Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 1982 Cos d'Estournel dominates Saint-Estèphe in this vintage (for my money, its leading competitor is Haut-Marbuzet, by the way). Remarkably youthful and saturated in appearance, it exhibits inviting aromas of sweet berry fruit, plums, licorice and pencil shavings, followed by a full-bodied, fleshy, lusty, almost unctuous palate of notable concentration and depth.
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Wine Spectator
Built for aging. Very dark ruby in color, with a garnet rim. Dried flower and berry aromas. Full-bodied and very solid, with masses of fruit and tannins. Still has plenty of time to go.
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Vinous
It has been several years since I last tasted the 1982 Cos d'Estournel. This has an elegant bouquet with refined red fruit, cedar and brown spices, with hints of aniseed and peppermint surfacing with aeration. It is not profoundly complex but it is difficult to resist its charms. The palate has a conspicuously ripe and generous entry, rounded and a little meaty in style, with cracked black pepper. With fine grip, this Saint-Estèphe coheres with style on the finish. It is not quite as good as the bottle opened at the château, though it proves that there is plenty of life in this '82.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Deeply colored, concentrated, and distinctive, St. Estephe is the go-to for great, age-worthy and reliable Bordeaux reds. Separated from Pauillac merely by a stream, St. Estephe is the farthest northwest of the highest classed villages of the Haut Medoc and is therefore subject to the most intense maritime influence of the Atlantic.
St. Estephe soils are rich in gravel like all of the best sites of the Haut Medoc but here the formation of gravel over clay creates a cooler atmosphere for its vines compared to those in the villages farther downstream. This results in delayed ripening and wines with higher acidity compared to the other villages.
While they can seem a bit austere when young, St. Estephe reds prove to live very long in the cellar. Traitionally dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, many producers now add a significant proportion of Merlot to the blend, which will soften any sharp edges of the more tannic, Cabernet.
The St. Estephe village contains two second growths, Chateau Montrose and Cos d’Estournel.