Cos d’Estournel 2003 (OWC 12)

Description

By Robert Parker in 2014 (RP97)
Two terrific efforts from this vintage, the 2003 Cos d’Estournel (70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot and the rest Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc) remains one of the superstars of the vintage. It offers an opaque ruby/purple hue as well as notes of incense, camphor, licorice, creme de cassis and graphite. Full-bodied, opulent, incredibly fresh and well-delineated, it can be consumed now and over the next decade. Kudos to the team at Cos d’Estournel.

By Vinous in 2018 (NM96)
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.