Chateau Cos d'Estournel 2014

- 98 Punkte JAMES SUCKLING: "If you want to know what St.-Estèphe smells like, this is it. Aromas of spices, black truffles, forest floor, dried strawberries and tar. It’s full-bodied yet pinpointed on the palate with fabulous density and richness. It’s opulent but in a reserved and checked way. This needs at least five or six years to come around, but it’s already fantastic. What harmony and structure. Try in 2022 if you can keep your hands off it!"

- 19 Punkte RENE GABRIEL: "65 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 33 % Merlot, 2 % Cabernet Franc. Mit 33,5 Hektoliter pro Hektare eine eher kleinere Ernte. Extrem dunkles Purpur mit lila und violetten Reflexen. Royales Bouquet, die fast nur schwarzbeerig ausstrahlenden Fruchtkomponente sind sehr frisch, über dem vielschichtigen, faszinierenden Nasenspiel sind tanzende Veilchennoten zu erspüren, dann schwarze Edelhölzer, Lakritze und eine passende Portion Mokka dahinter. Im Gaumen seidige Tannine, ausgeglichene, reife Adstringenz, mittelgewichtiger Körper mit schon fast dramatischer Länge. Der allererste Cos, welchen ich als Fassprobe verkostete war der Jahrgang 1985. Und ich war damals sichtlich berührt. Und das war jetzt wieder der Fall. Mit einem Wein der dem 1985er in ganz vielen Dingen gleicht. Und dann doch wieder nicht!"

- 97 Punkte WINE ENTHUSIAST, Roger Voss: "This is an immensely dense wine that is going to be a classic. The dark tannins are still lined with wood aging but that will go because the fruit underneath is also just as dense and intense. Blackberry, black plum and damson plum give power and sweetness. This is a great wine with huge potential. Drink from 2028."

- 96 Punkte VINOUS, Neal Martin: "The 2014 Cos d’Estournel has another intense bouquet with blackberry, graphite, tobacco and mint aromas, almost Pauillac in style. The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannin that exert plenty of grip. This is surfeit with sappy black fruit, graceful and tensile with a beautiful, svelte finish that fans out gloriously. There is real panache to this wine, persistent and satisfying, the aftertaste of graphite and tobacco extraordinarily long. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting."

- 95 Punkte JEB DUNNUCK: "The grand vin 2014 Cos D’Estournel is gorgeous, and I think a step up over the 2015. A blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc, this deep, inky-colored 2014 boasts a gorgeous perfume of ripe currants and cassis fruits, loads of chocolaty oak, cedar and scorched earth, full-bodied richness, and building, firm, yet ripe tannin. It’s certainly one of the gems in the vintage, as well as one of the more structured, opulent and age-worthy. Give bottles 4-5 years of bottle age and enjoy over the following two to three decades."

- 95 Punkte DECANTER, Jane Anson: "There's a clear consistency across Cos d’Estournel’s wines – the quality is absolutely unmissable, but don’t open the 2014 just yet. Remember that from the end of August the weather really favoured St-Estèphe, with the result that all those key elements - tannins, acidity and fruit - are here in force. It's still young and closed, with tight tannins, but after 10 minutes or so in the glass olive paste and rosemary notes emerge, followed by graphite and bilberry fruit. Give it time, then reap the rewards. Drinking Window 2024 – 2040"

- 94 Punkte Robert Parkers WINE ADVOCATE, Lisa Perrotti-Brown: "A blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc, the 2014 Cos d'Estournel has a deep garnet-purple color and is a little closed at this stage, offering slowly emerging scents of fresh blackcurrants, black plums and blackberries plus nuances of pencil shavings, dried lavender, bay leaves and fertile loam with a waft of iron ore. Medium to full-bodied, it has a generous mid-palate of muscular, youthful fruit with a firm frame of grainy tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and savory."

- JANCIS ROBINSON: "Tasted blind. Bottle seems heavier than most but I don’t know what that means! Almost black. Pushed to the limit on the nose. Very round – as though the tannins have been forced to play a subordinate role. Attention-grabbing, distinctive wine. Thick and less refreshing than some. Non-classic. Hovers somewhere mid Gironde between the terroir of St-Estèphe and the style of St-Émilion. Quite potent. Furry edges. Very distinctive."