Fairest of Them All: Cos d’Estournel 1928 – 2015 (Oct 2018)

The 2003 Cos d’Estournel revels in a vintage that shone in Saint-Estèphe. In some ways it is a prototype of the 2009 however, the 2003 feels more natural, more a product of the growing season than a premeditated crowd-pleaser like the 2009. It has that almost gregarious bouquet with plush raspberry ripple, vanilla pod, crème de cassis and pencil lead aromas. As I have noted previously, it has shed a lot of baby fat in recent years, less flamboyant than in its youth. What is so surprising is the delineation evident in this wine, something that it shares with the 2003 Montrose and a virtue denuded many other Left Bank 2003s, especially in the southern Médoc. Maybe at the moment the Montrose just has the edge but that should take nothing away from one of the best 2003s you will find. Tasted at the Cos d’Estournel vertical in London.