many have commented that Cos d’Estournel has been overly modernized this bottle was very nicely balanced. Certainly not the rustic Bordeaux of old but immensely enjoyable by dad and I.
Next (last) bottle in 5-10 years
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Fairly light garnet red under the light. Spiced red berries on the nose . Notes of tart red cherries, wild strawberries, pomegranate, with a lovely dusty (almost chalky) tannic texture. There are also floral elements, a touch of vanillin, and a whole lot more. This isn’t really my preferred style of wine but it is really well-made if this is your profile.
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This is progressing amazingly well. Can’t wait for the 25 and 30 year mark. Stunning bottle of wine with many years to go. Can be had now if you want more of the younger wine feel or aged. Drinking great with a 2 hour decant from a 375ml.
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Decanted for 3+ hours, drank over dinner. This is a powerful wine that exhibits classic St Estephe qualities. Blackberry, cassis, tobacco, cedar, hint of pencil lead. Excellent structure with some tannins that still need to be resolved. The finish is fantastic and you get a hint of the terroir and potential. I’d imagine in 5 years this will be exactly where I would want it to be.
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4 hr decant. In sharp contrast to the spectacular showing of this wine at a tasting event hosted by the chateau 4 years ago, at home this was still tannic and forbidding. Even leaving it in the decanter for a day did little to make it less grumpy. The basic stuffing and potential is there - this bottle was just very backward compared to what I recall. Based on that contrast I would advise holders of this wine just to forget about it for another decade. Still has the potential to be a stellar Cos.
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Fantastic bouquet of ripe blackberries, pipe tobacco, cedar wood, mint, undergrowth. Silky, lush palate of ripe berries, spices, fine tannins lending pressure to a long finish, with salty, sweet, spicy elements. Very elegant and structured, incredibly stylish wine, dense yet lightweight. Still a bit closed on the first night, yet enjoyable with a decant, improved on the second night. In my view still no need to wait if you like a bit of bite and freshness.
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Epic wine. Absolutely pure. Nice floral notes, vanilla, oak, cassis, black currant. Tastes like perfection. Medium-long finish. This will continue to age very well. Has not yet hit its peak.
Full ruby red. Small amount of chunky sediment. Nose of dried red berries, plum, camphor, licorice and suede. Silky smooth, melted tannins, dry finish, squeeky acidity. More dried red fruit on the palate with some cedar bark, chalky tannins, astringent finish with some fruit replays. Perhaps starting to dry out a bit, but still nice with a steak! Maybe 91 points
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Pretty good but unlike other lovely experiences with this wine, this didn’t deliver as i didnt respect her with a decent decant… suspect the three hour decant rule rules.
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Dana supplied for Xtremo CKH wine dinner last nite. Decanted at table. Deep ruby color, no signs of age whatsoever. Exuberant nose of black fruit, leather, mocha and coffee. Rich and structured, with excellent concentration as well as integration of wine elements. There's gobs of black fruit here, along with leather, forest floor, tobacco notes and spice. Powerful, yet elegant and graceful, and quite complex, the wine is showing wonderfully right now and IMO will only continue to improve with time in the bottle. Solid acidic core that gives this wine its backbone and clearly the wine, youthful as it is, is tannic, but they are quite soft, & not at all grippy. Exceedingly long, deliciously elegant and silky smooth finish. Coincidentally, we tasted 2 right bank 2005s with this--Monbousquet and Conseillante and, surprisingly, both were far more closed and tannic than the Cos, and much less approachable. This was my first experience with a serious 05 and I came away quite impressed with this wine and vintage. If this is what the other top wines of the vintage will be like, I'll be very happy that I bought many of them all those years ago- and my patience with them will have paid off. Loved it, and was clearly my WOTN.
A private tasting (Buurtcafé De Tros, Amsterdam, NL): Tasted blind. Rich fruit, blackcurrant and (oak) spices, very firm but ripe tannins, deep flavours, broad and powerful but clear and precise, tight and tannic finish. More power and weight than the 2000, but less elegance and finesse. Quite extracted, will need more time to resolve the tannins.
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Been a while since I opened one. Cork was in excellent condition. Colour;deep, dark crimson. This had long legs. Nose of real regal perfume that got bigger with air. Ripe blackberry, expensive leather, spice, very interesting complex nose. Mocca and yes, barn yard. Palate; soft, rounded complete, all elements totally balanced and in harmony. Didn't get the "grippy tanins" others did. Yes, totally 'open for business'. Silky, satin finish. So, so easy to drink now. Drinking this wine, you do get an idea of how perfect the growing conditions were in 2005! Drunk to celebrate Australia Day! (I know, drinking French wine on such a day... sacre bleu) Have no shame!
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From a 375. Consistent with prior notes. Opened for an hour and then a two to three hour decant. Excellent complexity. Tannins remain a bit sharp, but this is advanced. Very long on the finish.
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Lovely and dark fruited. Drinking well but still youthful and evolving. I can’t wait to try one on another 5 years. For my palate I prefer the ‘82 now, but for others this would be their preferred wine so take my comments with that caveat!
Clear garnet ruby Light curranty leathery nose Rather closed right out of the gate, but opened up lovely after an hour without a decant. Silky ripe fruit, and tart currants Really lovely right now. But this seems to be able to hold very well 93+
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Saddle leather, bramble berries, gravel, rhubarb, purple/red fruit. Smoked tri-tip on the Traeger w/ some mashed potatoes mushroom gravy it was a great meal.
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Delicious! Opened the bottle about 4 hours before we poured. Perfect. A further decant wasn’t needed. There was some sediment, though, so perhaps decanting for two hours might do the trick.
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Opened for Thanksgiving dinner. Very enjoyable. Quite savory - a good food wine - with a very long finish. Still young and should last a long long time.
Medium intensity nose of classic Bordeaux blackberry/currant, olive, licorice and leather. More complex and more savory with olive, bay leaf and leather lingering a long time. Not a super large body but it does have a lot of silky but grippy tannins and also a good bit of acid and minerality.
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Medium-dark very clear ruby. Alcohol and bramble with a touch of black fruit on the nose. Intense blackberry, light coffee, tar, mulberries, black raspberries, a soft mouth-feel, and a very long finish carried by a perfectly-engineered sweetness. Although it’s still slightly tight, in my judgement it’s somewhat delicate for a Cos. This will endure for decades. Note to self: wait another 6 years before trying again.
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Splash decant at restaurant. Deep, dark, opaque with ruby rim. On the nose, I got wet stones, garrigue, barnyard floor, dust, wet dirt, cassis, and soft wood. As with a lot of the better 2005's I've tasted, this is tannic, mineral laden, restrained, cool, and dry with lots of acidity and high quality fruit, but that certainly not front and center. This is a big classic wine. Indeed if you wanted to explain to someone what a classic wine is, vs a modern, or internationally styled wine, letting them taste this next to those wines would do the trick. The wine is balanced, but the tannins and acidity blunt the ripe fruit from taking center stage. On some sips the pure fruit almost comes across as not quite ripe, but you know that's not true. The best part of this wine was that I was tasting with someone whose Bordeaux experience is vast and my coaxing his insights into this wine made the experience more enjoyable. This is a structure first, fruit second Bordeaux that can probably age for decades to come. At one point in the past I almost sold a number of my '05 Bordeaux because I thought they weren't going to come around, and I'm now glad I didn't. Interestingly, as predicted by my friend, more air time didn't seem to allow the fruit to come to the surface any more than it had on opening. A bit out of my usual wheelhouse but a great food wine, especially with several different cuts of beef. Singular experience and a memorable time. Excellent!
Tasting Rendezvous with Rick, of Rick & Ilsa: Rick brought this to our tasting rendezvous, to my great delight! It was one of two bottles that we brought to a steakhouse for dinner.
About one quarter of the cork was saturated, otherwise, in perfect condition. Splash decanted, the enthralling perfume emanating as I poured it. Light+ bricking. Redcurrant, blackcurrant, red plum, pomegranate, pyrazines, gravel, the most beautiful compost funk imaginable, century-old discarded railroad tie, covered in moss and sous-bois, powerful umami, black earth, and ripping minerality! The Bordeaux deities be praised!!! I would have walked away satisfied just smelling this...but I tasted it too!
The last wine we tasted before dinner was the '11 Fonseca. This cleansed my palate from the outset, leaving it without a lingering hint of sweetness or fortification. Resplendent! All bouquet elements grace the tasting experience, in inflection-changing waves! Holy God!...getting chills reliving the experience now! Staggering balance! I most appreciated the elegant lightness, that touched every part of my palate, without a whisper of excessive weight or flamboyance. Perfect with several cuts of beef, prepared different ways.
Medium plus to high acid, saturates, cleanses, and re-saturates. Sweet, steely tannins make their presence known, unobtrusively. Seamless oak and alcohol. Knee-weakening, unclockable finish!
One of two red wines (2001 Château Latour the other) that I have scored 99 points. One of seven Bordeaux that I have scored 98 points, or higher. The best wine of the year for me, edging out the same vintage Montrose. Among the very best wines of my lifetime!
As an aside, I knew this was a 98 point wine from the outset, but was leaning heavily to 99 points, knowing it made a greater impression than the same vintage Montrose, tasted in May, and the Léoville Las Cases, tasted a few years' back. I resolved to score it 99 points, then looked at the pro scores. I was amused to see that ST, who was brutal on Bordeaux, scored this 96 points. Tanzer was one of the only professional reviewers...notice that the 'professional marketer Freudian Slip thing' did not happen here...who I paid attention to...and my favorite overall. My longstanding rule of thumb for any ST Bordeaux score is: add three points. The formula worked again!
As for longevity...I would expect this to be in exceptional form roundabout 2050...and not the least bit surprised if it held for a decade thereafter.
I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to Rick for bringing this transcendent wine to our tasting rendezvous. Cheers to him!
very exciting and oozing with potential this has progressed since last tried in nyc at a cos tasting some years ago tight tannins at first that softened to yield some tart dark fruit bramble then cassis went well with food at Vie early in it's drinking window with much upside potential
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From 375 ml. Aerated for 1.5 hours and then decanted for another 2 hours. This could have used a bit more time. Still tight, but shows a lot of dark fruit, bell pepper, and some secondary notes. This is going to have a very long life.
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After 4 hours of decanting it was still somewhat closed. Very dry, super dry, with lots of blackberries and dark fruit. A lot of tobacco in the nose but not in the mouth. To be honest an even though I loved the wine, I think that it needs many more years in the cellar. I think that at least it needs 5+ years and thats what I am going to do with the other Cos that I have. It seems 05 Bdx is still not ready and it is still closed as North Korea is
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Garnet to dark garnet color in the glass, clear looking throughout. Nose of aspirin, Graham crackers, plums and wet stones. Flavors of black cherries, plums and raspberries. Bright acidity, firm tannin, full bodied. Drink with air or hold.
Jose Rodriguez Memorial Dinner
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Opened at 730 Am decanted at 530 PM served at 730 PM On decant this had a significant amount of sediment which was a beautiful obsidian crystal. The wine felt lean and tannic at service but began unfurling closer to 930 (alas the last drops at that point) There was a richness and a strawberry note to the fruit and lengthy finish that complemented the fillet of beef. For me this is just getting near ready and perhaps would go for 4-6 hour decant next time vs 5 more years. This outclassed the 2005 Leoville Poyferre along side but was a half step behind a 2012 Ridge Monte Bello drinking en pointe
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My reviews of this wine have been inconsistent. Last review, I scored it 97. Today, tasting blind, I was less enthused, though still pleased. The wine was obviously very good, with heady black fruit, black olive, and cedar aromas. But I found it flabby due to low acidity and pyrazine bite. It didn’t seem to have great weight either. I thought Bordeaux from first sip, but incorrectly guessed right bank.
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Firm, full-bodied, powerful, concentrated, youthful, and tannic, it is going to take at least another 5 years in the cellar before this becomes entirely civilized, dropping more of its strict nature so you can enjoy all the ripe currants, blackberries, spice, and earthy nuances. From there, you should be able to enjoy this with ease for at least 25 more years.
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Great nose, ripe blackberry on the nose with milk chocolate jumping out of the glass. There is good fruit consistent on the mid palate however towards the end, the wine collapses with hints of bitterness which comes presumably with over-extraction. very mediocre finish that didn't last.
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Opened and let breathe in the bottle for 4 hours. Dark red color with no real signs of age. Reticent nose. Dark red fruits on the palate. Good acidity. Tannins are still going strong. This needs 10 more years in the cellar or a 6 hour full decant. Very good now with lots of potential. I would put these in the back racks for a least 5 years before trying another.
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This is the first bottle I've tried from a case of 2005. A wonderful wine with notes of raspberry, cassis, plum, and hint of spice and cedar. Great balance with well integrated tannins, finish goes on forever. Paired beautifully with grilled antelope chops with a port wine reduction sauce.
This wine opened u nicely on 90 minutes. The changes in the glass over time was mysteriously enthralling. Nose of graphite and some floral essence of lavender with a nice background of dark fruit. The flavors followed with dark fruit flavors of blackberry, maybe dark plum and a kick of cassis. The finish was flush with almost sweet tannins and a dry extension. The layered fruit and acid to tannin balance left you with a beautiful long finish of dark fruit and graphite overtones with vanilla.
Fantastic bouquet with ripe berries, spices, mint, lead pencil, undergrowth. Lush, silky palate of ripe, juicy berries, nice line of acidity, tons of spices, tangy bitterness, leading to a long finish. Extremely balanced, ready the first night, no need to wait … yet slightly improved on day 2 …
Decanted and let sit for 4 hrs. Hindsight, I don't think it needs it. I'd probably just let it breathe in the glass and bottle for 15-30 min and enjoy it with dinner. Nose: very good 8/10. Palate: 9/10. Medium body. Blackberries, licorice, some wood and hint of tea. Flowers. Very soft tannin. Medium-low acidity. Finish: 9/10. Price: 8/10 ($220 in 2021 with promotion). Enjoyment: 9/10. Drink now. Would buy again: yes. Delicious.
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Tasted blind with three of my neighbors. I thought it was a Cal cab. Still quite youthful, with dark garnet, opaque color, and dark fruit aromas and flavors, it's very enjoyable now but will benefit from more time in the cellar. I'd put this away for another five years and try again, but it's a great wine! Ric
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Almost black until held to light, then it unveils a bright crystalline, garnet color. The wine is lush and pure with intense dark fruit flavors, like a plum dipped in licorice cola. Levels of complexity engage the palate as it unwinds for minutes. No signs of bricking, this will age for years—but why wait?
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Youthful for sure with a lovely Bordeaux nuttiness developing on the nose and palate. Quite rich and ripe but I can discern the classic Cos notes of Asian spices and the darkest scorched earth. Deep black fruits kick in and the finish is firm and complex with notes of sweet road tar, smoky minerals and more exotic spices. Not the most classic '05 given its plush character but one that is drinking well now. 93+
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A slight step behind the last bottle I had about a year ago. Opens with beautiful nose of dark ripe fruit, cigar wrapper, leather, smoke, chocolate, and a hint of anise. Sweet and lush on the palate, with a bit less acid and way more mature and soft tannins than I recollect. Finish is open, mature and attractive with nice density and length.
Quite nice, but didn't reach the levels of the last bottle I had; certainly more open than a lot of other 05s are today
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Decanted 2 hrs. Dark reddy garnet and a mature nose of fully ripe dark fruits, olives and compost. Only medium weight on the palate but with loads of cool dark concentrated fruit and quite a tannic charge still. Granted this did get better as the evening wore on so I think there's room for upside here.
Have to admit this was a bit of a let down, given the reviews. A good wine for sure but it just seems a bit old-school and very dry and unforgiving at the moment. Typical 2005? Maybe it just needs more time. Much prefer the Pontet Canet '05 at this stage (at half the price).
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1.5L Mag. Fantastic wine. Luscious fruit, soft acid and wonderful depth of flavors which developed in the glass. 10+ years more runway but drinking beautifully today
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Old school Cos. Very powerfull wine with a lot to offer. This likely needs more time, as it kept slowly opening up in the glass. agree : an icon, being a true powerhouse combined with class. Petal de rose, barn, pencil shavings and cassis. This still has easy 10+ years to go.
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Beautiful showing for this wine which is softer and more mature than most top '05's. This is a low-acid Bordeaux with a beautiful silky texture and fabulous flavors of dark fruits, sweet tobacco, chocolate, leathers and Asian spices. Lovely bottle and it should stay on this plateau for quite some time.
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Revisited 4.5 years later. A notch better. Similar flavor profile - licorice, blackberry, leather. Less viscous than I recall. Still long finish. Many years to go!
A celebration of a 64th, wines that will still be great on my 64th
95-96 A perplexing Cos!
Reviewed last year from magnum, this wine tasted like it was in early maturity, which surprised me. So a year older and in 750, it should really be open. Not exactly. Yes, the wine is in its drinking window, but early. It's still tannic, dense, and needs coaxing, but man, the effort is worth it. It's so complex and lingers on the finish.
Aging 2040+
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Stunning wine. Nose body and finish are all in place. Everything you can expect from great St. Estephe. This one is just starting its drinking window and will continue to age beautifully for many years to come. I did notice the wine open up more and more and just kept getting better and better over the 6 hour period I consumed it.
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Medium-red purple color. Aromatic cedar/cassis/graphite bouquet. Strong tannins throughout, nevertheless one gets intensely concentrated underlying fruit on the palate. This St. Estephe needs 10+ years of additional bottle age. Cork pulled 2 hours before serving.
From Mark’s 2005 Bordeaux Vintage Tasting: Attended a 36 wine ‘05 Bordeaux tasting recently. The wine above is one of those wines. Served single-blind. All wines were tasted over a 2 day period, 18 per day. The wines served on the 1st day had their corks pulled two hours prior. The second day’s wines were served “ double-decanted”, 2 hours before the first flight. The overall tasting experience was quite different, as one would expect. Day 2 wines were softer, displaying more ripe fruit, and less harsh tannins. Kudos to Mark for both a fantastic experience as well as providing an instructive opportunity on how the 2005 Bordeaux vintage is showing at this stage.
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Youthful, deep, rich and powerful, the wine is full-bodied, intense, aromatic, rich, lush, long and youthful. The spicy, ripe fruits taste and feel great as they fill your palate. However, it is important to note that the wine requires another 3-5 years in the cellar before it fills out, softens and really comes into its own.
Revisiting this wine 15 months later, it continues to impress and for me was a standout at a vertical of Cos from 1973 to 2018. Gorgeous with rich, ripe fruit but all in balance. Lots of structure and a few years away from full maturity but this will offer much pleasure for many years to come.
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Fantastic bouquet of blackberries, slight note of blackcurrant, finest wet tobacco, baking spices, crushed stone, vanilla and almond. Incredible palate of ripe berries, silky, mineral notes, good amount of well integrated acidity, leading to a long finish, with spices, some salinity, echoing for quite some time. Was initially closed first night, opening up, much improved on second night. Needs at least 2-3 more years, but already great the second night in particular. Whilst the 2003 currently has more fun factor, this is so impressive and good already, that I see them as equally strong today, with the 2005 likely to have the edge in a few years.
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dark red purple color, muted nose with meat tones, cassis and pepper, on the palate a monolith of closed fruit that- despite its size- seems at present to be a bit warm and carrying a bit much unresolved oak, despite the unfortunate modern tendencies this is a bit of a bruiser like the great vintages of old and that volume could result in a better balanced final outcome, as with the 1986 this seems to be evolving at a glacial pace and I would wait a while before opening another.
(***)+?, 2030++
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Recently had two occasions that featured this wine.
1) First one, decanted 5hrs to observe the evolution of the wine. By 2hr, nose started to open, by 3hr, tannin started to soft. However, the wines are just not ready until 4.5hrs. After which, the tannic was extremely soft and elegant. Nose fully of cedar, pepper, spice with warmth and vivacity. Finishing was long and memorable. Voted VOTN against PC, LLC, Opus One of similar vintages.
2) Second one was opened in bottle for 5hr followed by 1hr decant, still quite closed and you can feel the intense warmth and complexity after about 15mins in glass. A slightly lesser bottle compare to the 1st one.
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This wine is dreamy good. The aromas are dynamite -- black cherries, prunes, black olives, melted licorice, cedar, and porcini mushrooms. It is silky smooth on the palate, with a good balance of fruit weight, fine tannins, and acidity. It is elegant, not massive. It is hard for me to imagine how this wine could improve from here.
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From a 375. Decanted for about five hours and this needed it. Tannins are still stiff and this took some time to open. This is a huge wine. Vanilla, oak, tobacco, and slight herbal note on a long finish. Seems like this is just getting started.
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After a rather long 5 hour decant, thanks to an accidental nap, this bottle was no less for wear with lots of graphite and still some cassis--excellently structured with tannins that paired well with lamb chops for Christmas dinner.
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Score and notes tonight after dinner. This requires substantial time to open and I recommend a 2-3 hour minimum decant. Once open it is stunning and beautifully balanced with good fruit and subtle tannins. Notes of tobacco, dark chocolate, and mushroom. Silky mouth feel with soft round tannins and a solid consistent finish. If there was one note of negativity it would be the lack of the level of complexity I enjoy from this wine. Regardless, outstanding with many years left.
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We decided to pair this wine with a rich wagyu truffle carbonara dish. Rich stewed plums meet nutty cigars and cedar wood on the nose.
The wine drinks on a more savory note with earth, spice, and just a subtle bit of dark berry fruit. It is nicely balanced with medium acidity, but with quick termination in flavor on the finish. At this price point, you might expect the wine to go on and on.
Anyway, after a few hours of decanting, it was still tight — but the fruit was more present. The wine drinks beautifully today, but it can last another 40 years.
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Stunning wine. Very ripe and full fruit, smooth and silky texture with almost caramel like notes - overall developing secondary notes of tobacco and leather with very long finish. Tannins are fine structured but still very present - the wine needs some more years to reach its peak. Great experience and remarkable wine!
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After a blow-out experience with the previous bottle (96 points and one of the best Cos I ever had), I was slightly disappointed with this bottle. It seems like it has closed a little bit at the moment. Even after a 3 hour decant, it remained very tight: the fruit is less powerful on the approach, all the other notes are there but more in the background. On the palate, there is no discussion about the superior quality of this wine. It is so complex, elegant and effortless to drink. The finish is also remarkable. Overall, lovely but I am going to wait a few years for the next bottles.
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Huge Cabernet with deep, rich ruby color. Floral hints on nose with rich red and black fruits. Powerful notes of cassis, red and black plum, strawberry and blackcurrant palate.
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Opened up nicely after about an hour decanted. Still shows primary fruit but developing nice secondary aromas - leather, dried tobacco and cocoa. Have 3 more bottles that will drink over the next 10 years.
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WOTN for me needed a 2 hour decant before the rough edges turned into an ethereal drinking experience fantastic nose then dark berries then french earth that integrated and evolved over the next 2 hours of course years of life left
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nose- brambleberry, toast, brown sugar mouth - complex, lively and exciting bitter red and dark fruits secondarily ripe flavors of dates, and coffee. lots of fruit power here, and while it drinks well now, it has years and years to go. tasted against the 05 montrose and this wine was less evolved. Hold.
When I initially saw the magnum, I winced. I was afraid this wine would be too fresh and impenetrable. Imagine my surprise at the first swirl and a rush of tobacco and kirsch met me. Palate was velvety, like a sweet tobacco leaf. Finish went on for ages. The tannins were surprisingly in check. Clearly the vintage helped, but I'd also say Cos refined their style from the 90s, producing a fantastic experience that truly challenges all comers in Bordeaux. Magnificent.
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Oh yeah. This is firing on all cylinders with plenty of upside to go. Lush and sexy, supple tannins, long complex finish, intense cherries, earthy elements, anise, and that intoxicating aroma. This wine has everything. Do not decant. Allow it to unwind in the glass. So many 2005 Bordeaux wines are showing this ultra lush profile. Drink now through 2030, but do start opening bottles now.
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Tasted blind. The nose leads with Maggi beef stock and lots of dark fruit, a touch of menthol as well. Very modern, very Merlot. The group guessed 2005 Pomerol. Clearly a wine from the full throttle era of Cos.
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Had to open one of these for my birthday. Initially, after decanting, the aromas and flavors were muted, but with a very velvety mouthfeel. At the 3-hr mark, it really began to open, with noticeable acidity and tannins that made the fruit flavors explode in your mouth. Creme de cassis, plums, boysenberry, vanilla, and milk chocolate show up on the palate. Tannins haven't rounded yet, so I'm guessing it will be a few more years before this wine hits its stride. 94-95 right now, with 2-3 points upside potential. Although, I always wonder how much knowing the pedigree and price of a wine influences my level of appreciation and numerical scoring.
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One of the best Cos I have ever tasted. When decanting, you are immediately struck by the intensity and the purity of the black fruit (blackcurrant and dark cherry) in the nose. After a 3 hour decant, the nose developed beautifully, and the fruit was complemented with liquorice, cedar, and graphite. On the palate, this was a joy, juicy, completely balanced and not dipping at all. Enormous length. A combination of class and power.
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From half bottle. The 2005 Cos d’Estournel was, in my opinion, one of the best vintages for Cos in the past 20 years, and this little half bottle did not disappoint. It had the usual graphite, spice box, brambles, balsamic, cedar and cassis. It is still powerful, with a strong finish, and will easily mature for another decade or more.
Grade: A− (Top 5%)
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Graphite, black fruit, and meat on the palate - classic French cab in profile, with enough fruit to satisfy an American like me. It’s really tasty, with maybe another point or two to gain as it ages and integrates a little further. I’ve had 30+ year old Cos that was silky - this isn’t there yet, but it’s headed in a lovely direction. I’ll leave my other bottles alone for at least 3-4 more years.
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Last had this 4.5 years ago and said it needed more time. Let's see how it is now. Decanted for about 2 hrs to start. Pure clear dark ruby red in colour. Lovely maturing and complex nose of black raspberry, black currant, boysenberry, sandalwood, anise, game, black currant leaf, camphor, limestone and more. Despite the complexity and emerging tertiary notes, the overall olfactory impression is one of freshness and purity. The bouquet really draws you in! On the palate it is medium bodied, dry and has elevated acidity but there is still lots of fruit there to flesh out the body. Sweet fruit entry of black currant, blackberry, black currant leaf, strong black tea, a bit of chalk, cedar bark, old leather and graphite. The finish is dry and the tannins are still abundant yet finely sanded. The acidity is a bit elevated which makes this a great food wine. It finishes medium long. A silky wine. Sheer class! This is still not fully mature and I would be tempered to leave it another 5 years or so before trying again.
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Lovely nose of earthy dark fruit and Asian spices. More giving on the palate than I expected with a striking velvety texture and delicious flavors of black fruits, sweet dark soil and violet spice. Medium-bodied with very supple tannins that lead to a beautiful spice-driven finish already showing a fine complexity with a grippy mineral edge and a hint of aged nuttiness. A really velvety Bordeaux that’s a bit atypical for an ’05 although the tannins are there and this will clearly continue to develop over the next two decades. 93+
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The last bottle was spectacular. This one was not. It was a little closed and one-dimensional. I noticed another tasting note that expressed similar themes. Open for about 45 minutes followed by a 2 hour decant. Did not improve over the evening after the first sips.
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Drank this last night in a vertical including '96,'00,'01, and '05. They were all good but my favorite was the '05. Amazing to me how similar the flavor profiles were with the younger wines having more fruit and the older bottles more secondary flavors of graphite and earth.
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One of my two favorites in a vertical of Cos including 1961 and 1982 at Wine Watch. This is already drinking well but has the potential for significant improvement with sweet fruit and great balance.
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Beautiful bouquet with dark and red berries, oak, cedar, smoke and tobacco. Same impressions on the palate, friendly acidity and tannin as well as a pleasant touch of sweetness. Presents itself more ready than expected, but is really a feast already.
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After 3 hrs in the glass showed its true beauty - very balanced and silky bourdeaux. However for me too young - it will be much better and even more out of its primary state in another 5-10 years from now. I will have fun 2025+ with it.
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Two hours in decanter. Extremely easy drinkable, soft, harmonious, and at the end a lot of soft tannins. Yet Lacking noble features. Hope it is closed. And, let us see tomorrow!
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2005, Château Cos d’Estournel, Saint-Estèphe, Bordeaux, Frankreich. Diesen Wein haben wir am Vorabend im privaten Rahmen mit Diego Mathier und André Seiler verkosten dürfen. Kräftiges Rubin. Die Nase zeigt eine sehr gute Komplexität, Weihnachtsgewürze, dunkle Kirschen, schwarze Johannisbeeren, Leder, Zedernholz, eingemachte Pflaume, viele Kräuter etwas Kaffee. Der Gaumen ist kräftig, vollmundig, wahrlich ein Mund voll Wein mit ausgezeichneter Struktur, viel reifem Gerbstoff, der Wein zeigt Schmelz und Fülle, bleibt dabei mit seiner guten Säure frisch, im Abgang ausgesprochen lang, mit einer Spur Hitzigkeit die mitschwingt, endet auf eine Cos-typische, exotische Würze. Unbedingt warten und dieses kleine Weinmonument ab 2025-2040+ geniessen. 19 vvPunkte (95/100). vvWine.ch
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Delicious! Decanted in bottle 3 hours before sipping, then drank with dinner, about 6.5 hours later. Medium garnet. At 3 hours, the nose was ripe red berries & cherry tomatoes. After opening up 6.5 hours, the nose is intense blueberries perhaps with a little licorice. The initial 3hr sip showed notes of muted cherries, cherry tomatoes, with forest floor, tobacco and a back of light cedar and graphite. By 6.5 hours, this became a slightly sweet, fruit forward wine with strong blueberry and blackberry taste; with creme de cassis and cedar on the back. A very different flavor profile. Balanced acidity. Lots of tannins present, but this can be drunk now. Some similarities with '05 Leoville Barton, though this one is better.
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Decanted several hours before, and returned to bottle. This wine is drinkable now, but tannin dominates the fruit. This wine is just a baby waiting to evolve into something special. Nice nose, palate and finish. For currant drinking, the '03 Cos is much more approachable. It seemingly never shut down, and is currently much more evolved. With time, the '05 will evolve positively to become the better wine. Hold this one 5 more years unless you have multiple bottles.
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This is ripe and dark fruited with a silky, full texture and delicious flavors of graphite and floral spices. Young yet but showing a lot for an ‘05 with big but supple tannins and a lingering Asian spice and asphalt complexity. Perhaps 5+ years to enter it’s optimal drinking window. Very Cos. 94+
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A Rockstar and a step up from vintages as 1996, 2000 and 2003. Bright dark-purple color. Dark berries, iron, graphite, smoke, licorice and eucalyptus. Typical Saint-Estèphe/ Cos' exotic nose. Full-bodied, highly concentrated and complex on the palate. Jammy berries, cherries, lavender and some cedar notes. Fiercely intense and long lingering finish with big and supple tannin. Needs some more time to further integrate and shed some tannin. 95+ for now and will certainly gain more points with time.
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Right out of the bottle, this shows a classically ripe, blackberry and blueberry compote nose with cedar, leather, and loam. But this clamps down quite shortly thereafter and never really re-emerges fully, though the palate retains its impressive muscle. The finish is long and deep, which bodes very well for the future. 95(?+)
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75 Years of Zachys (DC) (LongView Gallery Washington DC): Real treat to try this. Starting to really awaken, nose was really alive in a good way. Cant say I can describe but definitely not in a funky way. Surprisingly approachable.
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Tasted along side the 2012 and this wine clearly won because of the balance of flavors. Showing no clear signs of aging and still drinking like a pretty young Cos d'estournel.
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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.
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Vinetasters: 2005 Bordeaux 2nd Growths (Skokie, IL): Served double blind. Probably something of a modernist persuasion, this shows overripe notes on the nose and palate. The fruit is dried out but there is interestingly enough a little bit of pyrazine on the palate. The tannins are coarse and young, and this is a wine that needs more time for integration. Finishes with a slight bitterness too. Just not particularly enjoyable at this point. My 10th, group's 5th.
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***RATING 300*** Good after short decant but even better with 1.5-2 hours. Nose has black cherry, prune, walnut, caramel, chocolate, leather and raisin. Very classic profile, riper dark plum, fully integrated tannins that gain weight with more air. The wine continues to evolve and gain strength, sending waves of dark berries, cherry chocolate and other flavors. Long finish. A delicious experience.
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It opened up after about 2h decant. It was pretty good but how log do I have to wait until I can fully taste a French wine? It’s a 14 year old bottle!!
Removed from a 54 degree active cellar and transferred to wide bowl for 90 minutes to allow aeration and achieve a more suitable drinking temperature. Poured to an Italesse universal red wine stem. A deep Crimson/ purple color.
Just a beautiful and aristocratic nose on this toddler. Fresh cedar, strawberry jam, pencil lead, bright red fruit, menthol, and hints of charcoal. Very light browning to the rim. There's just a hint of very pleasant Bordeaux funk/ animale in the bouquet.
Very vibrant and young on the palate hinting that this could last/improve for another 15 years. Still primary fruit forward with subtle hints of mushroom/umami waiting to reveal themselves. Primary red fruit, plum skin, menthol overtones, and coffee bean at this stage. Not getting much ( if any) black fruit or chocolate expression. Tannin feels aristocratic with nice back end grip. There is adequate acid and structure here to prolong this young bucks life.
Although my palate is gravitating more towards older Barolo and aged Napa mountain wines, the 2005 Cos d'E reminded me of the charm and brilliance of great Bordeaux with a hint of time on its side.
Hold for 5-10 years for even better pleasure to let the secondary/tertiary nuance emerge. Sorry.. Not really sorry.. Ok sorry.. Though not really sorry I opened it early. Paired with a simple Italian aged Salumi and Manchego cheese plate with water crackers. A fabulous Cos that I should have waited on.
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Classic Bordeaux nose with some funk. Complex on palate with red licorice, cherries and some cedar. Still lot of structure and could age 10 more years.
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I would age this for much longer. While the nose of roses, licorice, cassis, and wood was pretty, the wine was bitter and tannic, and I found the taste profile more jarring than delicious. I did call it correctly as Left-Bank Bordeaux tasting blindly, mostly by process of elimination. It was obviously a big, serious wine; it just wasn’t very tasty.
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Wine Group Dinner #168 - 2005 Bordeaux Part 1 (Urbane Restaurant, Brisbane): Wine Group dinner #168, Urbane. The 05 Cos is a superb wine with a dense crimson colour and an exotic nose of blackcurrant, dark fleshed plums, BBQ smoke, charcoal and tobacco. The palate is rich yet held in check by a lovely texture and freshness that defines 2005. The length is a real highlight and while I preferred the purity of the Montrose its very much an observation of personal preference.
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Tasted blind. We knew there was a pirate in a flight of 2005 Margaux. I identified it as a pirate correctly, however was thinking of Pauillac and not St. Estèphe. The taste is very complete, everything tied together nicely (tannins, oak, fruit, secondary aromas) but the aftertaste perhaps a bit too short for this level of wine...
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Stunning nose firing on all cylinders: tar, cassis, autumn leaves, pencil lead, pomegranate. Massive tannins only beginning to calm down. Long long long life ahead for this one and yes the fruit will be there forever. Score: 96-97 and only going higher. Relative to expectations: +++
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Seamless, perfectly balanced wine with dark blackberry fruit and notes of leather, forest floor and cassis. Absolutely needs a two hour decant to enjoy all its secondary flavors. Drinking very well right now and could get even better.
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a perfect bottle in almost every way a special experience when every sip changes and evolves in magical ways still has tannins for the long haul but beautifully integrated this evening with fruit dancing and darting between sips a magical night at Entente
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Drinking these from half bottle now - 2 hours decant helps. Wines are now quite accessible in this format and it has a great pencil shavings nose, length, blackcurrant. of course this is early in its evolution but nothing wrong enjoying these now.
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Purchased and consumed locally in Paris. After reading prior notes I decided on a three hour decant. This is great. It has a good balance of fruit and tannin. Omg, oregano, jammy dark berry, and tobacco. A good finish with a little of that pencil lead minerality. Will wait 3 years to open another bottle, but this drinks well now with decant.
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Blind verkostet. Super Frucht; Druck; Mineralisch, man möchte immer wieder riechen. Wird mit Luft immer besser. zum Lutschen. perfektes Trinkanimo. Potential 94-96
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Pnp. The wine offered lots of layers on the nose and the palate, quite a structured wine, dark fruits, spices, minerals, it had pretty good grip on the palate and finish was pretty long.
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WOTN against some esteemed competition from the 2000, 2003 and 2005 vintages. Big dark fruits with substantial underlying structure and a long and excellent finish. Bravo!
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This still needs time. Decanted for 12 hours, and only just coming round by the time we drank it. After 9 Hours in the decanter it was still extremely tannic, had hardly any nose, and seemed a bit unbalanced. It’s also had a bitterness about the fruit. By 12 hours, this had transformed, but I think there are years to go on this, and at least another five before it is really ready for drinking. The nose was still rather subdued, but the wind had balanced out, and the fruit came to the fore eventually. Absolutely beautiful, but put it back in the cellar for awhile.
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Celebrated a friend's birthday with this beauty. Velvet texture going in, then it spreads out releasing all manner of cassis and sous bois, followed by this wonderful bonus aftertaste -- divine waves of pencil lead on the finish. Extraordinary sophistication way above my usual drinking pay grade -- and yet completely comfortable. (As in, I could get used to this very quickly!) Only reservation is that it's still a tad green. Five more years in the cellar easy.
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From a somewhat hurried sample. Tight nose concealing cassis, smoke and tobacco aromas. Dry classic taste with more of the tobacco and the dark fruit. Long perfectly balanced finish. A great wine that I would save at least another 5 years, preferably more.
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Even though this is still holding on to its youth, it is impossible not to see the level of quality found here. Concentrated, deep, long and intense, the fruit offers lift, length, purity and a smoky, spicy, black and blue character. The tannins are polished, but still present. Give this another 5-8 years and it will offer a better experience.
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Pour ma fête! Vin immense et complexe, sera grand mais déjà magnifique. Nez terreux avec du cèdre, des fruits rouges, des épices et des herbes. En bouche, puissant et dense, belle acidité et fraicheur. Des cerises, du graphite, du cuir et de la sève. Les tannins sont chaurnus et bien enrobés. La finale est interminable avec des relents de menthol. Grand vin d`un grand millésime.
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Decanted for 3 hours, rebottled for ride to party & reopened 2 1/2 hours later. Even after this, still youthful. Spice, cassis, dark fruits, oak, minerals. Beautiful nose and taste, just needs many more years to be at its best.
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Tasted blind alongside’03 Pichon Lalande; ‘11 Ducru; ‘11 Figeac, and ‘06 Ducru. Immediately I knew what it was and why it stood out. There’s utter purity of fruit, smoothness and elegance to this rendition, although I’ve tasted this just a year earlier and I’d have to say it wasn’t the same. Deep ruby-purple hues turning violet at the rim with a reflective edge. The nose gives off seared meat, forest leaves, and glowing embers amidst black fruits. The palate is formidable, dry and densely packed, vibrant with acidity. Upon further coaxing, secondary flavors of leather, graphite and violets emerge from the core of black currant, cassis and kirsch. Then there are tertiary flavors of cola, tobacco finding their way within the long, mentholated finish. Wow! This is flirting with perfection, and I’ve only given two (2) 100-pointers so far. Drink now with a 1-hr decant until 2045.
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Incredibly good wine. Needs a long decant if opened now. This wine really has everything you could want. Can’t wait to try these 05’ in another 10 years. 96+
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Yves's Memorial; 11/10/2018-11/11/2018 (MO): Second time with this one. Really impressive. Still has primary red fruits ontop of the considerable tannins. HOLD. But going to be really good.
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Beautiful nose of red and black fruit and vanilla. Great depth of fruit. The oak seems less integrated now than a year ago (or it didn’t bother me as much a year ago which seems more likely). Very nice acid and plenty of young tannin. Still quite primary, but with very pronounced drying oak that will hopefully integrate with time.
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This was surprisingly approachable. A typical left bank Bordeaux, punchy nose of graphite, blackberry and vanilla oak notes; medium to full bodied, dense fruit core shot through with minerals, sex hugging tannins on the end. Really a sense of nobility to this wine, and while can be broached now (especially if you are used to drinking Nebbiolo) there is the fruit and tannic substance for considerable further ageing. Would recommend holding bottles for another 10 years.
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(Cos vertical, half-blind tasting) Full, still youthful nose with dense black currant, gently oaky, but very mute. Not ready. Full, impregnable, dense and very youthful palate. Polished, well-structured and very lush fruit. Minty, cassis and very modern. Almost sweet impression. In NW-idiom. Oddly enough quite short finish. Revisit in ten years.
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It's been a few years since I last tasted this wine, and it has not moved an inch. Firm, tannic, powerful, concentrated and with a deep tannic spice, there is a wall of fruit. The ripe, sweet, dark berries are complicated by the smoke, vanilla, tobacco, tobacco, herbs and red berry notes. There is depth and volume. There is no doubting the quality but the wine comes with a tannic wall that will need a decade , but it's going to require another decade before it softens and takes on additional secondary notes.
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Solbær og litt kjøtt på lukt. Rund og fin i munnen, med flott fruktintensitet. Betydelig kortere ettersmak bak i munnen enn 1989 og 2001, men blir mer sittende framme i munnen. Også mildere syre enn 1989 og 2001, men likevel veldig frisk - mange hakk over 2001 i så henseende. Akkurat nå er den derimot ikke særlig kompleks, men fruktdybden taler for at dette kan lagres lenge og bli veldig bra.
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Incredibly youthful at this point. Open for business, but yet to develop the secondary notes. Still vibrant purple. Complex nose, generous mid-palate that is awash in fruit, smoke, cedar and creosote. The finish is the tell-tale sign that this is not at its peak. Finish is a bit aggressive. Not what you would expect from the nose, tongue or mid. This could go on for 30-40 more years, and still improve.
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Decanted for 1 hour. Blood red. Rich dark fruits and spice. An undertone of currants and beef drippings. This is a complex, beautiful wine that is nowhere near peak, but drinking well now.
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Dark, brooding color. Deep nose of black road tar, sweet dark fruits and graphite minerals. Quite thick and grippy on the palate with flavors of tar, asphalt, sweet blackberry and coal-dust. There’s a wall of tannins on the finish but they are fine-grained and balanced by the substantial material underneath. This needs time but there’s nothing overripe or overdone here and I think this will develop into a fabulous Cos in time. Drinkable now with a long decant and a large chunk of meat to soften the tannins. 94+
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Wow - much more open for business than I expected. It's very nice with lots of red fruits and decent tannins and hint of that dustiness that comes through from time to time. Fairly approachable although that could be because the wine was in the glass for around 2 hours before I got to it. But this is clearly a good one and has a nice life ahead.
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I had the 1982 in 1995 and remember it vividly, as if it were yesterday. This 2005 is delightful. From the first nose, the first taste through the last drop one gains more and more confidence in this vintage. It enhanced every course of my dinner at Il Tinello in Manhattan, one of my favorite haunts in all the world. John and Daniel had it waiting on my table when I arrived.
The nose is nirvana.
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Again, another reason to drink Bordeaux. At dinner so few notes. Typical St. Estephe terroir on the nose, beautiful color to the rim showing no sign of age. Medium to full legs. Palate silky, velvety smooth with chocaolate, moca and dark fruit with balance, still good acidity and though the tannins were well integrated the wine remains highly agreeable. I'm guessing 5-10 years more. Young and may be just now entering the start of a good drinking window.
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From Cos vertical dinner at Mulino in Raleigh. Hard to judge this baby even after double decanting, it seemed to give only a hint of its potential. Still, easily outclassed by classic vintages such as '00, '95 and '88. Will the new modern style age as well as its predecessors? Only time will tell, but this vintage seems a bit too big, smooth and spoofy for my tastes.
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Very promising. Red fruit and nicely incorporated wood. After an hour decant, this is showing mostly primary character, but beautiful structure and depth. Lovely.
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This is the first '05 Cos I opened (i only have 4) and it was worth the wait. Great body, beautiful nose, well balanced fruit, tannin, acid. Long finish and this wine will live for quite a few more years - though not sure how long I'll wait before opening more bottles. One of my first classic wines going back to my early days of loving wine in the '70s.
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The bottle was opened 2 hours in advance and decanted for one hour before the tasting. Really impressive, complex and powerful wine with a lot of black berries and fruits, chocolate and seet spices on the nose and on the palate. Well structured. The tannines are a little bit dry to call that wine absolutely perfect.
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Initially a little tight, after running it through an aerating decanter and giving it 30 min the one really started coming through and the wine started singing. Black and red fruits galore, cooking spices, a good amount of classic Bordeaux funk, cassis liquor and red currants. Medium + to Full bodied with a lush mouthfeel, backend tannins are still abound but have really started to integrate. No hurry as this will keep improving for 5-10 years but it's very good now.
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Riper, fuller, more concentration than 2004 that we just tasted, lots of spice, very dark, smells rather amazing, And yes, on the palate, really delicious if just a touch oxidative.
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Rich purple in color and great harmony on the nose. Tannins still holding the blackberry, licorice, porcini mushrooms back. Light velvet with a long finish. Revisit in 3 or more years.
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This is so good right now, just starting to turn to secondary notes but still has good dark fruit notes as well. Don't be shy about drinking now though no hurry
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Tasted at Robert Parker's Matter of Taste in Zurich. Lucky for me, the representative was late and they left open bottles for us to pour ourselves. This was my favorite wine of the night. Super-refined. Gorgeous mouthfeel. There's still plenty of tannic grip, albeit sweet tannins, to resolve. It's fruit forward, still rather primary in that sense, and exotic. It's still only going to improve. 96+ https://winediplomats.com/
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Decanted 3,5 hours. Delicious wine! Still pretty young. Did not change much since my last bottle 2 years ago. Has a long life ahed and it will get even better with a few more years. I love it! 98 pts. now.
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Checking on the Bordeaux '05 Vintage -NYC Wine Tasting Group (New York, NY): Tremendous wine, classy, lots of structure, elegance, fine tanins, balanced, fills the mouth, long finish. This wine is a baby but very drinkable now, lots of upside, so I am basing my rating on where it is now vs where its going to be in the coming years, I would drink again in about 3 years.
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Drank from a salmanazar, very young and tight. Too early for this format, tasted like it could have been bottled yesterday. Curious to try from a 750ml. Hard to evaluate overall, but seems to have good potential. A bit modern in style.
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Ein fast perfekter Wein, einzig die Zeit wird noch schön daran feilen. Es ist viel gesagt worden und Geschmack ist sicher stets unterschiedlich, allerdings hier gibt es sicher nicht viele andere Meinungen als "Super Wein" ... er darf sicher noch etwas Reife bekommen ...allerdings bis dahin bleibt mir noch ne Flasche übrig :)
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The bouquet was dark and incredibly beautiful, with crushed raspberry, dried citrus, espresso and mint, savory spices, dark florals and smoke. On the palate, it displayed silky textures with velvety weight, yet still quite structured, as dense red fruits saturated the senses, along with spice, mocha, sweet herbs, and minerals. The finish was long with palate-staining fruits, fine-coating tannin, and a hint of citrus
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magic aromas. tons of fruit. so profound. tannins and acidity should carry it for decades. this should now reside for 2 decades at a distant corner in a cold cellar!! Re-try after 2025
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Very nicely balanced wine with an initial impression of charred mulberry then evolving to a finessed balance of tannic dryness and fresh acidity. The body is perfectly weighted to feel susbstantial but not heavy.
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Poured a glass to test, leaving it for 90mins. Brighter coloured than expected. Blackberry-dominated, with plum, cocktail cherry, five-spice, sage and more leather than expected on the nose at this stage. Very fine, ripe but firm tannins (something I now associate with 2005) and lovely persistent chocolate finish. The front end is very concentrated and, whilst fresh, a little tough to drink at this stage - much riper and sweeter than I expected, and really needs another 10yrs (ideally 20-30 since this will improve and age for decades). Drink 2025-2040. Will compare with a glass of 1990 Cos (another ripe year) later. 96-98pts.
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After reading all the amazing reviews, I was expecting something truly special. Yes it is excellent, but it's not fabulous like many have reported. I decanted it about three hours before dinner and it peaked at approximately 4 hours...Very classic, it reminded me of the 1996, but with less intensity. Tannins are very smooth, but it lacks two attributes: intensity and length. On the other hand, it's perfectly balanced. Unfortunately, it's absolutely not worth the price...Very disappointed.
Epic night (Ruth's Chris Parsippany): I really thought this would be like the Smith Haut Lafite and too young, but it was coming into its own and seemed in a really nice spot. Not that it's not terribly young, but the decant opened up the flavors and had some great black currant, leather, clove going. Very good wine.
Nose with red currant, cherries, cassis, smoke, dusty gravel, lead pencil, dry graphite, cedar wood, some nice herbs and spices. Palate shows sappy and rich dark fruit, dusty minerals, cedar wood and tobacco leafs, spices and minerals. Great structure and length. Has something 1996 over it, and it felt much more mature tonight than I would have guessed for a 2005, so my blind guess ended up with 1996 and Margaux (with a runner up guess of Cos - 1996), because of some kind of ingredient that made me associate towards that? A fantastic wine in the making, great already tonight, but with long way to go. Has all that's needed in order to make it all the way, 30 - 40+ years. (96 – 98+)
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On Terry's Birthday. Super tannic, but with solid fruit backbone. This wine is an infant, but has the makings to be spectacular if left to slumber for a decade or 2. Next bottle April 18, 2026.
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Return to San Antonio III - barolo/bordeaux (Mike O): Much more approachable than anticipated though the tannins were very prominent but polished. St Estephe character still comes through with a little herbal character mixed in with toasty dark fruit. Lots of depth here, need at least another decade.
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Very enjoyable.....a crowd pleaser at a dinner party. Decanted about 2 and a half hours. However, this is a young wine and should improve significantly over time.
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Bordeaux (John's house): Higher alcohol. Either very modern or simply too young. Still full of stuffing, needs 5+ years. Flashy and appealing, not traditional Bordeaux.
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No Fools Today (Minneapolis): Very modern but very good. Cherry, spices, oak, vanilla and dark fruits. Long finish and super complex wine. Should improve with some age but showing well with an hour plus decant. Groups wine of the night.
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Drank this next to the 2003 and the 2005 was noticeably better. Very round and lush with the perfect amount of fruit. Great mouth feel from start to finish.
Very fine ripe nose of blackberries and plums. Needed as much time in a decanter as possible. Quite a full, ripe wine with delicious and somewhat decadent black plum and black currant fruit along with notes of asphalt and minerals. Plenty of acidity here to keep the wine fresh and a strong wall of tannins on the finish. Deeply concentrated and dense with notes of chocolate and Asian spices on the long, complex finish. Pushes to the edge of ripeness in the style of the house at the time but the freshness and firmness of the vintage might have created an all-time great Cos. Only time will tell but this is very fine and very decadent at the same time. 95+
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Cos vertical with Aymeric de Gironde. Great vintage here for Cos. Top wine of the appelation. Layered wine with complex structure and aromas. Great density and length
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Cos d'Estournel Vertical with Aymeric de Gironde (Ripple Restaurant in DC): The palate was like a barrel sample, so primary, sensual and silky. Intense cool cassis, blackberry liqueur, incense, liquid smoke, lavender and lead pencil. Exceptional concentration but airy and weightless due to perfect balance and incredibly layered fruit, excellent precision, mineral and beautifully integrated sweet tannins and long seamless finish. A monumental wine that will age for 50+ years. Unbelievable balance and precision.
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15 Vintages of Cos d'Estournel (Ripple - Washington, DC): A textbook example of near-perfect Bordeaux, as far as I can tell. Concentrated but elegant aromas, rich black cherry and currant fruit, accented by gorgeous earth, incense, dried floral and complex spice tones. So elegant on the palate despite the firm structure. Seems perfectly balanced between acid, tannin and fruit. Black and hints of red currant, the fruit is so pure and precise, and backed up by curling waves of incense, cedar, fallen leaves, graphite, mocha and cardamom. Simply phenomenal, and I bet it's just getting started. My wine of the night. A real treasure to taste.
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Quite young still but very refined with tons of material underneath the big but fairly supple tannins. Classic Cos gravel and black asphalt flavors are apparent and the wine is full bodied but also elegant and balanced. It will be a long time before this is really ready to drink but it has more potential than any Cos I've previously tasted. 95+
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My first of these and it was pure pleasure. Double decanted about 5 hours before drinking. The wine is still very youthful and will continue to evolve for many years. Currants and other fruit notes, graphite.
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Quite an intense nose, with lots of spiciness. Also showing mocha, ultra-ripe fruit, and floral notes. This is a powerful wine that really leaves a mark on your palate. Still very tannic. Long finish. It's easy to sense the serious potential with this wine, but this wine is nowhere near ready. Will certainly give much more pleasure in the future. Wait 5-10 years on this.
HDH Holiday Wine Tasting (HDH Offices - Chicago IL): Tasting, brief note. Tasted twice, first from a bottle open a few hours, later from a bottle popped-and-poured. First bottle showed exceptional black fruit with great spice throughout. A powerhouse wine that is delicious already today. The 2nd bottle was not nearly as forward or accessible, but showed the same great concentration and potential.
HDH holiday tasting (Chicago, IL): A very unconvincing showing today. Completely closed. Huge and massive, with absolutely nothing pleasurable on the palate. Give it 20 years and pray that the emperor is clothed.
Perfect made wine.This score for this youngful wine, yes reale still Too Young! Anyway .. Frist Class balanced wine , smells perfect and Elegance.. what coming in the next 5-10 years?.. If you have a bottle.. be happy this wine will be amazing
Decanter Masterclass 8 November 2015, with Dimitri Augenblick. Singularly impressive wine on the day. Deep ruby robe. This is a full bodied wine, tobacco, blackcurrants and peppery spices. Elegance with power. More rounded and beguiling than 2006 and equally as cerebral as 2010. Drinking very well now.
Annual Comparative Bordeaux Tasting (2000/2005) (Chicago, IL): Quite dense on the nose, with a good bit of earth, which also shows on the palate. Very dense on the palate, but it seems like density for density's sake. Sightly sweet, which comes at the expense of acidic freshness.
Beautifully developed right now. Smells great on the nose. And the palate is compact, but in a beautiful way. That thing has a good amount of life in it.
They used to be around 65% Cabernet, now more 75%-85% because of the maturiation techinque. They still use Merlot because there is a vine of clay on the estate.
A Lovely Board Dinner, Geneva-Style (La Reserve, Geneva): Decanted for two hours at La Reserve in Geneva. A generous contribution from the Chateau owner. I expected something backward and shut down. I couldn't have been more wrong. An exciting, enticing nose of currants and graphite, very perfumed. Deep red fruit and balanced acidity, with waves of flavor through to a long finish displaying ample sweet tannins. Precision, power and finesse all in one. Surely this will pick up a point or two in another decade?!
Chateau Cos d'Estournel Dinner (The Bristol - Chicago IL): Wow, lots of black fruit, dark chocolate and sweet spice. A powerhouse on nose and palate, somewhat firm and backward for now on palate, but clearly this will be a showstopper when it fully emerges. For me this seems to have slightly better long-potential vs the 2010 in the next glass.
Showing some lightening around the edges, the wine pops with cigar box, tobacco, dark chocolate, Asian spice and earthy aromatics. Fresh, ripe, sweet, long, clean, focused fruits easily move from black to red and return to black. The present tannins are smooth. The wine remains young and fresh. 5 years in the cellar will add a lot to this beauty, if you can keep your hands off it.
Definitely high quality but still pretty young and tight at this time. Great dark ruby colour. Great nose! Lots of red and purple fruit, but it is subdued on the palate. Lots of tannins that are fairly smooth but no where near fully resolved. The last sip, 5.5 hours after decanting, was the best. I say let them sleep for a while yet.
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2015 Aspen Food & Wine Classic Trip; 6/17/2015-6/22/2015 (Aspen, Colorado): This deep-to-opaque ruby blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc flaunts impressive aromatics of wild berries, graphite, plum, anise and dried herbs. Full-bodied, freshly acidic, seamlessly alcoholic (13.8%) and with big sweet tannins, it delivers a payload of flavors which mirror the nose. Layered and building on the mid-palate, it closes very long and with a bit of tannic bite. There are few who would argue that this iteration of Cos is anything short of classic in quality. Give it a bit more time in the cellar and savor it for a couple of decades thereafter. Drink 2020-2040.
Decanted 3,5 hours. Stunning nose. Dark in colour. Very elegant wine. I love the 2003, but the 2005 is even better. 98 pts. now with potential up to 100 pts.
2005 Bordeaux Retrospective (Morrell Wine, 1 Rockefeller Plaza): The nose was stunning with deep dark fruits, espresso and minty herbs, sweet berry, then turning almost savory with dark florals, smoke, soil and saline-minerals—just gorgeous. On the palate, it displayed silky textures with velvet weight as intense dark red fruits saturated the senses, along with spice, bitter cocoa, sweet herbs, and minerals. The finish was dark, almost haunting, with a coating of tannin enveloped in rich fruit. The 2005 Cos d’Estournel is still incredibly youthful, yet worth peeking in on and sure to be amazing for a decade or two to come.
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2005 Bordeaux Tasting: WOTN. This has just blown me away with a sedductive nose and incredible lenght. The nose offers dark fruit, baked plums, chocolate, espresso, mint, olives and smoke. On the palate this has a impeccable balance and an endless finish. The tannins are not yet fully integrated but with a decent decant this wine really shines and promises a great future. A potential candidate for a 100 parker points when retasted lazer in 2015.
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Very elegant, and just allowing some petting, this snobby 05' lets you know what all the 05 fuss is all about. Espresso nose, red fruit, dry, long, long....
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2005 Red Bordeaux with Richard Brazier (Handford Wines, London): Dark in colour, glossy. Very Similar to the 05 Montrose but a gear up. This was WOTN by miles on tonight’s tasting too. A touch more oak feel but the wine definitely owns the oak. Quite expressive, well made beautiful structure and sheer class. Young still and 5yrs could help it do wonders but still an excellent wine once again. Spot on consistent with our last note about a year ago. Very balanced and harmoneous wine. 94 for now but an easy 98+ once it its its stride.
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Real depth to the nose, very fine fruit, complex and balanced. On the palate grippy and powerful, superbly balanced, fresh and lively with round and ripe tannins, lovely persistence and length. Needs time. A superb wine. Again, after the Cos vertical almost one year ago, this time in a 2005 Bordeaux horizontal tasting, my WOTN. 96-97+
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Bordeaux 2005 : Ten years on (Bordeaux Index London): Looks slightly more evolved than the Montrose, in terms of tone! More garnet than ruby. Much power and substance but takes a back seat to Montrose in that it lacks the same layered full bodied - and nuanced - palate. It even seems to be drying, by comparison, on the finish, but let's not quibble, as this is certainly excellent.
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You must give him air for 2-3 hour`s ...then deep black-red colour almost all the way to rim. Quite intense aroma of ripe fruit, cassis, plums, no sense of oak on the nose. Very harmonious on the palate, lovely texture, great depth. Tannins present but ripe, very long finish. Superb. What for a Performance!
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Ett väldigt elegant men ändå kraftfullt klassiskt Bordeauxvin. Väldigt kompakt och mörkt i färgen. Mängder av svarta vinbär, björnbär, söt lakrits, tobak, blyerts och lite rostade kaffetoner. Otroligt komplext i doften med lager på lager. Underbara tydliga tanniner och syra men vägs upp väldigt fint av den kraftfulla frukten. Detta är verkligen ett massivt vin som har allt. En helt underbar struktur och balans. Känns som om det utvecklats en del sedan jag drack det senast för ett år sedan. Är givetvis fortfarande ett väldigt ungt vin men efter några timmar i karaff är det redan nu helt underbart.
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Very technical with all the right ticks for a heralded vintage. Structure, firm tannins, well ripened strong silky fruit，dark berries and undertones of spice and cigar box. Still not yet ready and relatively in it's youth but much better now than on release. Definitely wil get better.
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Alex's Promotion Party (Alex and Fiona's in AMK): This is a great Cos d'Estournel that will age for decades. It has been years since I have had this, 7 to be exact, and I must say that it seems perfectly on track to deliver on its tremendous potential. It had such an attractive nose, with a ringing clarity to its rich, ripe aromas of blackberries, plums and cassis seasoned with lovely sweet tobacco notes. The palate was superb as well, While the wine was clearly far too young, it had a lovely clarity of expression and purity of fruit that made it very drinkable, with deliciously ripe but wonderfully fresh flavours of black fruit and olive tapenade resting amidst some meat and earth and a lovely flush of spice as it moved into a long, effortless finish. Still dense and primary, still held in the grip of its firm but noble tannins, this clearly needs decades rather than years in the bottle, but boy was it good. A real testimony to strength of vintage, this is a stunner of a wine that I wish I had more of.
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Starting to wake up from its slumber, the wine has a spicy, rich, silky character that fills your mouth with soft, polished, deep, round fruits and tannins. Still young, either decant for a few hours or wait a decade before popping a cork.
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Double Decanted three hours in advance of dinner at J&G Grill in Bal Harbor with blackberry preserve and chocolate emanating as I pulled the cork. Royal and ocean deep dark purple in color, the layers of complexity are algorithmic- spices like a fifteenth century galleon coming from the far east; chocolate from Belgium; coffee from Brazil, northeast forest cedar and oak; licorice from Rievaulx Abbey in Yorkshire, this is a world class wine that has a gorgeous color, a nuanced nose, beautiful balance, wonderful mouth feel, and an exquisite finish. Drinking now and forever, as long as the case less two lasts.
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Brought to a dinner party with family and probably did not decant it long enough (only about 40 minutes). Good wine but slightly disappointing at this price level. Compared to the 2009 Pontet-Canet or any of the Leoville wines (Poyferre, Barton, las Cases) I would go with the latter.
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Having this with a big porterhouse and salad with the family for dinner tonight. Opened 2 1/2 hours in advance of dinner. Nice pungent whiff of dark fruit as I pulled the cork. The wine is very dark, with little bouquet. It's still at cellar temperature, so I expect this will open up as it warms up and has a chance to breath. I'll be checking it every 30 minutes or so to see how it develops.
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Five Decades of Cos D'Estournel with Richard Brazier (Handford Wines, London): 78% Cab Sauv! Open on the nose, aromatic, full of dark fruits, like mocha (oak is still present). On the palate although it is very young, it is surprisingly forward and lush albeir lacks the complexity of an evolved wine. Good depth, young fine (not harsh at all) tannin. Full of life and promise and although needs a good 10 yrs to achieve its potential, drinking it now if one must is not a waste. A wine of balance and harmony. Has that light modern more forward side to it, but that will not stop it reaching greatness in the future. 94-95 now but an easy 98+ once it develops
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Very dark, glowing. Very seductive nose, bright fruit, cassis, red fruit, cool, minty. On the palate powerful, firm but round tannins, great grip, fresh with great power and superb balance. Amazing finish. This will be exceptional in 10-15 years and for a long time after that. Despite its youth my WOTN. 95-97+
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05 Cos vs. 05 Ducru - toss up - Cos is the chiseled brother and Ducru is the sensual sister
accessed via coravin...deep ruby color with great clarity and energy in glass...extremely complex nose of cassis and blackberry seamlessly integrated with graphite, toasted cedar and five spice...faint traces of tobacco, licorice, coffee and chocolate...delicious bold fresh fruit on entry but done with old world finesse and restraint, leaving a masculine vibrancy that stains the mid-palate and continues to build through a long succulent finish...extremely well structured with velvety tannins and well-balanced acidity...one for the ages but glorious now
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My first bottle of the case and immediately regretted it. Color was like a Shiraz, but all tannins. After four hour decant, beginning to show its stuff. By hour eight, pretty clear this wine will be special. Young Bordeaux at its very best. Medium body, bright, fresh fruit, secondary notes of leather and tobacco beginning to emerge. If you only have a few bottles, best to wait, as the scores on this wine will climb over time. Might be one of the best from this producer.
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Extremely fine tanins. Nose kind of closed even after 4hours. Sorry about no formal notes but I can say without a doubt that I prefer a good CA wine over any Bordeaux that I have tasted. This kind of wines are extremely elegant, but they lack the delicious factor that a CA cab or meritage have. Maybe its a thing of time and in 10 years I will favor Bordeaux over California, but today and for the last 8 years or so I still prefer California to Bordeaux by a wide margin.
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Första flaskan från lådan. Var helt enkelt tvungen att se hur långt det kommit i utvecklingen. Detta är verkligen ett helt fantastiskt vin. Jag kan bara tänka mig hur det kommer att vara om 10 år. Ett väldigt elegant men ändå kraftfullt klassiskt Bordeauxvin. Mängder av svarta vinbär, björnbär, söt lakrits, tobak och dofter som bara kommer i lager på lager. Underbara tanniner och syra men fortfarande alldeles för ungt och stramt. Detta är verkligen ett massivt vin som har allt. En helt underbar struktur och balans. Får bara vissa delar smälta ihop ytterligare några år så kommer detta att bli helt magiskt. Får testa igen om 2-3 år för att se om det börjar finnas första steget av mognadstoner som man ännu ej kan notera.
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Every millimeter of you palate is in pure bliss... this is the mother lode. Decanted for three hours. It has been four years and this has evolved as one would expect: still youthful and starting to open up more. There are exciting amounts of evident body: so voluptuous and fresh. Blackberry, blood orange peel, Asian spice, menthol, wet earth, hot brick and pau d'arco tea. Extremely chiseled and a lot of microfiber on the provocative mouthfeel. She will seriously out last most people here today, and I'm enjoying this even more at the current stage of development. See previous notes. Drink 2017 -.
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Very dark, supple, full bodied. Nose of cedar, herbs and mocha. At the mouth cofffe and black olives, very round and polished tannins, retaining the grip but with wonderful elegance, freshness and structure. Very long and pleasent finish.
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- Ruby color with a full body. Fleshy texture with a long finish - Excellent. Had it with 2001, 2004 and this one stood out well with structure, length, intensity and complexity.
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Full- bodied and black purple, this wine is balanced like a word class acrobat, the aromatics range from black fruit to cassis to oak forest to a potpouri of spice. Rich and textured, there is licorice smoothness that you can swirl all night
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A bit shut down... No real length, and quite tight but it's all there to be great over time. Ill wait another 2-3 yrs before trying my next one. Next day still a bit lifeless
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This was good although it seemed as if it want giving anything up, maybe shutdown a bit. Chocolate and some coffee on the nose, ripe fruit that was muted if you will. It was there but seemed to be hiding. Nice mouthfeel and medium finish, I won't touch another for at least 5 years.
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Ripe, but elegant, medium bodied bordeaux. Plenty of freshness here, along with red fruits and smoke. Finishes well, but not with the great power the scores would suggest. Should have a long life ahead, at least for the next 10-15+ years. Wouldn't say this is very near its peak and possibly somewhat shut down. Would wait another 5-10. Popped and poured, consumed over two hours.
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Blackish rim with deep purple middle. Dark chocolate and pencil lead on nose with fruit starting to come through. Surprisingly drinkable now although tannins still dominate the tightish palate. Long multi-layered finish. Best Cos in a long time
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This is far from ready but still somewhat open in comparison orter recent vintages. This may very well turn out to be a stellar Bourdeaux in ten years, it certanly has the density for it. 93+ for now.
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This Cos '05 was drinking very nice, great tannins and structure, powerful wine with many years ahead of it, but may not be in the best drinking window right now as I believe it could have scored higher for this great vintage. Red berry fruit, nice nose, good but not great length to the finish.
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OK. This is a BIG wine. It just tastes expensive. Everyone recognized it as the most expensive wine at the blind tasting, but it was not the most popular. There are other years I prefer, but there is no denying the "wow" factor.
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Not so many notes. The glass/bottle was empty too soon… The bouquet is very luxurious with beautiful and creamy dark forest fruits, chocolate and exclusive oak. Beautiful acidity and tannin. The wine is still much too young, but already showing its beauty. Probably wise to wait at least until 2020. Will be a feast around 2025. 96++ for now.
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Cos-Montrose Battle (Restaurant Bottles, Sas van Gent): Chockfull of fruit. Luxurious oak, gorgeous spice box aromas. Classic cloth, modern cut. Very broad, intense and distinguished. The fruit is insanely pure and well defined, garnished with a dash of cherry licqueur. This is regal stuff! And way to young, of course. 19/20
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Brought to Diner en Blanc Cincinnati. Dense purple. Rich nose of blackberry, blueberry, mint, & cedar. Powerful palate of blackberry, cassis, plum, graphite, minerals, and toasty oak. Incredible length. Refreshing acidity. Sweet, youthful tannins. Still years from maturity. I'll wait a year or three before opening another bottle.
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Deep ruby in color, with some lightening at the edges, tobacco, smoke, 5 spice, blackberry, cassis, cigar box and earthy aromas create the complex perfume. Full bodied and concentrated with flavor, this tannic, intense, long, fresh, pure wine demands cellaring. Give it at least a decade to soften and come together. This will be a very long lived wine and well reward consumers with the ability to wait, with a sublime tasting experience.
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Infanticide, but we wanted a vacation splurge on Big Island and markup at Fairmont Orchid's restaurant, Brown, was less than 100% (a rarity here in Hawaii, it seems). We were unfortunately only able to give this a 30-minute decant, but this was/is still a fantastic bottle of Bordeaux. Delightfully muted graphite and sous-bois upon opening, yielding to just-barely sour cherry and brooding dark fruit with a blackberry emphasis. This is just fantastic, even though the drinking window has yet to begin! Sweet vanilla and mocha followed, with just a bit of wet leather making its appearance on the second glass. Chewy and delicious, but time needed to soften the tannins that only slightly mar the 30-second finish. Distant campfire on the last sip... WAIT for huge reward!!
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Cos D'estournel has become one of my favorite wines. I started in St Estephe with Chateau Meyney, which became a full fledge Bordeaux passion within a few months. Cos is velvety and rich without being overbearing in any way. Chocolate, black pepper, currant is what I remember.
I have tried Cos from 1995, 1996 and now 2005 and each time there was a distinctive moment of YES! This is why I love wine.
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Consumed over three hours, deep ruby color leads to a nose of cassis, blackberry, and tobacco box. Medium full body has amazing structure. Takes at least two hours in decantar before the fruit comes out but when it does.......Bam - big dark fruit and chocolate. The finish lasts 90 seconds easily. Drank this ten years too soon but an amazing bottle.
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Popped and poured. Deep intense nose of mocha, blackberry, sweet oak and some licorice/mineral tone. Silky and satiny on the palate, large scaled but the texture is just spot on perfect. Deep flavors saturate the palate delivering some intense fruit and very balanced tannins resulting in a hedonistic experience that is just a notch below being over the top. Tannins show up on the long finish, but again they are fine grained and not hard or out of place. On texture alone this is a fantastic wine for enjoyment today but it will be fun to follow it as it evolves and takes on secondary and tertiary flavors from extended aging.
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Carl Studer tasting: Napa against Bordeaux (Hotel Metropole, Zurich): Most backward Bordeaux of the tasting, edgy and rough in the palate unharmonic acidity. This needs time but it's surprising given how the other 2005 bordeaux are doing... potentially a good sign though?
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Ha! If this is "shut down" right now, then it's going to be all-conquering when it wakes up. Dark ruby, like what royalty should be drinking. Smells like lead pencil and smoky berries - I loved it from just sniffing the bottle right after popping the cork out. Oh the heck with it - it's like having a prolonged period of dry weather in autumn, and then walking through the woods as the first drops of rain hit the leaves on the ground. Things do need time to fully integrate, but if this is walled-off, then if you're patient with this wine it lifts you up where you can see over the wall, you can guess what will be there in the end, and you get a glimpse of a few things that may vanish forever before "prime time" arrives.
Berries, cherry, herbal, vanilla, banana tastes came in and out. I didn't decant it at all, which probably kept me from getting to other stuff, but what was there was pleasing indeed. Drank about 35% of the bottle and put the cork back in - the remainder of the wine and whatever lucky air got in had the rest of the night and the next day to themselves. Surprisingly, almost an entire day later, I found the tannins even more pronounced - the finish was frankly a little tough to take. That said, the nose, early and mid-palate had settled down into some velvety layers that one could lose themself in. It will be great to check back in with this wine in 6 or 10 years.
WCC 2003-2005 Red Bordeaux Blind (Yono's Restaurant, Albany, NY): Long delicious complex. A little impenetrable right now both because it is so young and it is wine #14 tonight. These are all big wines. Still, this one has great potential. Pretty shut down. Not a single vote for WOTN.
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Some random exclusive wines (@ TBa): This is still a baby. Very primary bouquet with all the luxurious elements you may expect in a top Bdx. Although the tannin is soft and friendly, which makes the wine already quite approachable, it needs many more years to show everything it has in store. I would wait at least until 2020. I agree with Rob MacKay and dxpian; beautiful notes. My score for now is 95 and over the years the wine will add at least another 2 points.
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CellarTracker Wisconsin June 2011; 6/24/2011-6/25/2011 (Madison, WI- various venues): Tasted non blind at a large wine dinner. So hopefully no one will flame me in the Tasting Notes to Note forum for this but this note will apply to the Cos 2005, Pape Clement 2005 and Las Cases 2005 all tasted together. I tasted all three in quick succession initially and each stood out in different ways. The Cos had a lot of briar patch, the Las Cases had some nice cedar and cigar box and the Pape Clement basically tasted just like the Las Cases (at around half the price). All were tannic as all ever, as expected. Then I retasted in 10 minutes, these bottles had been double decanted and open for 7 hours or so by this point so what difference would 10 minutes in a glass make, well they were now totally different. The Las Cases now had more briar patch than the Cos, the fruit in the Pape Clement was taking on a sour element and the Cos was becoming more tannic by the second. Same thing after another 15 minutes or so, they were all three completely different. I even got into an argument (and lost) with jar1 at one point over which one was which (he was doing the same thing as I) as they had changed so much. In summary these all should evolve to be stellar wines but are evil temptresses for now. Unless you buy by the truckload, don't let anyone talk you into opening these for another 5-10 years at least. (And thank you, Jose, for treating us). Rating is 90-100 for each of them (except for the Las Cases, which I officially rate 91-100).
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Dark garnet color in the glass, clear looking throughout. Nose fo graham crackers, berries, white pepper and plums. Flavors of berries and cherries. Bright acidity, medium to firm tannins, medium to full bodied. Hold? Very New World in style and obviously very young. No rating at this time.
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CT Wisconsin Offline; 6/24/2011-6/25/2011 (Madison, WI): On opening, this had one of the most remarkable noses I've ever smelled, intensely perfumed, with beautiful oak treatment. On the palate, it seemed confected and alcoholic. Just not my style. Not scored.
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CT Wisconsin Offline (Madison, WI): Massive, Massive sweet dark fruit, forest floor, cigar box. Silky smooth and incredibly approachable now. Great integration of oak. Mouth coating. Super long finish. Just brilliant!!
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Gorgeous. Everything wine should be. Beautiful purple fruit on the nose. Dark fruits, silky tannins, incredible finish, drinking really well right now, good balance that should provide drinking pleasure for many years to come. 98+
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Remarkably rich, glycerin on tongue, well balanced already but a long way to go with significant tanic backbone, but not overpowering. WOTN over a 06 Leoville Las Cases and and 08 L'Eglise Clinet
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Yes, it's young, but I've been wanting to try this wine for a while as it is the only vintage in the 86-06 range that I hadn't yet tried and having recently acquired an extra bottle I just had to dig in. And dig in is what you'll need to do if you open it tonight. While not completely closed up tight, it does take a significant amount of encouragement to shake it loose. The nose on this wine will keep you busy for a while as it shows a great mix of cigar box, hints of vanilla, cassis and a touch of moist soil. Great structure on the palate with layers and layers of complex fruit flavors and a really long finish. Once this wine has the time to develop that trademark St Estephe funk and the tannins fully integrate you'll have a magic elixir of goodness on your hands. One of the top 3 or 4 vintages of Cos that I've had. (90,95,03,05)
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This is a true beauty! Primarily purple color with a smear of ruby hue. Predominantly blackberry, black currant, crème de cassis aromas surrounding just a hint of red fruit with sour cherry and cranberry coming through. Less typical St. Estèphe's sweet vanilla chocolate present on the nose, but instead, a much more Pauillac, and even a little bit of Margaux-like character of coffee, cigar box, leather and smoke in the bouquet. Full-bodied, this wine is rich, intense and powerful! An attack of black currant, blackberry and licorice leads to a beautiful, perfumed, well-structured and chewy mid-palate. Long finish, and the only imperfection with the wine is evident on the finish, where tannin dominates for over 25 seconds before a nice, complex, breath-taking aftertaste starts to show with ripe cherry, plum, cassis, cedar, pencil shavings, licorice and all in perfect harmony. Needs lots of time, I mean LOTS, to soften its edges, and unbelievable amount of complexity in the bouquet and on the palate will develop with bottle age. So, don’t open it yet, but if you must drink now, decant at least for 5 hours, yes, FIVE hours, because my 4 hours of decanting did not do me justice at all, as the tannin did not seem to have integrated even slightly... Open after 2015.
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Ready to drink now. The surprise in a vertical tasting was how well the 1975, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1985 vintages held up to similar scores as the 05 at considerably less auction prices for the older wines.
I am sure that in 10 years or so the wine is going to be much better than today. Right now I am sorry but it did not impress me. By FAR I would drink a Nicolas Catena Zapata @ $100 than this wine @ 250. Very closed in spite of 5 hour decant, nice aroma, very very very fine and sweet tanins. I have 11 bottles at home and I will not open another in at least 5 years. The wine is simply not ready at all to be drank.
Cos d'Estournel & Tokaj-Hétszőlő With Jean-Guillaume Prats (Wine Exchange - Orange, CA): Wow where to start with this beast? The bouquet is shockingly complex with delicate tones of flowers, earth, stones, and mint interleaved with the pure berry and currant extract. There is huge density, significant oak, and heady yet sweet tannins on the palate. The flavors are complex and radiant with specific notes of currant, blackberry, herbs, minerals, and earth. Everything about this wine is massive but the remarkable balance makes it surprisingly approachable. I believe this vintage has the most potential due to the structure and the staggering complexity already apparent. 97+
Jean-Guillaume Prats of Cos d'Estournel and some gorgeous Tokaji (Wine Discount Center - Chicago): A profound wine of enormous extraction while retaining balance. A tour de force that will age effortlessly for three or more decades. This is first growth quality juice in my book. The color is a star bright royal purple with a black core that is opaque throughout. This displays a sexy, voluptuous style on the nose you can't help but smile with each inhale. Really young there are gobs of dark black and blue berries, earth, dark and milk chocolate, purple flowers - lilacs. Both New and Old World styling show aromatically. Overall though the aromas are all about the underlying spice that shows in every other aspect of the nose. Heavily layered. The palate comes across pure and very clean. Again, lots of rich big fruit accompanied by enough minerality and spice to make the juice in harmony and unique. There are considerable sweet tannins with precise acidity. Lay this down for a bit or give it a good 4-6 hour decant. This is the real deal. Highly recommended for any collector's cellar.
Well... this is the tale of two wines, and after drinking a little I am left with a question about the future of this wine and others like it. To begin, the fruit profile and texture of this wine are nothing less than incredible. I mean the wine is so fluid and the fruit is so balanced. There is coolness to this wine, and the black and cool dark blue aromatic fruits are nothing short of amazing. At the same time I am being amazed by the fruit and texture of this wine, I am being nagged by an overwhelming and overpowering raw grainy oak/vanilla drying oak component. My question to myself, and to anyone else, will the wine shed its obvious oak and reach some of the heights of the '82, '85, '86, '89, or, '90, or should I box 'em up and sell/trade them for some 2009 Germans, or 2008/2009 Burgundies, etc. Cos usually shows pretty well young, but I don't ever remember this much aggressive oak in one before.
revisit 1-10-11: I boxed them all up to sell
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Tasted as part of Cos d'Estournel vertical with Cincinnati Mondiale du Vin ('82, '85, '96, '00, '05). WOTN for me. Dark purple, Nose of blackberry and smoke. Full palate of blackberry, graphite, minerals and new oak. Amazing length. A laser beam of fresh acidity. Grippy, grippy tannins. Surprisingly accessible, but infanticide nevertheless.
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Very Dark in color. First sniff was hit with spices (almost x-mas like?) and dark fruit. Not giving much else at this point. Shut down. Excellent length & balance. Can't wait to give this a try 10 years from now to see where it is. Should be deserving of a higher score down the road. Very well made wine.
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WGS: 2005 Bordeaux; 4/17/2010-4/18/2010 (Hilton Hotel Singapore): An absolutely elegant wine with mineral laced palate of classic clean bright fresh and pure au naturel cabernet fruit. Really the tai tai among the queens. This is just cool and clear headed in a sea of big hunky hurly burly wines . Retains poise, some cedar oak, spice notes and dark polished red fruits. A great wine waiting to be explore but relatively unrelenting now as well. Definitelym almost sound asleep. With time , I suspect this will improve.
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Think this wine has entered into a dumb state and does not give much, only marginally better after hours of decanting. Will not touch another bottle for 5 years.
Christmas bottle, from cellar. Decanted through Vinturi aerator, then held 2 hours. Black. Shiny. Red rim. Blackberries, black currant, oak, and noble leather. A wine that exudes confidence and even a swagger. This is a hibernating bear coaxed to show its power, and it rose from slumber to do just that. Second day was also a demonstration of breed and effortless ability to cruse at 140mph all day. It is all there for a huge future. Wait until 2015+.
Also a great set-up for comparison to the new 2009 at Primeur, and the entirely new receiving line and tank room. If 2009 can hurdle this wine, we will know such extravagant investment can actually yield results a wine lover can appreciate. We shall see!
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Decanted for 4 hours, doing a double. One of four bottles that I own. Black and the rim is just crystalline. The nose is illuminating and takes you somewhere that is nondescript, yet utopian. Leather, fresh orange peel, chocolate syrup, and some dark fruit. The palate is legendary and the nexus is quite evident. The finish is longer than a minute. The tannins are velvety, yet tough. This would benefit from some time away in confinement. Glorious, just wait. The best Cos ever!!! Better than '00, '03, '86 and '95. It really is that good. Drink 2016 -.
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This looks like black ink. Oak, Cassis, blackberry, spice, coffee and licorice make a beautiful perfume. In the mouth, you get a blast of ripe, black fruit with a long finish. Tannic, but the tannins are polished. I would not drink this Bordeaux wine young. But I think it will be open and offer pleasure before the 06. I hate to say it, as much as I love the 05 and I do love it, I still prefer the 03
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Cedar, carob and red raspberry on the nose. More carob and grain flavor, chocolate, blackberries, coffee, and some green spice. Lots of tannins and acidity. Tannins are still slightly bitter and green at this stage. The finish is very long and enjoyable. I hope to drink a few more bottles before it shuts down and I would expect this to garner a few more points after it wakes up again. This is one of the best '05's I have tasted at this young age.
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Bordeaux Tasting ("Chateau McClure Roberts", Philadelphia PA): Awesome wine. nose of dark berry, raspberry, chocolate, graphite, black cherry. palate shows even more dark fruit, pencil lead, with an AMAZING chocolaty finish that just kept going, and going, and going...
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Survey of Bordeaux (Our House -- Philadelphia): Along with 2000 Pontet Canet, this was the red wine of the night. Absolute stunner that should easily be a 96-98 point wine after all is said and done (the tasting note is based on what I tasted, but the potential is extraordinary). Deep dark color. Complex nose. Coffee, mocha, black fruit, spice. Required some coaxing. This is big and tannic right now, but is still approachable. Black fruit, spice all framed by oak. Coats the entire mouth. Brooding wine. Amazing finish that really never quits, but I had to move on the next wine. Seriously, the finish should be measured in minutes, not seconds.
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very dark, opaque, but limpid. fruit/spice/vanilla balance. great mouthfeel, grippy, but not bitter. very oaky. i see great ageability here, reticent nose now, but great concentration.
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Dark purple in colour with a thick oily pour. You can almost chew this Cos, massive amounts of dark fruit and it feels quite hot right now, reminds me slighty of some of the better spanish high alcohol wines like Clio. Clearly much to young too drink, but it is still good and approachable, which I think is a great testament to this vintage.
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4 hours of testing : Cos 2005, a new aroma de Cos, modern…no muddy smell at all. Hints of some flower underneath..ดอกชงโค.. chocolate gets along with mild espresso and mild bloody of Rightbank Merlot. The smell is not widely opened but good dept and charming.
The structure is full score, perfect ABC, acid, balance, complex. Compact, dense and very big. Full delicate tannin, wonderful tannic as it was made to be drunk at this moment, only the scents needs more aging to show more fantastic in the future.
The aftertaste…oh…no…more powerful than La Mondotte 1997 (testing together). The only one way ticket downs and never come back. Bleeding inside !!! The best Cos I’ve ever tested. If you didn’t stick with the old muddy style, this wine is truly perfect…only 1-2 points is missing from the score in its part of aroma and bouquet…It may gets the 100/100 score in the future when everything is right on track. who’s know ?
Drink now ? I must open 2 hours and say Oh Yeah....!!!
More forward showing that 10 months ago. Decanted 6+ hours. Black currant nose. Very dark inky color- more so than any other wine tonight. More redfruit than before, but mainly dark fruit. Some cinnamon. Huge power but with perfect balance. Limited complexity but not as monolithic as 10 months ago. One of the wines of the vintage. drink 15+ years from now.
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From the Outside Looking In-More 2005 Bordeaux (K&L Wines, San Francisco): By far the blackest, most deeply saturated wine of the tasting. Other than some oak, little showing through on the nose. Massive wine with sweet blackberry and cassis fruit and a significant wood imprint. Almost syrupy because of lower acidity and buried tannins. Very long finish, but this could use more shape and focus. Perhaps this will come with time. No lack of material here, that's for sure.
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Decanter Fine Wine Encounter (Landmark Hotel, London): Deep colour, slight mauve on rim with a orange tinge on the core. A good underhint of green pepper and black fruit. This filled out and softened up after an hour. The palate was a little dumb to start but wakes up with some spice. Intensity builds through finish after a little lean spot. \
This filled out, improved a lot after 1 hour. Fruit came through, subtle balanced and refined.
Started as a 92 but opened to a 94
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Almost black in color. This is a massive wine with gobs of ripe, black fruit with hints of fennel and equal amounts of tannin. This has a lot of structure and will need serious cellar time. Due to the intense concentration, the wine will reward cellaring, but, this is not a wine to enjoy young.
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WS Exp - Closed nose. Wow, what structure. Impeccably balanced wine. High acidity, high tannins and high alcohol, however they are all harmoniously in sync. Wait at least 10 years.
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I taste this wine in Takashimaya, Osaka, Japan. Opened 2 hours.
There is no '' muddy '' typical smell of Cos. The wine shows strongly chocolate scent, blueberry, some flowers, clean and deep beautiful bouquet...so different from the modern type 2000.
The body...Wowww...very smooth, elegant, perfect balance, very complex. Some amount of beautiful fine tannin but not tannic...really beautiful texture and the sommerlier in Takashimaya feels the same. Surprisingly ready to drink.
The best part is aftertaste : it builds up and follows the wine immediatly...robust down very smooth, very stable but very big and long too. This is new type of finished, I never met before...I wait for its return but no sign of coming back...That's amazing !!!
The real deep impact....95-96/100....
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Brought to Cut in Beverly Hills. Decanted for 2 hours. Good nose of dark fruit and vanilla. New world style bordeaux. Obviously still very young but very balanced. Nice silky texture. Will be much better in a few years. Should put away for at least 5 years.
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Too early to drink clearly, but this was my first taste of the 05 vintage and it did not disappoint, well balanced wine with huge concentration and lots of dark fruit. Impressive!
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Raffles Hotel 120th Anniversary event (Raffles Hotel, Singapore): So, so good, but oh so young - this was absolutely infanticide. Dark, inky purpe in colour. Lots of dark fruit on the nose, with ripe blueberries and blackberries. The palate was dominated by its huge structure at first - stiff tannins and fresh acid - but a great backdrop of dark fruits that was lurking in the background started coming out with time, mingling with notes of minty eucalytptus, herbs (fennel and thyme?) and nice oaky notes. Very nice, very mouthwatering. There are all sorts of disparate bits now, but it will integrate in time to make a glorious wine. This will be a stunner when its time comes - a wine with superb, superb potential. I think it will do better than the 2003, which is otherwise an accomplished wine in its own right and drinking far better at this point of time.
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The haut couture of St. Estephe. More Cabernet than is usual for this estate (78%), this vintage is going to be really special – and probably counts among my top ten Bordeaux of the vintage. A closed first nose reveals (after swirling in glass) refined cassis and cedar notes with very ripe blackberry and violet once tasted. A rich palate, opulent, with mouth coating tannins and a velvety finish. Top stuff. From barrel.
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Opaque in color. Full bodied and concentrated with mountains of ripe dark berries, licorice, cassis, spice and tannin. The tannins are not as ripe or polished as those found in the 2003. The wine does not appear to share the same levels of complexity as the 2003 either. Make no mistake, this is outstanding, but if you could only have one, grab the 2003.
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BORDEAUX 2005 / Cabernet rules; 4/5/2006-4/10/2006 (Bordeaux): More Cabernet than is usual for this estate (78%), this vintage is going to be really special – and probably counts among my top ten Bordeaux of the vintage. A closed first nose reveals (after swirling in glass) an elegant nose of cassis and cedar with very ripe blackberry and violet once tasted. A rich palate, opulent, with mouth coating tannins and a velvety finish. Top stuff. 95-97
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4/9/2024 - platpeeps wrote: 87 Points
The mouthfeel immediately shouted over-extraction, with sweet and spicy dark fruits developing mocha from the mid-palate through to the finish. I found this soupy and muddy, lacking the focus and structure I expect from fine claret. A lighter touch on the tiller could have improved this no end. CHP 87pts
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3/29/2024 - cubswinws Likes this wine: 94 Points
Really outstanding. The first 2005 Bordeaux that seems in its prime drinking window to me. Maybe they are just starting to hit their stride.
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3/16/2024 - HalaniMD Likes this wine: 100 Points
This was just…wow. Reserved with initial notes and closed off. With a 3.5 hour bottle decant, this turned out to be the most remarkable wine I have had in a very long time. Its evolution reminded me of the 05 Baron de Pichon but this sang in the most amazing way. The nose showed menthol, cedar, and dark black fruits. The color was inky with bricking at the rim. The palate shows juicy dark black fruits (mostly seared blackberry), licorice, milky dark chocolate, a finish that goes forever, and truly “SILKY” tannins. The finish goes forever. My heart melts that this is my only bottle.
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2/23/2024 - daghaug wrote:
Relativt lukka på duft rett fra flaska. Men synger i munnen! Flott tanninstruktur som holder orden på en deilig fruktsødme. I bakgrunnen litt skogbunn og blyantspiss. Tanninene snerper godt ennå. Noe tobakk og skogbunn dukker opp på duft etter noen minutter i glasset. Venter.
Noen timer seinere er tanninene helt supre til entrecote. Men er det lufta eller er det fettet? Herlig er det i alle fall. Fremdeles litt tilbaketrukket på duft, noe skuffende for en 2 cru. Uansett en fin opplevelse. Kan vente en hos stund med neste.
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2/17/2024 - MariusA Likes this wine: 89 Points
Opened this bottle after having a flawed bottle of '02 La Tache. This bottle wasn't singing like the others I've had. Tannic and just not open for business even after a couple of hours of decant.
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1/4/2024 - MariusA Likes this wine: 95 Points
Absolutely delicious. Needs an hour + of decant.
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12/31/2023 - SMagowan Likes this wine: 97 Points
From a double mag. Opened 3 hours in advance. Decanted the whole bottle through a filter to remove fine sediment. Rinsed bottle and poured back in. Everyone in the party of 14 had at least a taste and we all were entranced. It tasted marvelous and we enjoyed it very much.
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12/30/2023 - Throughthegrapevine Likes this wine: 97 Points
Incredible sense of youth and energy. Perfect drinking but no need to hurry. Text book St. Estephe, and a true Cos!
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12/20/2023 - RoosterBird Likes this wine: 93 Points
This is the first time I’ve had this wine before, but my impression is that it is going thru an awkward phase, or phase shift, from young to old. There was a unique ‘greek yogurt’ note present that I’ve only ever tasted in Promontory barrel samples previously, that really seemed to crowd out the tobacco and cedar notes that were just barely beginning to emerge. We decanted for 3 hrs and then drank it slowly over another few hours and it was ever so slowly continuing to evolve with air.
All signs point to ‘hold’.
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12/9/2023 - NEducatedGes Likes this wine: 94 Points
Only had little over hr to breath. Amazing nose, but tannins need to settle down.
If drinking today let it breathe for 3/4 hours. 94+ today.
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12/7/2023 - dsimmons wrote:
This beast needs more cellar time to mellow a bit more. Hold
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11/23/2023 - scott@asrestaurant.com Likes this wine: 94 Points
2005 vintage. Decanted and tasted immediately and through 3 hours. Great fill/appropriate aging cork. Medium sed. Noticeably dark color. Any trace of the usual Cos baby fat for the first decade+ after release long gone geek. Interesting. This was a lean, mean, street-fighting machine with "minerality" to spare. Intense. Compact. Unsure if it will continue to menace in the next decade of life or retreat into a reclusive, "turtling" period. Best guess? Street-fighter par excellence. Regardless of taking the high or low road, it's not devolving into a drink 'em if you got 'em any time soon scenario. Thanksgiving 11.23.23.
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11/23/2023 - indiscriminate palate wrote:
Open six hours. Fairly low-intensity nose, restrained nose. Palate is showing only a little fruit and solid tannin. Showing promise but still quite young and needs more years.
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11/5/2023 - Gdubya Likes this wine: 94 Points
Decantered for 20 mins, then back in the bottle for a couple of hours. (Plenty of sediment in the bottle)
Very dark in colour, ripe blackcurrant, powerful. Likely needs more time to peak and, with hindsight a longer decant
Nice wine. I’m about 94-96 on this one
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11/4/2023 - Baron Samedi Likes this wine: 93 Points
Still an abundance of dark red fruit, cigarbox, and a hint of oriental spices, although still present tannins mask everything a bit. Elegant and multilayered structure. This was pure joy.
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10/13/2023 - JRavn Likes this wine: 94 Points
Fantastic wine! In its drinking window, slow-oxed for 4-5 hours, tobacco, dark red fruit and just in beautiful balance
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10/2/2023 - jmoon Likes this wine: 95 Points
Two hour double decant. Hints at greatness as hugely structure with wonderful fruit but it’s all a bit tightly wound and didn’t reveal more than a tease. Next bottle in two years. Enjoyment 92 potential 97.
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9/28/2023 - sean20waldo Likes this wine: 96 Points
Wow, just a lovely wine, drinking well now (Cos tasting at Masion Estelle)
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9/24/2023 - WineTraveler42 wrote: 96 Points
For me, this was the wine of the night. Tasted alongside Montrose and Cantanec Brown in a 2005 horizontal. Double decanted three hours before serving. The wine is in a great place - smooth and elegant with lovely bright fruit. Delicate floral notes. This wine has a LONG life ahead of it - although it was drinking beautifully last night. Sadly, this was my last bottle. I will have to go find more!
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9/11/2023 - Hazeo wrote: 95 Points
An exquisite bottle not quite at prime. Dense and packed with flavors yet elegant. While many have commented that Cos d’Estournel has been overly modernized this bottle was very nicely balanced. Certainly not the rustic Bordeaux of old but immensely enjoyable by dad and I.
Next (last) bottle in 5-10 years
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8/30/2023 - TexasBob Likes this wine: 94 Points
Fairly light garnet red under the light. Spiced red berries on the nose . Notes of tart red cherries, wild strawberries, pomegranate, with a lovely dusty (almost chalky) tannic texture. There are also floral elements, a touch of vanillin, and a whole lot more. This isn’t really my preferred style of wine but it is really well-made if this is your profile.
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8/26/2023 - VINNICK Likes this wine: 97 Points
Starting its drinking window with more upside to come. Exquisite bottle of wine.
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7/30/2023 - VINNICK Likes this wine: 97 Points
This is progressing amazingly well. Can’t wait for the 25 and 30 year mark. Stunning bottle of wine with many years to go. Can be had now if you want more of the younger wine feel or aged. Drinking great with a 2 hour decant from a 375ml.
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7/21/2023 - millerarner wrote: 93 Points
Quite good, but less than hoped for.
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7/19/2023 - rpatel99 Likes this wine: 95 Points
Decanted for 3+ hours, drank over dinner. This is a powerful wine that exhibits classic St Estephe qualities. Blackberry, cassis, tobacco, cedar, hint of pencil lead. Excellent structure with some tannins that still need to be resolved. The finish is fantastic and you get a hint of the terroir and potential. I’d imagine in 5 years this will be exactly where I would want it to be.
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7/14/2023 - sbajaj10 wrote:
Drinking well
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6/11/2023 - JJYoyo Likes this wine:
4 hr decant. In sharp contrast to the spectacular showing of this wine at a tasting event hosted by the chateau 4 years ago, at home this was still tannic and forbidding. Even leaving it in the decanter for a day did little to make it less grumpy. The basic stuffing and potential is there - this bottle was just very backward compared to what I recall. Based on that contrast I would advise holders of this wine just to forget about it for another decade. Still has the potential to be a stellar Cos.
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6/3/2023 - Blue Jay Likes this wine: 97 Points
Incredibly smooth Bordeaux with blackberries, mocha, leather and very smooth tannins.
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5/13/2023 - Édifice Likes this wine: 97 Points
Fantastic bouquet of ripe blackberries, pipe tobacco, cedar wood, mint, undergrowth. Silky, lush palate of ripe berries, spices, fine tannins lending pressure to a long finish, with salty, sweet, spicy elements. Very elegant and structured, incredibly stylish wine, dense yet lightweight. Still a bit closed on the first night, yet enjoyable with a decant, improved on the second night. In my view still no need to wait if you like a bit of bite and freshness.
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4/29/2023 - Harfouch Likes this wine: 98 Points
Epic wine. Absolutely pure. Nice floral notes, vanilla, oak, cassis, black currant. Tastes like perfection. Medium-long finish. This will continue to age very well. Has not yet hit its peak.
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4/24/2023 - dsimmons Likes this wine: 93 Points
loads of graphite and cigar box. A bit light on fruit. Maybe in dumb phase??
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4/10/2023 - kfrench150 Likes this wine: 91 Points
Full ruby red. Small amount of chunky sediment. Nose of dried red berries, plum, camphor, licorice and suede. Silky smooth, melted tannins, dry finish, squeeky acidity. More dried red fruit on the palate with some cedar bark, chalky tannins, astringent finish with some fruit replays. Perhaps starting to dry out a bit, but still nice with a steak! Maybe 91 points
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4/8/2023 - jmoon wrote:
Pretty good but unlike other lovely experiences with this wine, this didn’t deliver as i didnt respect her with a decent decant… suspect the three hour decant rule rules.
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3/8/2023 - cephomer Likes this wine: 95 Points
Dana supplied for Xtremo CKH wine dinner last nite. Decanted at table. Deep ruby color, no signs of age whatsoever. Exuberant nose of black fruit, leather, mocha and coffee. Rich and structured, with excellent concentration as well as integration of wine elements. There's gobs of black fruit here, along with leather, forest floor, tobacco notes and spice. Powerful, yet elegant and graceful, and quite complex, the wine is showing wonderfully right now and IMO will only continue to improve with time in the bottle. Solid acidic core that gives this wine its backbone and clearly the wine, youthful as it is, is tannic, but they are quite soft, & not at all grippy. Exceedingly long, deliciously elegant and silky smooth finish. Coincidentally, we tasted 2 right bank 2005s with this--Monbousquet and Conseillante and, surprisingly, both were far more closed and tannic than the Cos, and much less approachable. This was my first experience with a serious 05 and I came away quite impressed with this wine and vintage. If this is what the other top wines of the vintage will be like, I'll be very happy that I bought many of them all those years ago- and my patience with them will have paid off. Loved it, and was clearly my WOTN.
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2/25/2023 - Xavier Auerbach wrote: 94 Points
A private tasting (Buurtcafé De Tros, Amsterdam, NL): Tasted blind. Rich fruit, blackcurrant and (oak) spices, very firm but ripe tannins, deep flavours, broad and powerful but clear and precise, tight and tannic finish. More power and weight than the 2000, but less elegance and finesse. Quite extracted, will need more time to resolve the tannins.
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1/30/2023 - Cave David wrote:
Great wine can wait another 5 years Mac
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1/25/2023 - Vintage1961 Likes this wine: 96 Points
Been a while since I opened one. Cork was in excellent condition. Colour;deep, dark crimson. This had long legs.
Nose of real regal perfume that got bigger with air. Ripe blackberry, expensive leather, spice, very interesting complex nose. Mocca and yes, barn yard.
Palate; soft, rounded complete, all elements totally balanced and in harmony. Didn't get the "grippy tanins" others did. Yes, totally 'open for business'. Silky, satin finish. So, so easy to drink now.
Drinking this wine, you do get an idea of how perfect the growing conditions were in 2005!
Drunk to celebrate Australia Day! (I know, drinking French wine on such a day... sacre bleu) Have no shame!
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1/15/2023 - jaumealaska Likes this wine: 96 Points
Still young/early maturity, the savory tobacco and dark fruit was expresive. Good balance and a great finish.
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1/15/2023 - dsimmons wrote: 94 Points
Drank at a tasting of high-end Bordeaux and CA Cabs. I believe this will be better with additional cellar time. Drink or Hold.
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1/14/2023 - Matt T wrote: 95 Points
From a 375. Consistent with prior notes. Opened for an hour and then a two to three hour decant. Excellent complexity. Tannins remain a bit sharp, but this is advanced. Very long on the finish.
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1/12/2023 - Decanting Queen Likes this wine: 94 Points
Lovely and dark fruited. Drinking well but still youthful and evolving. I can’t wait to try one on another 5 years. For my palate I prefer the ‘82 now, but for others this would be their preferred wine so take my comments with that caveat!
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1/11/2023 - ptwu Likes this wine: 92 Points
Second of six magnums from a case. this one tighter, needed much more time than the first. was distant third behind a Palmer and Lynch Bages 2005.
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1/7/2023 - bugdoced Likes this wine: 95 Points
Dark brooding fruit on the nose and palate
Long length and elegance
A delicious treat at this stage of its drinking life
And mine too
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12/30/2022 - Mdhealey wrote: 95 Points
Fantastic after 4 hour decant. Loved it.
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12/28/2022 - Sausalito Likes this wine:
for anyone who has, its drinking perfectly right now....
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12/25/2022 - cos65 wrote: 94 Points
Clear garnet ruby
Light curranty leathery nose
Rather closed right out of the gate, but opened up lovely after an hour without a decant.
Silky ripe fruit, and tart currants
Really lovely right now. But this seems to be able to hold very well
93+
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12/22/2022 - jvphoto Likes this wine: 94 Points
Saddle leather, bramble berries, gravel, rhubarb, purple/red fruit.
Smoked tri-tip on the Traeger w/ some mashed potatoes mushroom gravy it was a great meal.
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12/17/2022 - cawinesnob wrote: 96 Points
Delicious! Opened the bottle about 4 hours before we poured. Perfect. A further decant wasn’t needed. There was some sediment, though, so perhaps decanting for two hours might do the trick.
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12/6/2022 - Collector1855 wrote: 96 Points
Salon Focofi Paris walkabout and dinner, so no detailed tasting notes. Composed, structured, precise. Will be top, best after 2025. 96-97
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11/24/2022 - Volleyball Likes this wine: 94 Points
Opened for Thanksgiving dinner. Very enjoyable. Quite savory - a good food wine - with a very long finish. Still young and should last a long long time.
Medium intensity nose of classic Bordeaux blackberry/currant, olive, licorice and leather. More complex and more savory with olive, bay leaf and leather lingering a long time. Not a super large body but it does have a lot of silky but grippy tannins and also a good bit of acid and minerality.
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11/15/2022 - TexasBob Likes this wine: 95 Points
Medium-dark very clear ruby. Alcohol and bramble with a touch of black fruit on the nose. Intense blackberry, light coffee, tar, mulberries, black raspberries, a soft mouth-feel, and a very long finish carried by a perfectly-engineered sweetness. Although it’s still slightly tight, in my judgement it’s somewhat delicate for a Cos. This will endure for decades. Note to self: wait another 6 years before trying again.
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11/7/2022 - Rick & Ilsa wrote: 97 Points
Splash decant at restaurant. Deep, dark, opaque with ruby rim. On the nose, I got wet stones, garrigue, barnyard floor, dust, wet dirt, cassis, and soft wood. As with a lot of the better 2005's I've tasted, this is tannic, mineral laden, restrained, cool, and dry with lots of acidity and high quality fruit, but that certainly not front and center. This is a big classic wine. Indeed if you wanted to explain to someone what a classic wine is, vs a modern, or internationally styled wine, letting them taste this next to those wines would do the trick. The wine is balanced, but the tannins and acidity blunt the ripe fruit from taking center stage. On some sips the pure fruit almost comes across as not quite ripe, but you know that's not true. The best part of this wine was that I was tasting with someone whose Bordeaux experience is vast and my coaxing his insights into this wine made the experience more enjoyable. This is a structure first, fruit second Bordeaux that can probably age for decades to come. At one point in the past I almost sold a number of my '05 Bordeaux because I thought they weren't going to come around, and I'm now glad I didn't. Interestingly, as predicted by my friend, more air time didn't seem to allow the fruit to come to the surface any more than it had on opening. A bit out of my usual wheelhouse but a great food wine, especially with several different cuts of beef. Singular experience and a memorable time. Excellent!
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11/4/2022 - Motz wrote: 99 Points
Tasting Rendezvous with Rick, of Rick & Ilsa: Rick brought this to our tasting rendezvous, to my great delight! It was one of two bottles that we brought to a steakhouse for dinner.
About one quarter of the cork was saturated, otherwise, in perfect condition. Splash decanted, the enthralling perfume emanating as I poured it. Light+ bricking. Redcurrant, blackcurrant, red plum, pomegranate, pyrazines, gravel, the most beautiful compost funk imaginable, century-old discarded railroad tie, covered in moss and sous-bois, powerful umami, black earth, and ripping minerality! The Bordeaux deities be praised!!! I would have walked away satisfied just smelling this...but I tasted it too!
The last wine we tasted before dinner was the '11 Fonseca. This cleansed my palate from the outset, leaving it without a lingering hint of sweetness or fortification. Resplendent! All bouquet elements grace the tasting experience, in inflection-changing waves! Holy God!...getting chills reliving the experience now! Staggering balance! I most appreciated the elegant lightness, that touched every part of my palate, without a whisper of excessive weight or flamboyance. Perfect with several cuts of beef, prepared different ways.
Medium plus to high acid, saturates, cleanses, and re-saturates. Sweet, steely tannins make their presence known, unobtrusively. Seamless oak and alcohol. Knee-weakening, unclockable finish!
One of two red wines (2001 Château Latour the other) that I have scored 99 points. One of seven Bordeaux that I have scored 98 points, or higher. The best wine of the year for me, edging out the same vintage Montrose. Among the very best wines of my lifetime!
As an aside, I knew this was a 98 point wine from the outset, but was leaning heavily to 99 points, knowing it made a greater impression than the same vintage Montrose, tasted in May, and the Léoville Las Cases, tasted a few years' back. I resolved to score it 99 points, then looked at the pro scores. I was amused to see that ST, who was brutal on Bordeaux, scored this 96 points. Tanzer was one of the only professional reviewers...notice that the 'professional marketer Freudian Slip thing' did not happen here...who I paid attention to...and my favorite overall. My longstanding rule of thumb for any ST Bordeaux score is: add three points. The formula worked again!
As for longevity...I would expect this to be in exceptional form roundabout 2050...and not the least bit surprised if it held for a decade thereafter.
I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to Rick for bringing this transcendent wine to our tasting rendezvous. Cheers to him!
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9/1/2022 - bugdoced Likes this wine: 95 Points
very exciting and oozing with potential
this has progressed since last tried in nyc at a cos tasting some years ago
tight tannins at first that softened to yield some tart dark fruit bramble then cassis
went well with food at Vie
early in it's drinking window with much upside potential
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8/28/2022 - Matt T wrote: 95 Points
From 375 ml. Aerated for 1.5 hours and then decanted for another 2 hours. This could have used a bit more time. Still tight, but shows a lot of dark fruit, bell pepper, and some secondary notes. This is going to have a very long life.
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8/4/2022 - AaronMaxwell Likes this wine: 96 Points
This was unanimously voted the best of the 3 2005 bordeaux's we had last night - beating the Ducru and the Montrose (barely).
Showing with a lot of strength and needing a lot of air. The last glass was the best :)
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7/1/2022 - wren460 Likes this wine: 93 Points
After 4 hours of decanting it was still somewhat closed. Very dry, super dry, with lots of blackberries and dark fruit. A lot of tobacco in the nose but not in the mouth. To be honest an even though I loved the wine, I think that it needs many more years in the cellar. I think that at least it needs 5+ years and thats what I am going to do with the other Cos that I have. It seems 05 Bdx is still not ready and it is still closed as North Korea is
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6/28/2022 - wineismylife wrote: 94 Points
WIML94
Tasted non blind.
Garnet to dark garnet color in the glass, clear looking throughout. Nose of aspirin, Graham crackers, plums and wet stones. Flavors of black cherries, plums and raspberries. Bright acidity, firm tannin, full bodied. Drink with air or hold.
Jose Rodriguez Memorial Dinner
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6/25/2022 - VoteferPedro Likes this wine:
Opened at 730 Am
decanted at 530 PM
served at 730 PM
On decant this had a significant amount of sediment which was a beautiful obsidian crystal. The wine felt lean and tannic at service but began unfurling closer to 930 (alas the last drops at that point)
There was a richness and a strawberry note to the fruit and lengthy finish that complemented the fillet of beef. For me this is just getting near ready and perhaps would go for 4-6 hour decant next time vs 5 more years. This outclassed the 2005 Leoville Poyferre along side but was a half step behind a 2012 Ridge Monte Bello drinking en pointe
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6/24/2022 - MuddyBear Likes this wine: 96 Points
PNP two bottles. One was corked. Other was one of the WOTN in a great lineup. Great balance. Perfectly in the window. Wish I had more.
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6/24/2022 - MuddyBear wrote: flawed
Corked
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6/6/2022 - Miceri Likes this wine: 95 Points
Medium dark red; sweet nose, licorice; mild, soft, rich attack, ripe mulberries; long intense aftertaste with some mild tannins and sweetness
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5/30/2022 - rmalloy Likes this wine: 92 Points
My reviews of this wine have been inconsistent. Last review, I scored it 97. Today, tasting blind, I was less enthused, though still pleased. The wine was obviously very good, with heady black fruit, black olive, and cedar aromas. But I found it flabby due to low acidity and pyrazine bite. It didn’t seem to have great weight either. I thought Bordeaux from first sip, but incorrectly guessed right bank.
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5/30/2022 - Jeff Leve wrote: 96 Points
Firm, full-bodied, powerful, concentrated, youthful, and tannic, it is going to take at least another 5 years in the cellar before this becomes entirely civilized, dropping more of its strict nature so you can enjoy all the ripe currants, blackberries, spice, and earthy nuances. From there, you should be able to enjoy this with ease for at least 25 more years.
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5/20/2022 - overkloud wrote: 92 Points
Great nose, ripe blackberry on the nose with milk chocolate jumping out of the glass.
There is good fruit consistent on the mid palate however towards the end, the wine collapses with hints of bitterness which comes presumably with over-extraction. very mediocre finish that didn't last.
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5/20/2022 - Oskiwawa wrote:
Opened and let breathe in the bottle for 4 hours. Dark red color with no real signs of age. Reticent nose. Dark red fruits on the palate. Good acidity. Tannins are still going strong. This needs 10 more years in the cellar or a 6 hour full decant. Very good now with lots of potential. I would put these in the back racks for a least 5 years before trying another.
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5/19/2022 - petitblanc wrote:
A Celebration of Jose; 5/19/2022-5/21/2022 (Madison, WI): Still so young, a bit medicinal next to the LLC, with clamping tannins. Not scored.
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5/15/2022 - spendergast Likes this wine: 98 Points
This is the first bottle I've tried from a case of 2005. A wonderful wine with notes of raspberry, cassis, plum, and hint of spice and cedar. Great balance with well integrated tannins, finish goes on forever. Paired beautifully with grilled antelope chops with a port wine reduction sauce.
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5/14/2022 - Darwine Likes this wine: 98 Points
This wine opened u nicely on 90 minutes. The changes in the glass over time was mysteriously enthralling. Nose of graphite and some floral essence of lavender with a nice background of dark fruit. The flavors followed with dark fruit flavors of blackberry, maybe dark plum and a kick of cassis. The finish was flush with almost sweet tannins and a dry extension. The layered fruit and acid to tannin balance left you with a beautiful long finish of dark fruit and graphite overtones with vanilla.
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5/7/2022 - Édifice wrote: 97 Points
Fantastic bouquet with ripe berries, spices, mint, lead pencil, undergrowth. Lush, silky palate of ripe, juicy berries, nice line of acidity, tons of spices, tangy bitterness, leading to a long finish. Extremely balanced, ready the first night, no need to wait … yet slightly improved on day 2 …
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4/17/2022 - AlexPS Likes this wine: 95 Points
Decanted and let sit for 4 hrs. Hindsight, I don't think it needs it. I'd probably just let it breathe in the glass and bottle for 15-30 min and enjoy it with dinner. Nose: very good 8/10. Palate: 9/10. Medium body. Blackberries, licorice, some wood and hint of tea. Flowers. Very soft tannin. Medium-low acidity. Finish: 9/10. Price: 8/10 ($220 in 2021 with promotion). Enjoyment: 9/10. Drink now. Would buy again: yes. Delicious.
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4/4/2022 - Turtlerider Likes this wine:
Ordered in from the Keg and decanted this about and hour before the food arrived. Great bottle. Really enjoyed this with Michelle and AJ.
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3/16/2022 - jefiset wrote:
Beaucoup trop jeune encore.
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3/7/2022 - Ex-Ray wrote: 96 Points
Tasted blind with three of my neighbors. I thought it was a Cal cab. Still quite youthful, with dark garnet, opaque color, and dark fruit aromas and flavors, it's very enjoyable now but will benefit from more time in the cellar. I'd put this away for another five years and try again, but it's a great wine!
Ric
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2/26/2022 - KTelaak_Buffalo Likes this wine: 95 Points
My 2nd bottle of this and what a dramatic difference. Power, depth, really interesting!! This was really enjoyable!
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2/11/2022 - Lipsman Likes this wine: 96 Points
Almost black until held to light, then it unveils a bright crystalline, garnet color. The wine is lush and pure with intense dark fruit flavors, like a plum dipped in licorice cola. Levels of complexity engage the palate as it unwinds for minutes. No signs of bricking, this will age for years—but why wait?
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1/31/2022 - dream Likes this wine: 93 Points
Youthful for sure with a lovely Bordeaux nuttiness developing on the nose and palate. Quite rich and ripe but I can discern the classic Cos notes of Asian spices and the darkest scorched earth. Deep black fruits kick in and the finish is firm and complex with notes of sweet road tar, smoky minerals and more exotic spices. Not the most classic '05 given its plush character but one that is drinking well now. 93+
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1/17/2022 - mchern02 wrote: 94 Points
2 Hour Decant
A slight step behind the last bottle I had about a year ago. Opens with beautiful nose of dark ripe fruit, cigar wrapper, leather, smoke, chocolate, and a hint of anise. Sweet and lush on the palate, with a bit less acid and way more mature and soft tannins than I recollect. Finish is open, mature and attractive with nice density and length.
Quite nice, but didn't reach the levels of the last bottle I had; certainly more open than a lot of other 05s are today
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1/5/2022 - Suzyquatro Likes this wine: 95 Points
Aardse en zwarte bosbessen aroma's - Goede tannines in overvloed, geconcentreerd, Mooie lange afdronk. Nog jong !
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12/6/2021 - gouldcampbell77 Likes this wine: 92 Points
Decanted 2 hrs. Dark reddy garnet and a mature nose of fully ripe dark fruits, olives and compost. Only medium weight on the palate but with loads of cool dark concentrated fruit and quite a tannic charge still. Granted this did get better as the evening wore on so I think there's room for upside here.
Have to admit this was a bit of a let down, given the reviews. A good wine for sure but it just seems a bit old-school and very dry and unforgiving at the moment. Typical 2005? Maybe it just needs more time. Much prefer the Pontet Canet '05 at this stage (at half the price).
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12/3/2021 - AB16 Likes this wine: 95 Points
1.5L Mag. Fantastic wine. Luscious fruit, soft acid and wonderful depth of flavors which developed in the glass. 10+ years more runway but drinking beautifully today
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11/15/2021 - tbuysse wrote: 95 Points
Old school Cos. Very powerfull wine with a lot to offer. This likely needs more time, as it kept slowly opening up in the glass. agree : an icon, being a true powerhouse combined with class. Petal de rose, barn, pencil shavings and cassis. This still has easy 10+ years to go.
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8/21/2021 - dream Likes this wine: 94 Points
Beautiful showing for this wine which is softer and more mature than most top '05's. This is a low-acid Bordeaux with a beautiful silky texture and fabulous flavors of dark fruits, sweet tobacco, chocolate, leathers and Asian spices. Lovely bottle and it should stay on this plateau for quite some time.
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8/15/2021 - bobvictor Likes this wine: 94 Points
Revisited 4.5 years later. A notch better. Similar flavor profile - licorice, blackberry, leather. Less viscous than I recall. Still long finish. Many years to go!
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8/2/2021 - BBinSC wrote: 95 Points
When I'm 64
Wine 4
A celebration of a 64th, wines that will still be great on my 64th
95-96
A perplexing Cos!
Reviewed last year from magnum, this wine tasted like it was in early maturity, which surprised me. So a year older and in 750, it should really be open. Not exactly. Yes, the wine is in its drinking window, but early. It's still tannic, dense, and needs coaxing, but man, the effort is worth it. It's so complex and lingers on the finish.
Aging 2040+
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7/5/2021 - VINNICK Likes this wine: 97 Points
Stunning wine. Nose body and finish are all in place. Everything you can expect from great St. Estephe. This one is just starting its drinking window and will continue to age beautifully for many years to come. I did notice the wine open up more and more and just kept getting better and better over the 6 hour period I consumed it.
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7/4/2021 - VinhoVerde Likes this wine: 94 Points
Medium-red purple color. Aromatic cedar/cassis/graphite bouquet. Strong tannins throughout, nevertheless one gets intensely concentrated underlying fruit on the palate. This St. Estephe needs 10+ years of additional bottle age.
Cork pulled 2 hours before serving.
From Mark’s 2005 Bordeaux Vintage Tasting:
Attended a 36 wine ‘05 Bordeaux tasting recently. The wine above is one of those wines. Served single-blind.
All wines were tasted over a 2 day period, 18 per day. The wines served on the 1st day had their corks pulled two hours prior. The second day’s wines were served “ double-decanted”, 2 hours before the first flight. The overall tasting experience was quite different, as one would expect. Day 2 wines were softer, displaying more ripe fruit, and less harsh tannins.
Kudos to Mark for both a fantastic experience as well as providing an instructive opportunity on how the 2005 Bordeaux vintage is showing at this stage.
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6/26/2021 - Eric wrote:
2005 Bordeaux at 16 years courtesy of Mark Taylor; 6/26/2021-6/27/2021 (Atlanta, GA): Deep, cassis. Wow, this just blows me away. Earthy, horsey, concentration, breathtaking. My #1 and the group #3. The conversation at our table had some guessing Margaux, but in the end I settled on Pontet-Canet.
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6/23/2021 - Jeff Leve wrote: 97 Points
Youthful, deep, rich and powerful, the wine is full-bodied, intense, aromatic, rich, lush, long and youthful. The spicy, ripe fruits taste and feel great as they fill your palate. However, it is important to note that the wine requires another 3-5 years in the cellar before it fills out, softens and really comes into its own.
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6/12/2021 - Siebs Cellar Likes this wine: 98 Points
Delicious. Great nose, silky on the palate and the fruit was to die for.
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5/12/2021 - burlingtonm Likes this wine: 95 Points
Revisiting this wine 15 months later, it continues to impress and for me was a standout at a vertical of Cos from 1973 to 2018. Gorgeous with rich, ripe fruit but all in balance. Lots of structure and a few years away from full maturity but this will offer much pleasure for many years to come.
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5/8/2021 - Édifice wrote: 98 Points
Fantastic bouquet of blackberries, slight note of blackcurrant, finest wet tobacco, baking spices, crushed stone, vanilla and almond. Incredible palate of ripe berries, silky, mineral notes, good amount of well integrated acidity, leading to a long finish, with spices, some salinity, echoing for quite some time. Was initially closed first night, opening up, much improved on second night. Needs at least 2-3 more years, but already great the second night in particular. Whilst the 2003 currently has more fun factor, this is so impressive and good already, that I see them as equally strong today, with the 2005 likely to have the edge in a few years.
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4/15/2021 - Elpaninaro wrote:
dark red purple color, muted nose with meat tones, cassis and pepper, on the palate a monolith of closed fruit that- despite its size- seems at present to be a bit warm and carrying a bit much unresolved oak, despite the unfortunate modern tendencies this is a bit of a bruiser like the great vintages of old and that volume could result in a better balanced final outcome, as with the 1986 this seems to be evolving at a glacial pace and I would wait a while before opening another.
(***)+?, 2030++
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3/31/2021 - RayOB wrote: 95 Points
Drank in London
Really opening up and singing
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3/30/2021 - skyblue80 Likes this wine: 96 Points
Recently had two occasions that featured this wine.
1) First one, decanted 5hrs to observe the evolution of the wine. By 2hr, nose started to open, by 3hr, tannin started to soft. However, the wines are just not ready until 4.5hrs. After which, the tannic was extremely soft and elegant. Nose fully of cedar, pepper, spice with warmth and vivacity. Finishing was long and memorable. Voted VOTN against PC, LLC, Opus One of similar vintages.
2) Second one was opened in bottle for 5hr followed by 1hr decant, still quite closed and you can feel the intense warmth and complexity after about 15mins in glass. A slightly lesser bottle compare to the 1st one.
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2/7/2021 - KTelaak_Buffalo Likes this wine: 95 Points
Decanted for 4 hours. Gained some fruit and softened tannins. Definitely elegant and not powerful or fruit forward.
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1/28/2021 - raj1606 wrote: 94 Points
Needs at least 4 hours to decant. But wow, what a difference that makes!
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1/11/2021 - grapist wrote: flawed
Cooked. From my cellar and selected for my 75th birthday. Damned shame.
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1/10/2021 - rmalloy Likes this wine: 97 Points
This wine is dreamy good. The aromas are dynamite -- black cherries, prunes, black olives, melted licorice, cedar, and porcini mushrooms. It is silky smooth on the palate, with a good balance of fruit weight, fine tannins, and acidity. It is elegant, not massive. It is hard for me to imagine how this wine could improve from here.
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1/1/2021 - Slade Likes this wine: 94 Points
Opened nicely after 90 min
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1/1/2021 - Matt T wrote: 96 Points
From a 375. Decanted for about five hours and this needed it. Tannins are still stiff and this took some time to open. This is a huge wine. Vanilla, oak, tobacco, and slight herbal note on a long finish. Seems like this is just getting started.
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12/25/2020 - rimbaudean wrote: 95 Points
After a rather long 5 hour decant, thanks to an accidental nap, this bottle was no less for wear with lots of graphite and still some cassis--excellently structured with tannins that paired well with lamb chops for Christmas dinner.
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12/24/2020 - BillyT wrote: 94 Points
Score and notes tonight after dinner. This requires substantial time to open and I recommend a 2-3 hour minimum decant. Once open it is stunning and beautifully balanced with good fruit and subtle tannins. Notes of tobacco, dark chocolate, and mushroom. Silky mouth feel with soft round tannins and a solid consistent finish. If there was one note of negativity it would be the lack of the level of complexity I enjoy from this wine. Regardless, outstanding with many years left.
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12/18/2020 - AaronMaxwell Likes this wine: 95 Points
We decided to pair this wine with a rich wagyu truffle carbonara dish.
Rich stewed plums meet nutty cigars and cedar wood on the nose.
The wine drinks on a more savory note with earth, spice, and just a subtle bit of dark berry fruit. It is nicely balanced with medium acidity, but with quick termination in flavor on the finish. At this price point, you might expect the wine to go on and on.
Anyway, after a few hours of decanting, it was still tight — but the fruit was more present. The wine drinks beautifully today, but it can last another 40 years.
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12/13/2020 - Jofie Likes this wine: 97 Points
Stunning wine. Very ripe and full fruit, smooth and silky texture with almost caramel like notes - overall developing secondary notes of tobacco and leather with very long finish. Tannins are fine structured but still very present - the wine needs some more years to reach its peak.
Great experience and remarkable wine!
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11/6/2020 - tmagsmaken wrote: 95 Points
After a blow-out experience with the previous bottle (96 points and one of the best Cos I ever had), I was slightly disappointed with this bottle. It seems like it has closed a little bit at the moment. Even after a 3 hour decant, it remained very tight: the fruit is less powerful on the approach, all the other notes are there but more in the background. On the palate, there is no discussion about the superior quality of this wine. It is so complex, elegant and effortless to drink. The finish is also remarkable. Overall, lovely but I am going to wait a few years for the next bottles.
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10/26/2020 - nynrgtrader@gmail.com Likes this wine: 94 Points
Huge Cabernet with deep, rich ruby color. Floral hints on nose with rich red and black fruits. Powerful notes of cassis, red and black plum, strawberry and blackcurrant palate.
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10/10/2020 - WineGirlOne wrote: 92 Points
Opened up nicely after about an hour decanted. Still shows primary fruit but developing nice secondary aromas - leather, dried tobacco and cocoa. Have 3 more bottles that will drink over the next 10 years.
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10/4/2020 - bugdoced Likes this wine: 95 Points
WOTN for me
needed a 2 hour decant before the rough edges turned into an ethereal drinking experience
fantastic nose then dark berries then french earth that integrated and evolved over the next 2 hours
of course years of life left
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9/4/2020 - soyhead wrote:
nose- brambleberry, toast, brown sugar
mouth - complex, lively and exciting bitter red and dark fruits secondarily ripe flavors of dates, and coffee. lots of fruit power here, and while it drinks well now, it has years and years to go. tasted against the 05 montrose and this wine was less evolved. Hold.
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8/1/2020 - BBinSC wrote: 96 Points
95-97: from magnum
When I initially saw the magnum, I winced. I was afraid this wine would be too fresh and impenetrable. Imagine my surprise at the first swirl and a rush of tobacco and kirsch met me. Palate was velvety, like a sweet tobacco leaf. Finish went on for ages. The tannins were surprisingly in check. Clearly the vintage helped, but I'd also say Cos refined their style from the 90s, producing a fantastic experience that truly challenges all comers in Bordeaux. Magnificent.
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6/27/2020 - RonniePiemonte wrote: 94 Points
Unctuous nose. Kirsch and tobacco. Silky powerful tannins.
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5/30/2020 - Lipsman wrote: 96 Points
Oh yeah. This is firing on all cylinders with plenty of upside to go. Lush and sexy, supple tannins, long complex finish, intense cherries, earthy elements, anise, and that intoxicating aroma. This wine has everything. Do not decant. Allow it to unwind in the glass. So many 2005 Bordeaux wines are showing this ultra lush profile. Drink now through 2030, but do start opening bottles now.
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5/27/2020 - Collector1855 wrote: 93 Points
Tasted blind. The nose leads with Maggi beef stock and lots of dark fruit, a touch of menthol as well. Very modern, very Merlot. The group guessed 2005 Pomerol. Clearly a wine from the full throttle era of Cos.
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5/25/2020 - pinoteer Likes this wine: 95 Points
Had to open one of these for my birthday. Initially, after decanting, the aromas and flavors were muted, but with a very velvety mouthfeel. At the 3-hr mark, it really began to open, with noticeable acidity and tannins that made the fruit flavors explode in your mouth. Creme de cassis, plums, boysenberry, vanilla, and milk chocolate show up on the palate. Tannins haven't rounded yet, so I'm guessing it will be a few more years before this wine hits its stride. 94-95 right now, with 2-3 points upside potential. Although, I always wonder how much knowing the pedigree and price of a wine influences my level of appreciation and numerical scoring.
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5/24/2020 - tmagsmaken Likes this wine: 96 Points
One of the best Cos I have ever tasted. When decanting, you are immediately struck by the intensity and the purity of the black fruit (blackcurrant and dark cherry) in the nose. After a 3 hour decant, the nose developed beautifully, and the fruit was complemented with liquorice, cedar, and graphite. On the palate, this was a joy, juicy, completely balanced and not dipping at all. Enormous length. A combination of class and power.
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5/15/2020 - Vinewanderers Likes this wine: 90 Points
From half bottle. The 2005 Cos d’Estournel was, in my opinion, one of the best vintages for Cos in the past 20 years, and this little half bottle did not disappoint. It had the usual graphite, spice box, brambles, balsamic, cedar and cassis. It is still powerful, with a strong finish, and will easily mature for another decade or more.
Grade: A− (Top 5%)
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5/1/2020 - Bob23 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Graphite, black fruit, and meat on the palate - classic French cab in profile, with enough fruit to satisfy an American like me. It’s really tasty, with maybe another point or two to gain as it ages and integrates a little further. I’ve had 30+ year old Cos that was silky - this isn’t there yet, but it’s headed in a lovely direction. I’ll leave my other bottles alone for at least 3-4 more years.
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4/24/2020 - kfrench150 Likes this wine: 95 Points
Last had this 4.5 years ago and said it needed more time. Let's see how it is now. Decanted for about 2 hrs to start. Pure clear dark ruby red in colour. Lovely maturing and complex nose of black raspberry, black currant, boysenberry, sandalwood, anise, game, black currant leaf, camphor, limestone and more. Despite the complexity and emerging tertiary notes, the overall olfactory impression is one of freshness and purity. The bouquet really draws you in! On the palate it is medium bodied, dry and has elevated acidity but there is still lots of fruit there to flesh out the body. Sweet fruit entry of black currant, blackberry, black currant leaf, strong black tea, a bit of chalk, cedar bark, old leather and graphite. The finish is dry and the tannins are still abundant yet finely sanded. The acidity is a bit elevated which makes this a great food wine. It finishes medium long. A silky wine. Sheer class! This is still not fully mature and I would be tempered to leave it another 5 years or so before trying again.
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4/17/2020 - dream Likes this wine: 93 Points
Lovely nose of earthy dark fruit and Asian spices. More giving on the palate than I expected with a striking velvety texture and delicious flavors of black fruits, sweet dark soil and violet spice. Medium-bodied with very supple tannins that lead to a beautiful spice-driven finish already showing a fine complexity with a grippy mineral edge and a hint of aged nuttiness. A really velvety Bordeaux that’s a bit atypical for an ’05 although the tannins are there and this will clearly continue to develop over the next two decades. 93+
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3/14/2020 - WineGuyFL wrote: 92 Points
The last bottle was spectacular. This one was not. It was a little closed and one-dimensional. I noticed another tasting note that expressed similar themes. Open for about 45 minutes followed by a 2 hour decant. Did not improve over the evening after the first sips.
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3/8/2020 - fatboi Likes this wine:
just Jamming... young but so enjoyable.. will get better with time but so fun. dark ruby red
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2/29/2020 - dsimmons Likes this wine: 94 Points
Drank this last night in a vertical including '96,'00,'01, and '05. They were all good but my favorite was the '05. Amazing to me how similar the flavor profiles were with the younger wines having more fruit and the older bottles more secondary flavors of graphite and earth.
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1/30/2020 - ptwu Likes this wine: 96 Points
Drank from magnum bought en primeur. Decanted for two hours. Fantastic and opened up over the dinner. Tannins very mellow.
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1/27/2020 - burlingtonm Likes this wine: 95 Points
One of my two favorites in a vertical of Cos including 1961 and 1982 at Wine Watch. This is already drinking well but has the potential for significant improvement with sweet fruit and great balance.
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1/19/2020 - Zweder wrote: 95 Points
Beautiful bouquet with dark and red berries, oak, cedar, smoke and tobacco. Same impressions on the palate, friendly acidity and tannin as well as a pleasant touch of sweetness. Presents itself more ready than expected, but is really a feast already.
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1/19/2020 - JHSP Likes this wine: 94 Points
After 3 hrs in the glass showed its true beauty - very balanced and silky bourdeaux. However for me too young - it will be much better and even more out of its primary state in another 5-10 years from now. I will have fun 2025+ with it.
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1/1/2020 - maaike2 wrote: 92 Points
Two hours in decanter. Extremely easy drinkable, soft, harmonious, and at the end a lot of soft tannins. Yet Lacking noble features. Hope it is closed. And, let us see tomorrow!
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12/21/2019 - CabIsKing wrote: 96 Points
Huge nose with a lingering finish. Top notch Bordeaux.
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12/2/2019 - vvWine.ch Likes this wine: 95 Points
2005, Château Cos d’Estournel, Saint-Estèphe, Bordeaux, Frankreich. Diesen Wein haben wir am Vorabend im privaten Rahmen mit Diego Mathier und André Seiler verkosten dürfen. Kräftiges Rubin. Die Nase zeigt eine sehr gute Komplexität, Weihnachtsgewürze, dunkle Kirschen, schwarze Johannisbeeren, Leder, Zedernholz, eingemachte Pflaume, viele Kräuter etwas Kaffee. Der Gaumen ist kräftig, vollmundig, wahrlich ein Mund voll Wein mit ausgezeichneter Struktur, viel reifem Gerbstoff, der Wein zeigt Schmelz und Fülle, bleibt dabei mit seiner guten Säure frisch, im Abgang ausgesprochen lang, mit einer Spur Hitzigkeit die mitschwingt, endet auf eine Cos-typische, exotische Würze. Unbedingt warten und dieses kleine Weinmonument ab 2025-2040+ geniessen. 19 vvPunkte (95/100). vvWine.ch
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11/28/2019 - novocane Likes this wine: 96 Points
Delicious! Decanted in bottle 3 hours before sipping, then drank with dinner, about 6.5 hours later. Medium garnet. At 3 hours, the nose was ripe red berries & cherry tomatoes. After opening up 6.5 hours, the nose is intense blueberries perhaps with a little licorice. The initial 3hr sip showed notes of muted cherries, cherry tomatoes, with forest floor, tobacco and a back of light cedar and graphite. By 6.5 hours, this became a slightly sweet, fruit forward wine with strong blueberry and blackberry taste; with creme de cassis and cedar on the back. A very different flavor profile. Balanced acidity. Lots of tannins present, but this can be drunk now. Some similarities with '05 Leoville Barton, though this one is better.
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11/27/2019 - melzar wrote: 93 Points
Decanted several hours before, and returned to bottle. This wine is drinkable now, but tannin dominates the fruit. This wine is just a baby waiting to evolve into something special. Nice nose, palate and finish. For currant drinking, the '03 Cos is much more approachable. It seemingly never shut down, and is currently much more evolved. With time, the '05 will evolve positively to become the better wine. Hold this one 5 more years unless you have multiple bottles.
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11/16/2019 - dream Likes this wine: 94 Points
This is ripe and dark fruited with a silky, full texture and delicious flavors of graphite and floral spices. Young yet but showing a lot for an ‘05 with big but supple tannins and a lingering Asian spice and asphalt complexity. Perhaps 5+ years to enter it’s optimal drinking window. Very Cos. 94+
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11/14/2019 - Ary Likes this wine: 95 Points
A Rockstar and a step up from vintages as 1996, 2000 and 2003. Bright dark-purple color. Dark berries, iron, graphite, smoke, licorice and eucalyptus. Typical Saint-Estèphe/ Cos' exotic nose. Full-bodied, highly concentrated and complex on the palate. Jammy berries, cherries, lavender and some cedar notes. Fiercely intense and long lingering finish with big and supple tannin. Needs some more time to further integrate and shed some tannin. 95+ for now and will certainly gain more points with time.
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11/7/2019 - englishman's claret wrote: 95 Points
Right out of the bottle, this shows a classically ripe, blackberry and blueberry compote nose with cedar, leather, and loam. But this clamps down quite shortly thereafter and never really re-emerges fully, though the palate retains its impressive muscle. The finish is long and deep, which bodes very well for the future. 95(?+)
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10/22/2019 - yeti575rider wrote: 94 Points
75 Years of Zachys (DC) (LongView Gallery Washington DC): Real treat to try this. Starting to really awaken, nose was really alive in a good way. Cant say I can describe but definitely not in a funky way. Surprisingly approachable.
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10/20/2019 - fortheloveoflife wrote: 93 Points
Tasted along side the 2012 and this wine clearly won because of the balance of flavors. Showing no clear signs of aging and still drinking like a pretty young Cos d'estournel.
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10/19/2019 - Jeff Leve wrote: 98 Points
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.
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10/6/2019 - acyso wrote: 83 Points
Vinetasters: 2005 Bordeaux 2nd Growths (Skokie, IL): Served double blind. Probably something of a modernist persuasion, this shows overripe notes on the nose and palate. The fruit is dried out but there is interestingly enough a little bit of pyrazine on the palate. The tannins are coarse and young, and this is a wine that needs more time for integration. Finishes with a slight bitterness too. Just not particularly enjoyable at this point. My 10th, group's 5th.
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9/4/2019 - Quiet Lion wrote: flawed
Severely corked, so much so that one sip wrecked my palate for an hour with chemical aftertastes.
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8/2/2019 - CheviotCellar Likes this wine: 95 Points
***RATING 300***
Good after short decant but even better with 1.5-2 hours. Nose has black cherry, prune, walnut, caramel, chocolate, leather and raisin. Very classic profile, riper dark plum, fully integrated tannins that gain weight with more air. The wine continues to evolve and gain strength, sending waves of dark berries, cherry chocolate and other flavors. Long finish. A delicious experience.
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7/12/2019 - AJCM Likes this wine: 92 Points
It opened up after about 2h decant. It was pretty good but how log do I have to wait until I can fully taste a French wine? It’s a 14 year old bottle!!
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6/22/2019 - drdan8 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Removed from a 54 degree active cellar and transferred to wide bowl for 90 minutes to allow aeration and achieve a more suitable drinking temperature. Poured to an Italesse universal red wine stem. A deep Crimson/ purple color.
Just a beautiful and aristocratic nose on this toddler. Fresh cedar, strawberry jam, pencil lead, bright red fruit, menthol, and hints of charcoal. Very light browning to the rim. There's just a hint of very pleasant Bordeaux funk/ animale in the bouquet.
Very vibrant and young on the palate hinting that this could last/improve for another 15 years. Still primary fruit forward with subtle hints of mushroom/umami waiting to reveal themselves. Primary red fruit, plum skin, menthol overtones, and coffee bean at this stage. Not getting much ( if any) black fruit or chocolate expression.
Tannin feels aristocratic with nice back end grip. There is adequate acid and structure here to prolong this young bucks life.
Although my palate is gravitating more towards older Barolo and aged Napa mountain wines, the 2005 Cos d'E reminded me of the charm and brilliance of great Bordeaux with a hint of time on its side.
Hold for 5-10 years for even better pleasure to let the secondary/tertiary nuance emerge.
Sorry.. Not really sorry.. Ok sorry.. Though not really sorry I opened it early. Paired with a simple Italian aged Salumi and Manchego cheese plate with water crackers. A fabulous Cos that I should have waited on.
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6/16/2019 - MTwine66 wrote: 95 Points
Classic Bordeaux nose with some funk. Complex on palate with red licorice, cherries and some cedar. Still lot of structure and could age 10 more years.
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6/2/2019 - rmalloy wrote:
I would age this for much longer. While the nose of roses, licorice, cassis, and wood was pretty, the wine was bitter and tannic, and I found the taste profile more jarring than delicious. I did call it correctly as Left-Bank Bordeaux tasting blindly, mostly by process of elimination. It was obviously a big, serious wine; it just wasn’t very tasty.
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5/22/2019 - drjb Likes this wine: 95 Points
Wine Group Dinner #168 - 2005 Bordeaux Part 1 (Urbane Restaurant, Brisbane): Wine Group dinner #168, Urbane. The 05 Cos is a superb wine with a dense crimson colour and an exotic nose of blackcurrant, dark fleshed plums, BBQ smoke, charcoal and tobacco. The palate is rich yet held in check by a lovely texture and freshness that defines 2005. The length is a real highlight and while I preferred the purity of the Montrose its very much an observation of personal preference.
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5/19/2019 - Actarus Likes this wine: 95 Points
Great wine. Well balanced silky, subtile, long... Everything I like
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5/16/2019 - mchern02 wrote: 96 Points
This is a smoking awesome wine!
Popped, tasted and two hour decant.
Gorgeous bouquet of black fruit, anise, smoke, coffee, and violet
Enormous power structure and finesse on palate. Lovely acidity and wound up but revealing a beautiful body.
Mouth coating minerality and sweet lucious tannins with great length.
This is the top wine I’ve had in a while.
It’s young, gorgeous approachable but has the pedigree to go twenty plus more years.
Buying more now
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5/16/2019 - gouldcampbell77 wrote: flawed
Slightly dirty aromas on the nose. An advanced garnet / brown colour when poured. Grubby fruit then a wall of tannin. Flawed, surely...
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5/13/2019 - Xavier Auerbach wrote: 93 Points
Margaux / Saint-Julien 2005 tasting (with many other wines too) (Restaurant Vineum, Rotterdam, NL): Tasted blind. Quite concentrated colour, starting to brown at the edges; ripe phenolics, well wrapped oak, mouthfilling, marries freshness and ripeness, hard to pin down, many people (including me) thought this was right bank. But a complete and convincing wine.
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5/13/2019 - dvansteenderen Likes this wine: 94 Points
Tasted blind. We knew there was a pirate in a flight of 2005 Margaux. I identified it as a pirate correctly, however was thinking of Pauillac and not St. Estèphe. The taste is very complete, everything tied together nicely (tannins, oak, fruit, secondary aromas) but the aftertaste perhaps a bit too short for this level of wine...
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5/10/2019 - JJYoyo Likes this wine: 96 Points
Stunning nose firing on all cylinders: tar, cassis, autumn leaves, pencil lead, pomegranate. Massive tannins only beginning to calm down. Long long long life ahead for this one and yes the fruit will be there forever.
Score: 96-97 and only going higher. Relative to expectations: +++
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4/17/2019 - maxima wrote: 93 Points
Tout simplement divin ce claret.
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4/15/2019 - Schiffy Likes this wine: 95 Points
Seamless, perfectly balanced wine with dark blackberry fruit and notes of leather, forest floor and cassis. Absolutely needs a two hour decant to enjoy all its secondary flavors. Drinking very well right now and could get even better.
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4/15/2019 - bugdoced Likes this wine: 99 Points
a perfect bottle in almost every way
a special experience when every sip changes and evolves in magical ways
still has tannins for the long haul but beautifully integrated this evening with fruit dancing and darting between sips
a magical night at Entente
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4/7/2019 - steinersing wrote: 95 Points
Drinking these from half bottle now - 2 hours decant helps. Wines are now quite accessible in this format and it has a great pencil shavings nose, length, blackcurrant. of course this is early in its evolution but nothing wrong enjoying these now.
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4/2/2019 - Kevnzworld wrote: 95 Points
Purchased and consumed locally in Paris.
After reading prior notes I decided on a three hour decant.
This is great. It has a good balance of fruit and tannin. Omg, oregano, jammy dark berry, and tobacco. A good finish with a little of that pencil lead minerality. Will wait 3 years to open another bottle, but this drinks well now with decant.
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3/22/2019 - Lindlb Likes this wine: 94 Points
Blind verkostet. Super Frucht; Druck; Mineralisch, man möchte immer wieder riechen. Wird mit Luft immer besser. zum Lutschen. perfektes Trinkanimo. Potential 94-96
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3/10/2019 - unrelenting wrote: 97 Points
way young. pleasing now but so much more. I have 10 left and won't revisit til 2024
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3/5/2019 - Ms. Bubblehead Likes this wine:
Pnp. The wine offered lots of layers on the nose and the palate, quite a structured wine, dark fruits, spices, minerals, it had pretty good grip on the palate and finish was pretty long.
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2/24/2019 - ewsds Likes this wine: 95 Points
WOTN against some esteemed competition from the 2000, 2003 and 2005 vintages. Big dark fruits with substantial underlying structure and a long and excellent finish. Bravo!
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2/8/2019 - Ben Christiansen wrote:
Big rich fruit and power backed.
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2/1/2019 - GranadaPedroAlarcon Likes this wine: 99 Points
This wine has an amazing finish. It does need to be decanted for at least 7 hours. Full body with great aroma. A total joy.
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12/27/2018 - ChinonRouge wrote:
Right now, this is a 90-91 point wine, but it is still developing. Hold off opening this wine if you can. It will be much better in time.
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12/23/2018 - Guzzzler Likes this wine: 96 Points
This still needs time. Decanted for 12 hours, and only just coming round by the time we drank it. After 9 Hours in the decanter it was still extremely tannic, had hardly any nose, and seemed a bit unbalanced. It’s also had a bitterness about the fruit. By 12 hours, this had transformed, but I think there are years to go on this, and at least another five before it is really ready for drinking.
The nose was still rather subdued, but the wind had balanced out, and the fruit came to the fore eventually. Absolutely beautiful, but put it back in the cellar for awhile.
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12/22/2018 - macmac007 Likes this wine: 95 Points
Celebrated a friend's birthday with this beauty. Velvet texture going in, then it spreads out releasing all manner of cassis and sous bois, followed by this wonderful bonus aftertaste -- divine waves of pencil lead on the finish. Extraordinary sophistication way above my usual drinking pay grade -- and yet completely comfortable. (As in, I could get used to this very quickly!) Only reservation is that it's still a tad green. Five more years in the cellar easy.
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12/18/2018 - Mascarello59 Likes this wine: 94 Points
From a somewhat hurried sample. Tight nose concealing cassis, smoke and tobacco aromas. Dry classic taste with more of the tobacco and the dark fruit. Long perfectly balanced finish. A great wine that I would save at least another 5 years, preferably more.
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11/24/2018 - Jeff Leve wrote: 96 Points
Even though this is still holding on to its youth, it is impossible not to see the level of quality found here. Concentrated, deep, long and intense, the fruit offers lift, length, purity and a smoky, spicy, black and blue character. The tannins are polished, but still present. Give this another 5-8 years and it will offer a better experience.
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11/24/2018 - maxima wrote: 93 Points
Pour ma fête!
Vin immense et complexe, sera grand mais déjà magnifique.
Nez terreux avec du cèdre, des fruits rouges, des épices et
des herbes.
En bouche, puissant et dense, belle acidité et fraicheur.
Des cerises, du graphite, du cuir et de la sève.
Les tannins sont chaurnus et bien enrobés.
La finale est interminable avec des relents de menthol.
Grand vin d`un grand millésime.
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11/23/2018 - patwjr wrote: 96 Points
Decanted for 3 hours, rebottled for ride to party & reopened 2 1/2 hours later. Even after this, still youthful. Spice, cassis, dark fruits, oak, minerals. Beautiful nose and taste, just needs many more years to be at its best.
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11/22/2018 - Life At Your Leisure 🍷 Likes this wine: 99 Points
Tasted blind alongside’03 Pichon Lalande; ‘11 Ducru; ‘11 Figeac, and ‘06 Ducru. Immediately I knew what it was and why it stood out. There’s utter purity of fruit, smoothness and elegance to this rendition, although I’ve tasted this just a year earlier and I’d have to say it wasn’t the same. Deep ruby-purple hues turning violet at the rim with a reflective edge. The nose gives off seared meat, forest leaves, and glowing embers amidst black fruits. The palate is formidable, dry and densely packed, vibrant with acidity. Upon further coaxing, secondary flavors of leather, graphite and violets emerge from the core of black currant, cassis and kirsch. Then there are tertiary flavors of cola, tobacco finding their way within the long, mentholated finish. Wow! This is flirting with perfection, and I’ve only given two (2) 100-pointers so far. Drink now with a 1-hr decant until 2045.
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11/20/2018 - SonnyChiba wrote: 96 Points
Incredibly good wine. Needs a long decant if opened now. This wine really has everything you could want. Can’t wait to try these 05’ in another 10 years. 96+
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11/12/2018 - cos65 Likes this wine:
Lovely deep ruby
Very forward perhaps modern styled
Very easy to love now, but could easily hold
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11/11/2018 - Nutty08 Likes this wine:
Yves's Memorial; 11/10/2018-11/11/2018 (MO): Second time with this one. Really impressive. Still has primary red fruits ontop of the considerable tannins. HOLD. But going to be really good.
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10/20/2018 - indiscriminate palate wrote:
Beautiful nose of red and black fruit and vanilla. Great depth of fruit. The oak seems less integrated now than a year ago (or it didn’t bother me as much a year ago which seems more likely). Very nice acid and plenty of young tannin. Still quite primary, but with very pronounced drying oak that will hopefully integrate with time.
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6/1/2018 - BLam Likes this wine: 92 Points
It slightly opened up after one hour decanted. It’s thick thick thick! A good wine but should be approached a decade later.
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4/26/2018 - haluyoung wrote: 92 Points
香气不开放，可能是封闭期了？
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4/25/2018 - lightning wrote: 94 Points
This was surprisingly approachable. A typical left bank Bordeaux, punchy nose of graphite, blackberry and vanilla oak notes; medium to full bodied, dense fruit core shot through with minerals, sex hugging tannins on the end. Really a sense of nobility to this wine, and while can be broached now (especially if you are used to drinking Nebbiolo) there is the fruit and tannic substance for considerable further ageing. Would recommend holding bottles for another 10 years.
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4/8/2018 - soyhead wrote:
delicious, bitter fruit punch, lively and still considerably tannic. This has a long life ahead
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4/3/2018 - Chimer Likes this wine: 96 Points
Fabulous wine, but still very youthful, took an hour to be approachable but still huge structure not yet bedded in. Keep for another 5 years or more
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4/1/2018 - jmoon wrote: 95 Points
Just so good. Deep rich and delicious. Early maturity, years of life ahead, entering its window now. Needed the 3 hour decant.
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3/4/2018 - Argrath wrote: 94 Points
(Cos vertical, half-blind tasting)
Full, still youthful nose with dense black currant, gently oaky, but very mute. Not ready.
Full, impregnable, dense and very youthful palate. Polished, well-structured and very lush fruit. Minty, cassis and very modern. Almost sweet impression. In NW-idiom. Oddly enough quite short finish. Revisit in ten years.
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3/1/2018 - Jeff Leve wrote: 96 Points
It's been a few years since I last tasted this wine, and it has not moved an inch. Firm, tannic, powerful, concentrated and with a deep tannic spice, there is a wall of fruit. The ripe, sweet, dark berries are complicated by the smoke, vanilla, tobacco, tobacco, herbs and red berry notes. There is depth and volume. There is no doubting the quality but the wine comes with a tannic wall that will need a decade , but it's going to require another decade before it softens and takes on additional secondary notes.
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2/28/2018 - daghaug Likes this wine:
Solbær og litt kjøtt på lukt. Rund og fin i munnen, med flott fruktintensitet. Betydelig kortere ettersmak bak i munnen enn 1989 og 2001, men blir mer sittende framme i munnen. Også mildere syre enn 1989 og 2001, men likevel veldig frisk - mange hakk over 2001 i så henseende. Akkurat nå er den derimot ikke særlig kompleks, men fruktdybden taler for at dette kan lagres lenge og bli veldig bra.
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2/13/2018 - Sauvyfan Likes this wine: 95 Points
Incredibly youthful at this point. Open for business, but yet to develop the secondary notes. Still vibrant purple. Complex nose, generous mid-palate that is awash in fruit, smoke, cedar and creosote. The finish is the tell-tale sign that this is not at its peak. Finish is a bit aggressive. Not what you would expect from the nose, tongue or mid. This could go on for 30-40 more years, and still improve.
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1/28/2018 - jmoon Likes this wine: 93 Points
Wonderful after a 5 hour splash decant. Deep dark and delicious. Amazing wine which will only improve
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1/20/2018 - G_H wrote: 96 Points
A Cappella (Martin‘s House): Mokka, coffee, sauce cumberland, incredibly warm, very long. Stunning!
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12/25/2017 - PDavisMarble wrote: 95 Points
Decanted for 1 hour. Blood red. Rich dark fruits and spice. An undertone of currants and beef drippings. This is a complex, beautiful wine that is nowhere near peak, but drinking well now.
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10/27/2017 - Frijole wrote:
deep dark burgundy red, opaque, ruby hue
Nose: blackberries, cassis, cedar, cigar, tobacco, bitter chocolate, green pepper, stem, minerals, oak
Pal: blackberries, cassis, cedar, cigar, tobacco, tar, bitter chocolate, minerals, vanilla, clove, dust, stem, forest, vanilla, tannins oak, some complexity
Feel: full, rustic, savory, acidic
Finish: long
T9
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10/24/2017 - dream Likes this wine: 94 Points
Dark, brooding color. Deep nose of black road tar, sweet dark fruits and graphite minerals. Quite thick and grippy on the palate with flavors of tar, asphalt, sweet blackberry and coal-dust. There’s a wall of tannins on the finish but they are fine-grained and balanced by the substantial material underneath. This needs time but there’s nothing overripe or overdone here and I think this will develop into a fabulous Cos in time. Drinkable now with a long decant and a large chunk of meat to soften the tannins. 94+
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10/13/2017 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Wow - much more open for business than I expected. It's very nice with lots of red fruits and decent tannins and hint of that dustiness that comes through from time to time. Fairly approachable although that could be because the wine was in the glass for around 2 hours before I got to it. But this is clearly a good one and has a nice life ahead.
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10/11/2017 - Jmf17 Likes this wine: 94 Points
I had the 1982 in 1995 and remember it vividly, as if it were yesterday. This 2005 is delightful. From the first nose, the first taste through the last drop one gains more and more confidence in this vintage. It enhanced every course of my dinner at Il Tinello in Manhattan, one of my favorite haunts in all the world. John and Daniel had it waiting on my table when I arrived.
The nose is nirvana.
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10/7/2017 - BillyT wrote: 93 Points
Again, another reason to drink Bordeaux. At dinner so few notes. Typical St. Estephe terroir on the nose, beautiful color to the rim showing no sign of age. Medium to full legs. Palate silky, velvety smooth with chocaolate, moca and dark fruit with balance, still good acidity and though the tannins were well integrated the wine remains highly agreeable. I'm guessing 5-10 years more. Young and may be just now entering the start of a good drinking window.
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9/14/2017 - GrapeScott wrote: 92 Points
From Cos vertical dinner at Mulino in Raleigh. Hard to judge this baby even after double decanting, it seemed to give only a hint of its potential. Still, easily outclassed by classic vintages such as '00, '95 and '88. Will the new modern style age as well as its predecessors? Only time will tell, but this vintage seems a bit too big, smooth and spoofy for my tastes.
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8/8/2017 - ungerto Likes this wine: 97 Points
Top nose, excellent wine
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5/20/2017 - indiscriminate palate wrote:
Very promising. Red fruit and nicely incorporated wood. After an hour decant, this is showing mostly primary character, but beautiful structure and depth. Lovely.
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4/17/2017 - NickP Likes this wine: 95 Points
This is the first '05 Cos I opened (i only have 4) and it was worth the wait. Great body, beautiful nose, well balanced fruit, tannin, acid. Long finish and this wine will live for quite a few more years - though not sure how long I'll wait before opening more bottles. One of my first classic wines going back to my early days of loving wine in the '70s.
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4/14/2017 - FamilyLarsson wrote: 95 Points
Otroligt bra vin. Kraftfullt med massor av allt och ändå så otroligt elegant
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3/15/2017 - Quicksand1975 Likes this wine: 98 Points
The bottle was opened 2 hours in advance and decanted for one hour before the tasting.
Really impressive, complex and powerful wine with a lot of black berries and fruits, chocolate and seet spices on the nose and on the palate. Well structured. The tannines are a little bit dry to call that wine absolutely perfect.
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3/4/2017 - pakabear Likes this wine: 96 Points
Initially a little tight, after running it through an aerating decanter and giving it 30 min the one really started coming through and the wine started singing. Black and red fruits galore, cooking spices, a good amount of classic Bordeaux funk, cassis liquor and red currants. Medium + to Full bodied with a lush mouthfeel, backend tannins are still abound but have really started to integrate. No hurry as this will keep improving for 5-10 years but it's very good now.
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2/23/2017 - moods wrote: 94 Points
Cos d'Estournel Tasting (Waterford Wines, Milwaukee): Initially closed. Dark fruit aromas, vanilla hints, some creamy sweetness. Rounded, opulent feel. Beautiful ripe fruit. Tannic finish. Long. Great stuff!
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2/23/2017 - Ben Christiansen wrote:
Riper, fuller, more concentration than 2004 that we just tasted, lots of spice, very dark, smells rather amazing, And yes, on the palate, really delicious if just a touch oxidative.
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2/18/2017 - bobvictor Likes this wine: 93 Points
Rich purple in color and great harmony on the nose. Tannins still holding the blackberry, licorice, porcini mushrooms back. Light velvet with a long finish. Revisit in 3 or more years.
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2/16/2017 - ruchottalex Likes this wine: 96 Points
This is so good right now, just starting to turn to secondary notes but still has good dark fruit notes as well. Don't be shy about drinking now though no hurry
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2/4/2017 - Wine Diplomats Likes this wine: 96 Points
Tasted at Robert Parker's Matter of Taste in Zurich. Lucky for me, the representative was late and they left open bottles for us to pour ourselves. This was my favorite wine of the night. Super-refined. Gorgeous mouthfeel. There's still plenty of tannic grip, albeit sweet tannins, to resolve. It's fruit forward, still rather primary in that sense, and exotic. It's still only going to improve. 96+
https://winediplomats.com/
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1/27/2017 - Romol Likes this wine: 98 Points
Decanted 3,5 hours. Delicious wine! Still pretty young. Did not change much since my last bottle 2 years ago. Has a long life ahed and it will get even better with a few more years. I love it! 98 pts. now.
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1/11/2017 - vinomex wrote: 95 Points
Checking on the Bordeaux '05 Vintage -NYC Wine Tasting Group (New York, NY): Tremendous wine, classy, lots of structure, elegance, fine tanins, balanced, fills the mouth, long finish. This wine is a baby but very drinkable now, lots of upside, so I am basing my rating on where it is now vs where its going to be in the coming years, I would drink again in about 3 years.
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12/14/2016 - SonnyChiba wrote:
Drank from a salmanazar, very young and tight. Too early for this format, tasted like it could have been bottled yesterday. Curious to try from a 750ml. Hard to evaluate overall, but seems to have good potential. A bit modern in style.
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11/27/2016 - S&A Likes this wine: 99 Points
Ein fast perfekter Wein, einzig die Zeit wird noch schön daran feilen. Es ist viel gesagt worden und Geschmack ist sicher stets unterschiedlich, allerdings hier gibt es sicher nicht viele andere Meinungen als "Super Wein" ... er darf sicher noch etwas Reife bekommen ...allerdings bis dahin bleibt mir noch ne Flasche übrig :)
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11/22/2016 - Eric Guido Likes this wine: 96 Points
The bouquet was dark and incredibly beautiful, with crushed raspberry, dried citrus, espresso and mint, savory spices, dark florals and smoke. On the palate, it displayed silky textures with velvety weight, yet still quite structured, as dense red fruits saturated the senses, along with spice, mocha, sweet herbs, and minerals. The finish was long with palate-staining fruits, fine-coating tannin, and a hint of citrus
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10/22/2016 - Old Vino Likes this wine: 96 Points
magic aromas. tons of fruit. so profound. tannins and acidity should carry it for decades. this should now reside for 2 decades at a distant corner in a cold cellar!! Re-try after 2025
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9/17/2016 - SlimShaney Likes this wine: 93 Points
Very nicely balanced wine with an initial impression of charred mulberry then evolving to a finessed balance of tannic dryness and fresh acidity. The body is perfectly weighted to feel susbstantial but not heavy.
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7/15/2016 - JulianSkeels Likes this wine: 96 Points
Poured a glass to test, leaving it for 90mins. Brighter coloured than expected. Blackberry-dominated, with plum, cocktail cherry, five-spice, sage and more leather than expected on the nose at this stage. Very fine, ripe but firm tannins (something I now associate with 2005) and lovely persistent chocolate finish. The front end is very concentrated and, whilst fresh, a little tough to drink at this stage - much riper and sweeter than I expected, and really needs another 10yrs (ideally 20-30 since this will improve and age for decades). Drink 2025-2040. Will compare with a glass of 1990 Cos (another ripe year) later. 96-98pts.
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5/22/2016 - Francois Le Mouel Likes this wine: 92 Points
After reading all the amazing reviews, I was expecting something truly special. Yes it is excellent, but it's not fabulous like many have reported. I decanted it about three hours before dinner and it peaked at approximately 4 hours...Very classic, it reminded me of the 1996, but with less intensity. Tannins are very smooth, but it lacks two attributes: intensity and length. On the other hand, it's perfectly balanced. Unfortunately, it's absolutely not worth the price...Very disappointed.
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5/7/2016 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Epic night (Ruth's Chris Parsippany): I really thought this would be like the Smith Haut Lafite and too young, but it was coming into its own and seemed in a really nice spot. Not that it's not terribly young, but the decant opened up the flavors and had some great black currant, leather, clove going. Very good wine.
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4/28/2016 - Ramberg wrote: 96 Points
Nose with red currant, cherries, cassis, smoke, dusty gravel, lead pencil, dry graphite, cedar wood, some nice herbs and spices.
Palate shows sappy and rich dark fruit, dusty minerals, cedar wood and tobacco leafs, spices and minerals.
Great structure and length.
Has something 1996 over it, and it felt much more mature tonight than I would have guessed for a 2005, so my blind guess ended up with 1996 and Margaux (with a runner up guess of Cos - 1996), because of some kind of ingredient that made me associate towards that?
A fantastic wine in the making, great already tonight, but with long way to go.
Has all that's needed in order to make it all the way, 30 - 40+ years.
(96 – 98+)
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4/25/2016 - RayOB Likes this wine: 95 Points
Drank in London
Fully open and singing beautifully. Classic Cos notes with a wonderful depth and peacock tail on the the palate. Lovely.
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4/18/2016 - bobadopolis Likes this wine:
On Terry's Birthday. Super tannic, but with solid fruit backbone. This wine is an infant, but has the makings to be spectacular if left to slumber for a decade or 2. Next bottle April 18, 2026.
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4/13/2016 - cos65 Likes this wine:
Really quite lovely right now, tons of stuffing and sweet tannins. Totally approachable and enjoyable now, but has the bones for long life.
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4/13/2016 - Nutty08 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Return to San Antonio III - barolo/bordeaux (Mike O): Much more approachable than anticipated though the tannins were very prominent but polished. St Estephe character still comes through with a little herbal character mixed in with toasty dark fruit. Lots of depth here, need at least another decade.
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4/5/2016 - WineGuyFL Likes this wine: 95 Points
Very enjoyable.....a crowd pleaser at a dinner party. Decanted about 2 and a half hours. However, this is a young wine and should improve significantly over time.
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4/5/2016 - galewskj wrote: 92 Points
Bordeaux (John's house): Higher alcohol. Either very modern or simply too young. Still full of stuffing, needs 5+ years. Flashy and appealing, not traditional Bordeaux.
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4/1/2016 - 3daywinereview.com wrote: 94 Points
No Fools Today (Minneapolis): Very modern but very good. Cherry, spices, oak, vanilla and dark fruits. Long finish and super complex wine. Should improve with some age but showing well with an hour plus decant. Groups wine of the night.
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3/15/2016 - MattLA Likes this wine: 96 Points
Drank this next to the 2003 and the 2005 was noticeably better. Very round and lush with the perfect amount of fruit. Great mouth feel from start to finish.
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3/5/2016 - Sonoma-W Likes this wine: 99 Points
Outstanding!
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2/27/2016 - steinersing wrote: 95 Points
Great elegance, velvety, tannins already surprisingly soft.
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2/19/2016 - dream Likes this wine: 95 Points
Very fine ripe nose of blackberries and plums. Needed as much time in a decanter as possible. Quite a full, ripe wine with delicious and somewhat decadent black plum and black currant fruit along with notes of asphalt and minerals. Plenty of acidity here to keep the wine fresh and a strong wall of tannins on the finish. Deeply concentrated and dense with notes of chocolate and Asian spices on the long, complex finish. Pushes to the edge of ripeness in the style of the house at the time but the freshness and firmness of the vintage might have created an all-time great Cos. Only time will tell but this is very fine and very decadent at the same time. 95+
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2/3/2016 - mr_swirl Likes this wine: 94 Points
Cos vertical with Aymeric de Gironde. Great vintage here for Cos. Top wine of the appelation. Layered wine with complex structure and aromas. Great density and length
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1/18/2016 - dcwino wrote: 98 Points
Cos d'Estournel Vertical with Aymeric de Gironde (Ripple Restaurant in DC): The palate was like a barrel sample, so primary, sensual and silky. Intense cool cassis, blackberry liqueur, incense, liquid smoke, lavender and lead pencil. Exceptional concentration but airy and weightless due to perfect balance and incredibly layered fruit, excellent precision, mineral and beautifully integrated sweet tannins and long seamless finish. A monumental wine that will age for 50+ years. Unbelievable balance and precision.
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1/18/2016 - isaacjamesbaker wrote: 98 Points
15 Vintages of Cos d'Estournel (Ripple - Washington, DC): A textbook example of near-perfect Bordeaux, as far as I can tell. Concentrated but elegant aromas, rich black cherry and currant fruit, accented by gorgeous earth, incense, dried floral and complex spice tones. So elegant on the palate despite the firm structure. Seems perfectly balanced between acid, tannin and fruit. Black and hints of red currant, the fruit is so pure and precise, and backed up by curling waves of incense, cedar, fallen leaves, graphite, mocha and cardamom. Simply phenomenal, and I bet it's just getting started. My wine of the night. A real treasure to taste.
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1/16/2016 - dream Likes this wine: 95 Points
Quite young still but very refined with tons of material underneath the big but fairly supple tannins. Classic Cos gravel and black asphalt flavors are apparent and the wine is full bodied but also elegant and balanced. It will be a long time before this is really ready to drink but it has more potential than any Cos I've previously tasted. 95+
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1/10/2016 - nfrenkel wrote:
$200 value.
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12/6/2015 - dsimmons Likes this wine: 96 Points
My first of these and it was pure pleasure. Double decanted about 5 hours before drinking. The wine is still very youthful and will continue to evolve for many years. Currants and other fruit notes, graphite.
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12/3/2015 - DrinkBordeaux wrote: 94 Points
Quite an intense nose, with lots of spiciness. Also showing mocha, ultra-ripe fruit, and floral notes. This is a powerful wine that really leaves a mark on your palate. Still very tannic. Long finish. It's easy to sense the serious potential with this wine, but this wine is nowhere near ready. Will certainly give much more pleasure in the future. Wait 5-10 years on this.
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12/3/2015 - Burgundy Al wrote: 96 Points
HDH Holiday Wine Tasting (HDH Offices - Chicago IL): Tasting, brief note. Tasted twice, first from a bottle open a few hours, later from a bottle popped-and-poured. First bottle showed exceptional black fruit with great spice throughout. A powerhouse wine that is delicious already today. The 2nd bottle was not nearly as forward or accessible, but showed the same great concentration and potential.
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12/3/2015 - acyso wrote: 83 Points
HDH holiday tasting (Chicago, IL): A very unconvincing showing today. Completely closed. Huge and massive, with absolutely nothing pleasurable on the palate. Give it 20 years and pray that the emperor is clothed.
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11/9/2015 - S&A Likes this wine: 97 Points
Perfect made wine.This score for this youngful wine, yes reale still Too Young!
Anyway .. Frist Class balanced wine , smells perfect and Elegance.. what coming in the next 5-10 years?.. If you have a bottle.. be happy this wine will be amazing
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11/9/2015 - MEKWINE Likes this wine: 95 Points
Decanter Masterclass 8 November 2015, with Dimitri Augenblick. Singularly impressive wine on the day. Deep ruby robe. This is a full bodied wine, tobacco, blackcurrants and peppery spices. Elegance with power. More rounded and beguiling than 2006 and equally as cerebral as 2010. Drinking very well now.
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10/29/2015 - acyso wrote: 88 Points
Annual Comparative Bordeaux Tasting (2000/2005) (Chicago, IL): Quite dense on the nose, with a good bit of earth, which also shows on the palate. Very dense on the palate, but it seems like density for density's sake. Sightly sweet, which comes at the expense of acidic freshness.
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10/13/2015 - Ben Christiansen wrote:
Beautifully developed right now. Smells great on the nose. And the palate is compact, but in a beautiful way. That thing has a good amount of life in it.
They used to be around 65% Cabernet, now more 75%-85% because of the maturiation techinque. They still use Merlot because there is a vine of clay on the estate.
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10/12/2015 - JonnyG Likes this wine: 96 Points
A Lovely Board Dinner, Geneva-Style (La Reserve, Geneva): Decanted for two hours at La Reserve in Geneva. A generous contribution from the Chateau owner. I expected something backward and shut down. I couldn't have been more wrong. An exciting, enticing nose of currants and graphite, very perfumed. Deep red fruit and balanced acidity, with waves of flavor through to a long finish displaying ample sweet tannins. Precision, power and finesse all in one. Surely this will pick up a point or two in another decade?!
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10/12/2015 - Burgundy Al wrote: 96 Points
Chateau Cos d'Estournel Dinner (The Bristol - Chicago IL): Wow, lots of black fruit, dark chocolate and sweet spice. A powerhouse on nose and palate, somewhat firm and backward for now on palate, but clearly this will be a showstopper when it fully emerges. For me this seems to have slightly better long-potential vs the 2010 in the next glass.
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8/31/2015 - SO14 Likes this wine: 95 Points
Vertical w 82 at pai lake house
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7/25/2015 - soyhead wrote:
nose - plum and floral
mouth - juicy, cassis, blackberry, very long, elegant, and still with very much fresh fruit. will only get better
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6/28/2015 - Jeff Leve wrote: 97 Points
Showing some lightening around the edges, the wine pops with cigar box, tobacco, dark chocolate, Asian spice and earthy aromatics. Fresh, ripe, sweet, long, clean, focused fruits easily move from black to red and return to black. The present tannins are smooth. The wine remains young and fresh. 5 years in the cellar will add a lot to this beauty, if you can keep your hands off it.
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6/21/2015 - kfrench150 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Definitely high quality but still pretty young and tight at this time. Great dark ruby colour. Great nose! Lots of red and purple fruit, but it is subdued on the palate. Lots of tannins that are fairly smooth but no where near fully resolved. The last sip, 5.5 hours after decanting, was the best. I say let them sleep for a while yet.
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6/19/2015 - La Cave d'Argent Likes this wine: 96 Points
2015 Aspen Food & Wine Classic Trip; 6/17/2015-6/22/2015 (Aspen, Colorado): This deep-to-opaque ruby blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc flaunts impressive aromatics of wild berries, graphite, plum, anise and dried herbs. Full-bodied, freshly acidic, seamlessly alcoholic (13.8%) and with big sweet tannins, it delivers a payload of flavors which mirror the nose. Layered and building on the mid-palate, it closes very long and with a bit of tannic bite. There are few who would argue that this iteration of Cos is anything short of classic in quality. Give it a bit more time in the cellar and savor it for a couple of decades thereafter. Drink 2020-2040.
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5/2/2015 - Romol Likes this wine: 98 Points
Decanted 3,5 hours. Stunning nose. Dark in colour. Very elegant wine. I love the 2003, but the 2005 is even better. 98 pts. now with potential up to 100 pts.
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4/12/2015 - MAXIMUM SATISFACTION wrote: 95 Points
Nice with a 4 hour decant. Bigger fruit than expected.
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3/30/2015 - Eric Guido wrote: 97 Points
2005 Bordeaux Retrospective (Morrell Wine, 1 Rockefeller Plaza): The nose was stunning with deep dark fruits, espresso and minty herbs, sweet berry, then turning almost savory with dark florals, smoke, soil and saline-minerals—just gorgeous. On the palate, it displayed silky textures with velvet weight as intense dark red fruits saturated the senses, along with spice, bitter cocoa, sweet herbs, and minerals. The finish was dark, almost haunting, with a coating of tannin enveloped in rich fruit. The 2005 Cos d’Estournel is still incredibly youthful, yet worth peeking in on and sure to be amazing for a decade or two to come.
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3/9/2015 - Doni.Bertolami wrote: 98 Points
2005 Bordeaux Tasting: WOTN. This has just blown me away with a sedductive nose and incredible lenght. The nose offers dark fruit, baked plums, chocolate, espresso, mint, olives and smoke. On the palate this has a impeccable balance and an endless finish. The tannins are not yet fully integrated but with a decent decant this wine really shines and promises a great future. A potential candidate for a 100 parker points when retasted lazer in 2015.
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2/28/2015 - Purple Tooth wrote: 96 Points
Very elegant, and just allowing some petting, this snobby 05' lets you know what all the 05 fuss is all about. Espresso nose, red fruit, dry, long, long....
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2/12/2015 - Papies wrote: 94 Points
2005 Red Bordeaux with Richard Brazier (Handford Wines, London): Dark in colour, glossy. Very Similar to the 05 Montrose but a gear up. This was WOTN by miles on tonight’s tasting too. A touch more oak feel but the wine definitely owns the oak. Quite expressive, well made beautiful structure and sheer class. Young still and 5yrs could help it do wonders but still an excellent wine once again. Spot on consistent with our last note about a year ago. Very balanced and harmoneous wine. 94 for now but an easy 98+ once it its its stride.
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2/12/2015 - rossi.wine wrote: 97 Points
Real depth to the nose, very fine fruit, complex and balanced. On the palate grippy and powerful, superbly balanced, fresh and lively with round and ripe tannins, lovely persistence and length. Needs time. A superb wine. Again, after the Cos vertical almost one year ago, this time in a 2005 Bordeaux horizontal tasting, my WOTN. 96-97+
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1/29/2015 - PanosKakaviatos Likes this wine: 93 Points
Bordeaux 2005 : Ten years on (Bordeaux Index London): Looks slightly more evolved than the Montrose, in terms of tone! More garnet than ruby. Much power and substance but takes a back seat to Montrose in that it lacks the same layered full bodied - and nuanced - palate. It even seems to be drying, by comparison, on the finish, but let's not quibble, as this is certainly excellent.
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1/15/2015 - S&A Likes this wine: 98 Points
You must give him air for 2-3 hour`s ...then deep black-red colour almost all the way to rim. Quite intense aroma of ripe fruit, cassis, plums, no sense of oak on the nose. Very harmonious on the palate, lovely texture, great depth. Tannins present but ripe, very long finish. Superb. What for a Performance!
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12/31/2014 - FamilyLarsson wrote: 96 Points
Ett väldigt elegant men ändå kraftfullt klassiskt Bordeauxvin. Väldigt kompakt och mörkt i färgen. Mängder av svarta vinbär, björnbär, söt lakrits, tobak, blyerts och lite rostade kaffetoner. Otroligt komplext i doften med lager på lager. Underbara tydliga tanniner och syra men vägs upp väldigt fint av den kraftfulla frukten. Detta är verkligen ett massivt vin som har allt. En helt underbar struktur och balans. Känns som om det utvecklats en del sedan jag drack det senast för ett år sedan. Är givetvis fortfarande ett väldigt ungt vin men efter några timmar i karaff är det redan nu helt underbart.
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12/29/2014 - camben Likes this wine: 97 Points
Life changing. Still a long long life ahead. Stunning
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10/28/2014 - etyc Likes this wine:
Cos d'Estournel dinner with Aymeric de Gironde & Charles Thomas (Les Amis): Dark ruby. Nose of dark berries, kirsch. Rich/lush but still primary, with fine/powdery tannins. Very long. This is obviously still an infant, but with very good genes to go the distance.
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10/27/2014 - Alex H wrote: 89 Points
Very technical with all the right ticks for a heralded vintage. Structure, firm tannins, well ripened strong silky fruit，dark berries and undertones of spice and cigar box. Still not yet ready and relatively in it's youth but much better now than on release. Definitely wil get better.
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10/19/2014 - Paul S wrote: 95 Points
Alex's Promotion Party (Alex and Fiona's in AMK): This is a great Cos d'Estournel that will age for decades. It has been years since I have had this, 7 to be exact, and I must say that it seems perfectly on track to deliver on its tremendous potential. It had such an attractive nose, with a ringing clarity to its rich, ripe aromas of blackberries, plums and cassis seasoned with lovely sweet tobacco notes. The palate was superb as well, While the wine was clearly far too young, it had a lovely clarity of expression and purity of fruit that made it very drinkable, with deliciously ripe but wonderfully fresh flavours of black fruit and olive tapenade resting amidst some meat and earth and a lovely flush of spice as it moved into a long, effortless finish. Still dense and primary, still held in the grip of its firm but noble tannins, this clearly needs decades rather than years in the bottle, but boy was it good. A real testimony to strength of vintage, this is a stunner of a wine that I wish I had more of.
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7/19/2014 - Jeff Leve wrote: 97 Points
Starting to wake up from its slumber, the wine has a spicy, rich, silky character that fills your mouth with soft, polished, deep, round fruits and tannins. Still young, either decant for a few hours or wait a decade before popping a cork.
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5/25/2014 - gsquireh Likes this wine: 98 Points
Double Decanted three hours in advance of dinner at J&G Grill in Bal Harbor with blackberry preserve and chocolate emanating as I pulled the cork. Royal and ocean deep dark purple in color, the layers of complexity are algorithmic- spices like a fifteenth century galleon coming from the far east; chocolate from Belgium; coffee from Brazil, northeast forest cedar and oak; licorice from Rievaulx Abbey in Yorkshire, this is a world class wine that has a gorgeous color, a nuanced nose, beautiful balance, wonderful mouth feel, and an exquisite finish. Drinking now and forever, as long as the case less two lasts.
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5/17/2014 - Ashburn_Mark wrote: 93 Points
Brought to a dinner party with family and probably did not decant it long enough (only about 40 minutes). Good wine but slightly disappointing at this price level. Compared to the 2009 Pontet-Canet or any of the Leoville wines (Poyferre, Barton, las Cases) I would go with the latter.
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3/29/2014 - Turtlerider Likes this wine:
Having this with a big porterhouse and salad with the family for dinner tonight. Opened 2 1/2 hours in advance of dinner. Nice pungent whiff of dark fruit as I pulled the cork. The wine is very dark, with little bouquet. It's still at cellar temperature, so I expect this will open up as it warms up and has a chance to breath. I'll be checking it every 30 minutes or so to see how it develops.
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3/18/2014 - Papies wrote: 94 Points
Five Decades of Cos D'Estournel with Richard Brazier (Handford Wines, London): 78% Cab Sauv! Open on the nose, aromatic, full of dark fruits, like mocha (oak is still present). On the palate although it is very young, it is surprisingly forward and lush albeir lacks the complexity of an evolved wine. Good depth, young fine (not harsh at all) tannin. Full of life and promise and although needs a good 10 yrs to achieve its potential, drinking it now if one must is not a waste. A wine of balance and harmony. Has that light modern more forward side to it, but that will not stop it reaching greatness in the future. 94-95 now but an easy 98+ once it develops
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3/18/2014 - rossi.wine wrote: 96 Points
Very dark, glowing. Very seductive nose, bright fruit, cassis, red fruit, cool, minty. On the palate powerful, firm but round tannins, great grip, fresh with great power and superb balance. Amazing finish. This will be exceptional in 10-15 years and for a long time after that. Despite its youth my WOTN. 95-97+
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1/31/2014 - BUBBA DAWG Likes this wine: 97 Points
05 Cos vs. 05 Ducru - toss up - Cos is the chiseled brother and Ducru is the sensual sister
accessed via coravin...deep ruby color with great clarity and energy in glass...extremely complex nose of cassis and blackberry seamlessly integrated with graphite, toasted cedar and five spice...faint traces of tobacco, licorice, coffee and chocolate...delicious bold fresh fruit on entry but done with old world finesse and restraint, leaving a masculine vibrancy that stains the mid-palate and continues to build through a long succulent finish...extremely well structured with velvety tannins and well-balanced acidity...one for the ages but glorious now
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1/17/2014 - norsktorsk wrote: 93 Points
This is young but none the less a great wine. Preferred over the 2000.
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1/10/2014 - JimN Likes this wine: 94 Points
My first bottle of the case and immediately regretted it. Color was like a Shiraz, but all tannins. After four hour decant, beginning to show its stuff. By hour eight, pretty clear this wine will be special. Young Bordeaux at its very best. Medium body, bright, fresh fruit, secondary notes of leather and tobacco beginning to emerge. If you only have a few bottles, best to wait, as the scores on this wine will climb over time. Might be one of the best from this producer.
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1/8/2014 - wren460 wrote: 93 Points
Extremely fine tanins. Nose kind of closed even after 4hours. Sorry about no formal notes but I can say without a doubt that I prefer a good CA wine over any Bordeaux that I have tasted. This kind of wines are extremely elegant, but they lack the delicious factor that a CA cab or meritage have. Maybe its a thing of time and in 10 years I will favor Bordeaux over California, but today and for the last 8 years or so I still prefer California to Bordeaux by a wide margin.
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12/27/2013 - FamilyLarsson wrote: 97 Points
Första flaskan från lådan. Var helt enkelt tvungen att se hur långt det kommit i utvecklingen. Detta är verkligen ett helt fantastiskt vin. Jag kan bara tänka mig hur det kommer att vara om 10 år.
Ett väldigt elegant men ändå kraftfullt klassiskt Bordeauxvin. Mängder av svarta vinbär, björnbär, söt lakrits, tobak och dofter som bara kommer i lager på lager. Underbara tanniner och syra men fortfarande alldeles för ungt och stramt. Detta är verkligen ett massivt vin som har allt. En helt underbar struktur och balans. Får bara vissa delar smälta ihop ytterligare några år så kommer detta att bli helt magiskt. Får testa igen om 2-3 år för att se om det börjar finnas första steget av mognadstoner som man ännu ej kan notera.
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12/6/2013 - Matt Scott Likes this wine: 98 Points
Every millimeter of you palate is in pure bliss... this is the mother lode. Decanted for three hours. It has been four years and this has evolved as one would expect: still youthful and starting to open up more. There are exciting amounts of evident body: so voluptuous and fresh. Blackberry, blood orange peel, Asian spice, menthol, wet earth, hot brick and pau d'arco tea. Extremely chiseled and a lot of microfiber on the provocative mouthfeel. She will seriously out last most people here today, and I'm enjoying this even more at the current stage of development. See previous notes. Drink 2017 -.
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10/26/2013 - MarcoAzevedo wrote: 98 Points
Very dark, supple, full bodied. Nose of cedar, herbs and mocha. At the mouth cofffe and black olives, very round and polished tannins, retaining the grip but with wonderful elegance, freshness and structure. Very long and pleasent finish.
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8/17/2013 - dannyg wrote: 98 Points
- Ruby color with a full body. Fleshy texture with a long finish - Excellent. Had it with 2001, 2004 and this one stood out well with structure, length, intensity and complexity.
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8/16/2013 - gsquireh Likes this wine: 95 Points
Full- bodied and black purple, this wine is balanced like a word class acrobat, the aromatics range from black fruit to cassis to oak forest to a potpouri of spice. Rich and textured, there is licorice smoothness that you can swirl all night
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8/16/2013 - ChinonRouge wrote: 90 Points
Right now, decent Bordeaux flavor, but otherwise shut down. Not enough elegance. Tannic on open. Would wait.
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5/25/2013 - jmoon wrote: 91 Points
A bit shut down... No real length, and quite tight but it's all there to be great over time. Ill wait another 2-3 yrs before trying my next one.
Next day still a bit lifeless
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5/2/2013 - Gabe wrote: 94 Points
This was good although it seemed as if it want giving anything up, maybe shutdown a bit. Chocolate and some coffee on the nose, ripe fruit that was muted if you will. It was there but seemed to be hiding. Nice mouthfeel and medium finish, I won't touch another for at least 5 years.
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4/16/2013 - Robert Pavlovich wrote:
Ripe, but elegant, medium bodied bordeaux. Plenty of freshness here, along with red fruits and smoke. Finishes well, but not with the great power the scores would suggest. Should have a long life ahead, at least for the next 10-15+ years. Wouldn't say this is very near its peak and possibly somewhat shut down. Would wait another 5-10. Popped and poured, consumed over two hours.
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3/23/2013 - jmcmchi wrote: 94 Points
Blackish rim with deep purple middle. Dark chocolate and pencil lead on nose with fruit starting to come through. Surprisingly drinkable now although tannins still dominate the tightish palate. Long multi-layered finish. Best Cos in a long time
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2/16/2013 - bhalljr wrote: 95 Points
Consumed against '05 Ovid. Seemed a little muted on the nose compared to the Ovid, however, the taste was Bordeauxesque! Winner over the Ovid.
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12/9/2012 - Tavastgatan wrote: 93 Points
This is far from ready but still somewhat open in comparison orter recent vintages. This may very well turn out to be a stellar Bourdeaux in ten years, it certanly has the density for it. 93+ for now.
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12/2/2012 - dlinlaw Likes this wine:
This Cos '05 was drinking very nice, great tannins and structure, powerful wine with many years ahead of it, but may not be in the best drinking window right now as I believe it could have scored higher for this great vintage. Red berry fruit, nice nose, good but not great length to the finish.
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11/27/2012 - willthethrill wrote: 93 Points
OK. This is a BIG wine. It just tastes expensive. Everyone recognized it as the most expensive wine at the blind tasting, but it was not the most popular. There are other years I prefer, but there is no denying the "wow" factor.
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9/26/2012 - Zweder wrote: 96 Points
Not so many notes. The glass/bottle was empty too soon… The bouquet is very luxurious with beautiful and creamy dark forest fruits, chocolate and exclusive oak. Beautiful acidity and tannin. The wine is still much too young, but already showing its beauty. Probably wise to wait at least until 2020. Will be a feast around 2025. 96++ for now.
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9/22/2012 - jkoenen wrote: 96 Points
Cos-Montrose Battle (Restaurant Bottles, Sas van Gent): Chockfull of fruit. Luxurious oak, gorgeous spice box aromas. Classic cloth, modern cut. Very broad, intense and distinguished. The fruit is insanely pure and well defined, garnished with a dash of cherry licqueur. This is regal stuff! And way to young, of course. 19/20
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9/16/2012 - Wink wrote: 96 Points
Brought to Diner en Blanc Cincinnati. Dense purple. Rich nose of blackberry, blueberry, mint, & cedar. Powerful palate of blackberry, cassis, plum, graphite, minerals, and toasty oak. Incredible length. Refreshing acidity. Sweet, youthful tannins. Still years from maturity. I'll wait a year or three before opening another bottle.
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8/12/2012 - Anaur wrote:
Ótimo
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5/14/2012 - jwensm wrote: 99 Points
unbelievable wine! final wine of the night (marcassin pinto and abreu cab). Was great out of the bottle and even better after 8 hours in the decanter.
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5/1/2012 - Jeff Leve wrote: 97 Points
Deep ruby in color, with some lightening at the edges, tobacco, smoke, 5 spice, blackberry, cassis, cigar box and earthy aromas create the complex perfume. Full bodied and concentrated with flavor, this tannic, intense, long, fresh, pure wine demands cellaring. Give it at least a decade to soften and come together. This will be a very long lived wine and well reward consumers with the ability to wait, with a sublime tasting experience.
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4/3/2012 - robertdtwo wrote: 95 Points
Infanticide, but we wanted a vacation splurge on Big Island and markup at Fairmont Orchid's restaurant, Brown, was less than 100% (a rarity here in Hawaii, it seems). We were unfortunately only able to give this a 30-minute decant, but this was/is still a fantastic bottle of Bordeaux. Delightfully muted graphite and sous-bois upon opening, yielding to just-barely sour cherry and brooding dark fruit with a blackberry emphasis. This is just fantastic, even though the drinking window has yet to begin! Sweet vanilla and mocha followed, with just a bit of wet leather making its appearance on the second glass. Chewy and delicious, but time needed to soften the tannins that only slightly mar the 30-second finish. Distant campfire on the last sip... WAIT for huge reward!!
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3/23/2012 - raybklyn wrote: 95 Points
Cos D'estournel has become one of my favorite wines. I started in St Estephe with Chateau Meyney, which became a full fledge Bordeaux passion within a few months. Cos is velvety and rich without being overbearing in any way. Chocolate, black pepper, currant is what I remember.
I have tried Cos from 1995, 1996 and now 2005 and each time there was a distinctive moment of YES! This is why I love wine.
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3/4/2012 - VindependenceDay wrote: 95 Points
Decanted 6 hours. Had with roast pork shoulder. Really fantastic. Think it’s just starting to get to a good place.
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2/25/2012 - flashvictor wrote: 98 Points
Consumed over three hours, deep ruby color leads to a nose of cassis, blackberry, and tobacco box. Medium full body has amazing structure. Takes at least two hours in decantar before the fruit comes out but when it does.......Bam - big dark fruit and chocolate. The finish lasts 90 seconds easily. Drank this ten years too soon but an amazing bottle.
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1/21/2012 - llink wrote:
Popped and poured. Deep intense nose of mocha, blackberry, sweet oak and some licorice/mineral tone. Silky and satiny on the palate, large scaled but the texture is just spot on perfect. Deep flavors saturate the palate delivering some intense fruit and very balanced tannins resulting in a hedonistic experience that is just a notch below being over the top. Tannins show up on the long finish, but again they are fine grained and not hard or out of place. On texture alone this is a fantastic wine for enjoyment today but it will be fun to follow it as it evolves and takes on secondary and tertiary flavors from extended aging.
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1/6/2012 - bkoegel wrote: 96 Points
excellent wine. Shared the bottle with some BDX wine experts. Great potential in the years to come. Already a great, typical Cos.
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10/31/2011 - G_H wrote: 89 Points
Carl Studer tasting: Napa against Bordeaux (Hotel Metropole, Zurich): Most backward Bordeaux of the tasting, edgy and rough in the palate unharmonic acidity. This needs time but it's surprising given how the other 2005 bordeaux are doing... potentially a good sign though?
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8/21/2011 - Old Doug wrote: 95 Points
Ha! If this is "shut down" right now, then it's going to be all-conquering when it wakes up. Dark ruby, like what royalty should be drinking. Smells like lead pencil and smoky berries - I loved it from just sniffing the bottle right after popping the cork out. Oh the heck with it - it's like having a prolonged period of dry weather in autumn, and then walking through the woods as the first drops of rain hit the leaves on the ground. Things do need time to fully integrate, but if this is walled-off, then if you're patient with this wine it lifts you up where you can see over the wall, you can guess what will be there in the end, and you get a glimpse of a few things that may vanish forever before "prime time" arrives.
Berries, cherry, herbal, vanilla, banana tastes came in and out. I didn't decant it at all, which probably kept me from getting to other stuff, but what was there was pleasing indeed. Drank about 35% of the bottle and put the cork back in - the remainder of the wine and whatever lucky air got in had the rest of the night and the next day to themselves. Surprisingly, almost an entire day later, I found the tannins even more pronounced - the finish was frankly a little tough to take. That said, the nose, early and mid-palate had settled down into some velvety layers that one could lose themself in. It will be great to check back in with this wine in 6 or 10 years.
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7/28/2011 - kenv Likes this wine: 94 Points
WCC 2003-2005 Red Bordeaux Blind (Yono's Restaurant, Albany, NY): Long delicious complex. A little impenetrable right now both because it is so young and it is wine #14 tonight. These are all big wines. Still, this one has great potential. Pretty shut down. Not a single vote for WOTN.
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7/3/2011 - WilD wrote: 96 Points
Brought to a tasting. Dark fruit. Awesome. No specific notes made but is was super.
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7/1/2011 - Zweder wrote: 95 Points
Some random exclusive wines (@ TBa): This is still a baby. Very primary bouquet with all the luxurious elements you may expect in a top Bdx. Although the tannin is soft and friendly, which makes the wine already quite approachable, it needs many more years to show everything it has in store. I would wait at least until 2020. I agree with Rob MacKay and dxpian; beautiful notes. My score for now is 95 and over the years the wine will add at least another 2 points.
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6/25/2011 - floydtp wrote:
CellarTracker Wisconsin June 2011; 6/24/2011-6/25/2011 (Madison, WI- various venues): Tasted non blind at a large wine dinner. So hopefully no one will flame me in the Tasting Notes to Note forum for this but this note will apply to the Cos 2005, Pape Clement 2005 and Las Cases 2005 all tasted together. I tasted all three in quick succession initially and each stood out in different ways. The Cos had a lot of briar patch, the Las Cases had some nice cedar and cigar box and the Pape Clement basically tasted just like the Las Cases (at around half the price). All were tannic as all ever, as expected. Then I retasted in 10 minutes, these bottles had been double decanted and open for 7 hours or so by this point so what difference would 10 minutes in a glass make, well they were now totally different. The Las Cases now had more briar patch than the Cos, the fruit in the Pape Clement was taking on a sour element and the Cos was becoming more tannic by the second. Same thing after another 15 minutes or so, they were all three completely different. I even got into an argument (and lost) with jar1 at one point over which one was which (he was doing the same thing as I) as they had changed so much. In summary these all should evolve to be stellar wines but are evil temptresses for now. Unless you buy by the truckload, don't let anyone talk you into opening these for another 5-10 years at least. (And thank you, Jose, for treating us). Rating is 90-100 for each of them (except for the Las Cases, which I officially rate 91-100).
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6/25/2011 - wineismylife wrote:
CellarTracker Wisconsin Offline I - Part Three - Grand Finale (Madison, WI): WIMLNR
Tasted non blind at a wine dinner.
Dark garnet color in the glass, clear looking throughout. Nose fo graham crackers, berries, white pepper and plums. Flavors of berries and cherries. Bright acidity, medium to firm tannins, medium to full bodied. Hold? Very New World in style and obviously very young. No rating at this time.
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6/25/2011 - petitblanc wrote:
CT Wisconsin Offline; 6/24/2011-6/25/2011 (Madison, WI): On opening, this had one of the most remarkable noses I've ever smelled, intensely perfumed, with beautiful oak treatment. On the palate, it seemed confected and alcoholic. Just not my style. Not scored.
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6/25/2011 - IWineAlot wrote: 97 Points
CT Wisconsin Offline (Madison, WI): Massive, Massive sweet dark fruit, forest floor, cigar box. Silky smooth and incredibly approachable now. Great integration of oak. Mouth coating. Super long finish. Just brilliant!!
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6/25/2011 - cadams wrote: 98 Points
Gorgeous. Everything wine should be. Beautiful purple fruit on the nose. Dark fruits, silky tannins, incredible finish, drinking really well right now, good balance that should provide drinking pleasure for many years to come.
98+
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6/21/2011 - kennyg wrote: 98 Points
Remarkably rich, glycerin on tongue, well balanced already but a long way to go with significant tanic backbone, but not overpowering. WOTN over a 06 Leoville Las Cases and and 08 L'Eglise Clinet
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4/29/2011 - Rob MacKay wrote: 97 Points
Yes, it's young, but I've been wanting to try this wine for a while as it is the only vintage in the 86-06 range that I hadn't yet tried and having recently acquired an extra bottle I just had to dig in. And dig in is what you'll need to do if you open it tonight. While not completely closed up tight, it does take a significant amount of encouragement to shake it loose. The nose on this wine will keep you busy for a while as it shows a great mix of cigar box, hints of vanilla, cassis and a touch of moist soil. Great structure on the palate with layers and layers of complex fruit flavors and a really long finish. Once this wine has the time to develop that trademark St Estephe funk and the tannins fully integrate you'll have a magic elixir of goodness on your hands. One of the top 3 or 4 vintages of Cos that I've had. (90,95,03,05)
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3/10/2011 - dxpian wrote: 98 Points
This is a true beauty! Primarily purple color with a smear of ruby hue. Predominantly blackberry, black currant, crème de cassis aromas surrounding just a hint of red fruit with sour cherry and cranberry coming through. Less typical St. Estèphe's sweet vanilla chocolate present on the nose, but instead, a much more Pauillac, and even a little bit of Margaux-like character of coffee, cigar box, leather and smoke in the bouquet. Full-bodied, this wine is rich, intense and powerful! An attack of black currant, blackberry and licorice leads to a beautiful, perfumed, well-structured and chewy mid-palate. Long finish, and the only imperfection with the wine is evident on the finish, where tannin dominates for over 25 seconds before a nice, complex, breath-taking aftertaste starts to show with ripe cherry, plum, cassis, cedar, pencil shavings, licorice and all in perfect harmony. Needs lots of time, I mean LOTS, to soften its edges, and unbelievable amount of complexity in the bouquet and on the palate will develop with bottle age. So, don’t open it yet, but if you must drink now, decant at least for 5 hours, yes, FIVE hours, because my 4 hours of decanting did not do me justice at all, as the tannin did not seem to have integrated even slightly... Open after 2015.
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1/17/2011 - dxpian wrote: flawed
A vivid example of how bottle shock and sub-zero temperature can really destroy a bottle of wine!
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1/17/2011 - Plurie wrote: 95 Points
Ready to drink now. The surprise in a vertical tasting was how well the 1975, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1985 vintages held up to similar scores as the 05 at considerably less auction prices for the older wines.
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1/7/2011 - wren460 wrote: 91 Points
I am sure that in 10 years or so the wine is going to be much better than today. Right now I am sorry but it did not impress me. By FAR I would drink a Nicolas Catena Zapata @ $100 than this wine @ 250. Very closed in spite of 5 hour decant, nice aroma, very very very fine and sweet tanins. I have 11 bottles at home and I will not open another in at least 5 years. The wine is simply not ready at all to be drank.
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11/17/2010 - DemeesterWim wrote: 94 Points
Compact, balanced , fruity and long !
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11/11/2010 - Badfish wrote: 97 Points
Cos d'Estournel & Tokaj-Hétszőlő With Jean-Guillaume Prats (Wine Exchange - Orange, CA): Wow where to start with this beast? The bouquet is shockingly complex with delicate tones of flowers, earth, stones, and mint interleaved with the pure berry and currant extract. There is huge density, significant oak, and heady yet sweet tannins on the palate. The flavors are complex and radiant with specific notes of currant, blackberry, herbs, minerals, and earth. Everything about this wine is massive but the remarkable balance makes it surprisingly approachable. I believe this vintage has the most potential due to the structure and the staggering complexity already apparent. 97+
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11/3/2010 - beezer6 wrote: 97 Points
Jean-Guillaume Prats of Cos d'Estournel and some gorgeous Tokaji (Wine Discount Center - Chicago): A profound wine of enormous extraction while retaining balance. A tour de force that will age effortlessly for three or more decades. This is first growth quality juice in my book.
The color is a star bright royal purple with a black core that is opaque throughout. This displays a sexy, voluptuous style on the nose you can't help but smile with each inhale.
Really young there are gobs of dark black and blue berries, earth, dark and milk chocolate, purple flowers - lilacs.
Both New and Old World styling show aromatically. Overall though the aromas are all about the underlying spice that shows in every other aspect of the nose. Heavily layered.
The palate comes across pure and very clean. Again, lots of rich big fruit accompanied by enough minerality and spice to make the juice in harmony and unique. There are considerable sweet tannins with precise acidity.
Lay this down for a bit or give it a good 4-6 hour decant. This is the real deal. Highly recommended for any collector's cellar.
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7/14/2010 - Charlie Carnes wrote: 90 Points
Well... this is the tale of two wines, and after drinking a little I am left with a question about the future of this wine and others like it. To begin, the fruit profile and texture of this wine are nothing less than incredible. I mean the wine is so fluid and the fruit is so balanced. There is coolness to this wine, and the black and cool dark blue aromatic fruits are nothing short of amazing. At the same time I am being amazed by the fruit and texture of this wine, I am being nagged by an overwhelming and overpowering raw grainy oak/vanilla drying oak component. My question to myself, and to anyone else, will the wine shed its obvious oak and reach some of the heights of the '82, '85, '86, '89, or, '90, or should I box 'em up and sell/trade them for some 2009 Germans, or 2008/2009 Burgundies, etc. Cos usually shows pretty well young, but I don't ever remember this much aggressive oak in one before.
revisit 1-10-11: I boxed them all up to sell
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6/22/2010 - Wink wrote: 95 Points
Tasted as part of Cos d'Estournel vertical with Cincinnati Mondiale du Vin ('82, '85, '96, '00, '05). WOTN for me. Dark purple, Nose of blackberry and smoke. Full palate of blackberry, graphite, minerals and new oak. Amazing length. A laser beam of fresh acidity. Grippy, grippy tannins. Surprisingly accessible, but infanticide nevertheless.
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4/27/2010 - nebbhead9 wrote: 96 Points
Very Dark in color. First sniff was hit with spices (almost x-mas like?) and dark fruit. Not giving much else at this point. Shut down. Excellent length & balance. Can't wait to give this a try 10 years from now to see where it is. Should be deserving of a higher score down the road. Very well made wine.
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4/17/2010 - Alex H wrote: 86 Points
WGS: 2005 Bordeaux; 4/17/2010-4/18/2010 (Hilton Hotel Singapore): An absolutely elegant wine with mineral laced palate of classic clean bright fresh and pure au naturel cabernet fruit. Really the tai tai among the queens. This is just cool and clear headed in a sea of big hunky hurly burly wines . Retains poise, some cedar oak, spice notes and dark polished red fruits. A great wine waiting to be explore but relatively unrelenting now as well. Definitelym almost sound asleep. With time , I suspect this will improve.
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4/13/2010 - PatrikO wrote: 92 Points
Think this wine has entered into a dumb state and does not give much, only marginally better after hours of decanting. Will not touch another bottle for 5 years.
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12/26/2009 - City Wine Journal wrote: 95 Points
Christmas bottle, from cellar. Decanted through Vinturi aerator, then held 2 hours. Black. Shiny. Red rim. Blackberries, black currant, oak, and noble leather. A wine that exudes confidence and even a swagger. This is a hibernating bear coaxed to show its power, and it rose from slumber to do just that. Second day was also a demonstration of breed and effortless ability to cruse at 140mph all day. It is all there for a huge future. Wait until 2015+.
Also a great set-up for comparison to the new 2009 at Primeur, and the entirely new receiving line and tank room. If 2009 can hurdle this wine, we will know such extravagant investment can actually yield results a wine lover can appreciate. We shall see!
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11/9/2009 - PatrikO wrote: 95 Points
Superb, even at this tender age, massive full body packed with dark fruit, a classic.
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11/7/2009 - Matt Scott wrote: 98 Points
Decanted for 4 hours, doing a double. One of four bottles that I own. Black and the rim is just crystalline. The nose is illuminating and takes you somewhere that is nondescript, yet utopian. Leather, fresh orange peel, chocolate syrup, and some dark fruit. The palate is legendary and the nexus is quite evident. The finish is longer than a minute. The tannins are velvety, yet tough. This would benefit from some time away in confinement. Glorious, just wait. The best Cos ever!!! Better than '00, '03, '86 and '95. It really is that good. Drink 2016 -.
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6/28/2009 - Jeff Leve wrote: 96 Points
This looks like black ink. Oak, Cassis, blackberry, spice, coffee and licorice make a beautiful perfume. In the mouth, you get a blast of ripe, black fruit with a long finish. Tannic, but the tannins are polished. I would not drink this Bordeaux wine young. But I think it will be open and offer pleasure before the 06. I hate to say it, as much as I love the 05 and I do love it, I still prefer the 03
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5/24/2009 - JJL wrote: 95 Points
Cedar, carob and red raspberry on the nose. More carob and grain flavor, chocolate, blackberries, coffee, and some green spice. Lots of tannins and acidity. Tannins are still slightly bitter and green at this stage. The finish is very long and enjoyable. I hope to drink a few more bottles before it shuts down and I would expect this to garner a few more points after it wakes up again. This is one of the best '05's I have tasted at this young age.
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5/16/2009 - ews3 wrote: 97 Points
Bordeaux Tasting ("Chateau McClure Roberts", Philadelphia PA): Awesome wine. nose of dark berry, raspberry, chocolate, graphite, black cherry. palate shows even more dark fruit, pencil lead, with an AMAZING chocolaty finish that just kept going, and going, and going...
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5/16/2009 - jrobs7777 wrote: 94 Points
Survey of Bordeaux (Our House -- Philadelphia): Along with 2000 Pontet Canet, this was the red wine of the night. Absolute stunner that should easily be a 96-98 point wine after all is said and done (the tasting note is based on what I tasted, but the potential is extraordinary). Deep dark color. Complex nose. Coffee, mocha, black fruit, spice. Required some coaxing. This is big and tannic right now, but is still approachable. Black fruit, spice all framed by oak. Coats the entire mouth. Brooding wine. Amazing finish that really never quits, but I had to move on the next wine. Seriously, the finish should be measured in minutes, not seconds.
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2/28/2009 - poptart_nyc wrote: 93 Points
very dark, opaque, but limpid. fruit/spice/vanilla balance. great mouthfeel, grippy, but not bitter. very oaky. i see great ageability here, reticent nose now, but great concentration.
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1/19/2009 - PatrikO wrote: 96 Points
Dark purple in colour with a thick oily pour. You can almost chew this Cos, massive amounts of dark fruit and it feels quite hot right now, reminds me slighty of some of the better spanish high alcohol wines like Clio. Clearly much to young too drink, but it is still good and approachable, which I think is a great testament to this vintage.
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12/22/2008 - noppakit s. wrote: 98 Points
4 hours of testing : Cos 2005, a new aroma de Cos, modern…no muddy smell at all. Hints of some flower underneath..ดอกชงโค.. chocolate gets along with mild espresso and mild bloody of Rightbank Merlot. The smell is not widely opened but good dept and charming.
The structure is full score, perfect ABC, acid, balance, complex. Compact, dense and very big. Full delicate tannin, wonderful tannic as it was made to be drunk at this moment, only the scents needs more aging to show more fantastic in the future.
The aftertaste…oh…no…more powerful than La Mondotte 1997 (testing together). The only one way ticket downs and never come back. Bleeding inside !!! The best Cos I’ve ever tested. If you didn’t stick with the old muddy style, this wine is truly perfect…only 1-2 points is missing from the score in its part of aroma and bouquet…It may gets the 100/100 score in the future when everything is right on track. who’s know ?
Drink now ? I must open 2 hours and say Oh Yeah....!!!
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11/29/2008 - pawine wrote: 97 Points
More forward showing that 10 months ago. Decanted 6+ hours. Black currant nose. Very dark inky color- more so than any other wine tonight. More redfruit than before, but mainly dark fruit. Some cinnamon. Huge power but with perfect balance. Limited complexity but not as monolithic as 10 months ago. One of the wines of the vintage. drink 15+ years from now.
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11/29/2008 - drwine2001 wrote:
From the Outside Looking In-More 2005 Bordeaux (K&L Wines, San Francisco): By far the blackest, most deeply saturated wine of the tasting. Other than some oak, little showing through on the nose. Massive wine with sweet blackberry and cassis fruit and a significant wood imprint. Almost syrupy because of lower acidity and buried tannins. Very long finish, but this could use more shape and focus. Perhaps this will come with time. No lack of material here, that's for sure.
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11/22/2008 - Wrighty wrote: 94 Points
Decanter Fine Wine Encounter (Landmark Hotel, London): Deep colour, slight mauve on rim with a orange tinge on the core. A good underhint of green pepper and black fruit. This filled out and softened up after an hour. The palate was a little dumb to start but wakes up with some spice. Intensity builds through finish after a little lean spot. \
This filled out, improved a lot after 1 hour. Fruit came through, subtle balanced and refined.
Started as a 92 but opened to a 94
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11/15/2008 - Jeff Leve wrote: 96 Points
Almost black in color. This is a massive wine with gobs of ripe, black fruit with hints of fennel and equal amounts of tannin. This has a lot of structure and will need serious cellar time. Due to the intense concentration, the wine will reward cellaring, but, this is not a wine to enjoy young.
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10/21/2008 - poptart_nyc wrote: 96 Points
2005 Bordeaux- leftovers from WS Experience (SL Gallery): beautiful brooding, spicy, earthy nose. red liquorice and oaky spice in mouth, not too creamy from oak. mmm mmm mmm.
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10/18/2008 - G SQUARED wrote: 98 Points
WS Exp - Closed nose. Wow, what structure. Impeccably balanced wine. High acidity, high tannins and high alcohol, however they are all harmoniously in sync. Wait at least 10 years.
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10/1/2008 - Remony wrote: 96 Points
2005 Red Bordeaux Vintage Farr Vintners Masterclass (Vintners Hall, City of London): Very lovely dark strong colour. Wonderfully complex nose, oak and vanilla as well as exciting ripe fruit. Very interesting, complex, harmonious wine. Very fine tannins, beautifully balanced, really excellent. Certainly the WOTF.
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8/16/2008 - noppakit s. wrote: 96 Points
I taste this wine in Takashimaya, Osaka, Japan. Opened 2 hours.
There is no '' muddy '' typical smell of Cos. The wine shows strongly chocolate scent, blueberry, some flowers, clean and deep beautiful bouquet...so different from the modern type 2000.
The body...Wowww...very smooth, elegant, perfect balance, very complex. Some amount of beautiful fine tannin but not tannic...really beautiful texture and the sommerlier in Takashimaya feels the same. Surprisingly ready to drink.
The best part is aftertaste : it builds up and follows the wine immediatly...robust down very smooth, very stable but very big and long too. This is new type of finished, I never met before...I wait for its return but no sign of coming back...That's amazing !!!
The real deep impact....95-96/100....
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7/30/2008 - EyeDoc wrote: 96 Points
Beautiful Cos - sweet tannin - will improve over time of course.
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5/10/2008 - cab blends wrote: 92 Points
AHA Hearts Delight - Bordeaux 2005 Wine Tasting: something unusual and slightly dry, Very heavy tannins. Burnt wood with an unusual spice.
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4/28/2008 - yoming wrote: 94 Points
Brought to Cut in Beverly Hills. Decanted for 2 hours. Good nose of dark fruit and vanilla. New world style bordeaux. Obviously still very young but very balanced. Nice silky texture. Will be much better in a few years. Should put away for at least 5 years.
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4/11/2008 - PatrikO wrote: 96 Points
Too early to drink clearly, but this was my first taste of the 05 vintage and it did not disappoint, well balanced wine with huge concentration and lots
of dark fruit. Impressive!
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2/2/2008 - Paul S wrote: 94 Points
Raffles Hotel 120th Anniversary event (Raffles Hotel, Singapore): So, so good, but oh so young - this was absolutely infanticide. Dark, inky purpe in colour. Lots of dark fruit on the nose, with ripe blueberries and blackberries. The palate was dominated by its huge structure at first - stiff tannins and fresh acid - but a great backdrop of dark fruits that was lurking in the background started coming out with time, mingling with notes of minty eucalytptus, herbs (fennel and thyme?) and nice oaky notes. Very nice, very mouthwatering. There are all sorts of disparate bits now, but it will integrate in time to make a glorious wine. This will be a stunner when its time comes - a wine with superb, superb potential. I think it will do better than the 2003, which is otherwise an accomplished wine in its own right and drinking far better at this point of time.
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1/13/2008 - PanosKakaviatos Likes this wine:
The haut couture of St. Estephe. More Cabernet than is usual for this estate (78%), this vintage is going to be really special – and probably counts among my top ten Bordeaux of the vintage. A closed first nose reveals (after swirling in glass) refined cassis and cedar notes with very ripe blackberry and violet once tasted. A rich palate, opulent, with mouth coating tannins and a velvety finish. Top stuff. From barrel.
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6/27/2007 - Jeff Leve wrote: 96 Points
Opaque in color. Full bodied and concentrated with mountains of ripe dark berries, licorice, cassis, spice and tannin. The tannins are not as ripe or polished as those found in the 2003. The wine does not appear to share the same levels of complexity as the 2003 either. Make no mistake, this is outstanding, but if you could only have one, grab the 2003.
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4/10/2006 - PanosKakaviatos Likes this wine: 96 Points
BORDEAUX 2005 / Cabernet rules; 4/5/2006-4/10/2006 (Bordeaux): More Cabernet than is
usual for this estate (78%), this vintage is going to be
really special – and probably counts among my top ten Bordeaux of the vintage. A closed first nose reveals (after swirling in glass) an elegant nose of cassis and cedar with very ripe blackberry and violet once tasted. A rich palate, opulent, with mouth coating tannins and a velvety finish. Top stuff. 95-97
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3/28/2006 - Burgundy Al wrote:
2005 Bordeaux en Primeur; 3/26/2006-3/28/2006 (Bordeaux France): En Primeur tasting. Dark black fruit shows great concentration on nose and palate. Plenty of dark chocolate, espresso, sweet spice in support. Long finish. 94-96 point potential.
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