Château COS D'ESTOURNEL 1993
The Château de Cos d'Estournel was built at the beginning of the 19th century by Louis-Gaspard d'Estournel. Nicknamed "the Maharajah of Saint-Estèphe" for his love of travel, especially in India, he built exotic pagodas above his cellars, in homage to his distant conquests. Very quickly, the estate's wine rose to the height of the finest Bordeaux vintages, was exported to India and reached the rank of 2nd Grand Cru Classé in 1855. Today, the prestigious vineyard belongs to Michel Reybier and covers 67 hectares. Framed by the Gironde to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, it benefits from a micro-climate acting as a temperature regulator. In old Gascon, "Cos" means "hill of pebbles", a name justified by the geological peculiarity of the terroir: Quaternary gravel has piled up, thus forming a hill about twenty meters high at the top of which the castle. superbly dominates the river. Only grapes from vines over 20 years old enter the wine of Cos d'Estournel, the rest of the harvest being intended for the Second Wine. Practicing essentially manual work, the estate uses new oak wood for aging, which subtly emphasizes the aromas with a fair woodiness. Finally, a final selection limits production to between 200,000 and 380,000 bottles.
An archetype of elegant and virile wine at the same time, Cos d'Estournel reveals from its youth a powerful fruitiness and a superb body, slowly evolving towards an admirable aromatic complexity. The large proportion of Merlot gives it richness and suppleness, and its aging potential can exceed a century in great vintages.
