Cos d'Estournel 2016

100/100

This is muscular yet so well defined and toned. Full-bodied with deep and dense fruit on the palate, yet powerful and rich at the same time. So much sandalwood and blackberry character. Chewy and rich at the finish. This is a warm and generous wine, but the alcohol is just over 13 degrees. Not that high. Love the finish. Extravagant. Magical. Try from 2025.

Jane Anson - Inside Bordeaux

The Wine Independent

Christer Byklum

Ruby. Cassis, cigars, exotic spices, layered, deep, blueberries, layers of fruit and spices, tobacco, exuberant nose. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, fruity, juicy, dark berries and spices, nuanced, detailed, refreshing, stunning balance between the fruit and acidity, Christmas spices, superb length. For me the best Cos ever made.

Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider

You could lose count if you were trying to number all the layers of velvet drenched, powerful, lifted, sweet, fresh deep red fruits here. The wine offers incredible levels of concentration along with precision, purity, power and elegance. But to take all this in at its peak, patience is required as you will need at least 12 years or so before this really starts shining. But it is going to be worth the wait.

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2016 Cos d'Estournel is blended of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot and 1% Cabernet Franc aged in 65% new and 35% two-year-old French oak for 15 months. Bottled in July 2018, it is deep garnet-purple colored and starts off a little closed and reticent, opening out slowly and seductively to reveal beautiful lilacs, rose hip tea, crushed stones and camphor nuances over a core of crème de cassis, kirsch, wild blueberries and mocha plus wafts of incense and wood smoke. The palate is simply electric, charged with an energy and depth of flavors that seem to defy the elegance and ethereal nature of its medium-bodied weight, featuring super ripe, densely pixelated tannins that firmly frame the myriad of fruit and floral sparks, finishing with epic length. Just. Magic.

“Rains on 13th September helped finish the ripening in 2016,

Decanter Magazine

The form, richness, ripeness and depth of flavour are all clearly on display here. Just bottled, it's extremely different in character to the 2015 vintage; it’s hard to believe they're just one year apart. Harvesting finished in mid-October, the latest on record bar 2001. It is excellent quality, and I look forward to attacking this wine once it has started to really show itself. We need to be patient for a good while longer, but this should run and run. Right now it's the liquorice, slate and pulsating walls of vibrant tannins that are at the fore. There's a precision to the layers of fruit and a touch of salinity on the finish. Succulent is really the best word to sum this wine up - I loved it during en-primeur and perhaps it nudges even higher now.