PAGODES DE COS

The 2016 Les Pagodes de Cos is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46.5% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot and a splash of Cabernet Franc, delivering 13.02% alcohol and matured in 30% new oak. It has an intense bouquet with aromas of blackcurrant, bilberry, graphite and a touch of sea salt (just a nod to the Gironde Estuary perhaps?). The palate is medium-bodied with crisp tannin, quite sleek in the mouth with plenty of black fruit tinged with graphite. It has a little more persistence compared to the 2015 Pagodes last year from barrel, very harmonious with a twist of bitter black cherry and tobacco on the finish. Very fine—drink from two or three years in bottle. Drinking range: 2020 - 2035 Rating: 90-92 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2017)

50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46.5% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot, 0.5% Cabernet Franc. Picked 26 September to 15 October. Fresh, muscular, racy nose. Sweet start – really rather flirtatious! Racy and elegant. But not for the long term. Drinking range: 2023 - 2032 Rating: 17 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2017)

The brightness and focus to this second wine of Cos are certainly impressive. You can see the quality. Full body, a tight and focused palate and beautiful fruit and density. Ultra-fine tannins. Gorgeous. Sophisticated. Rating: 93-94 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2017)

This is a serious wine representing 55% of the overall production, with the other 45% in Cos ('not one drop into a third wine or bulk' says director Aymeric de Gironde). Extremely dark black cassis fruits and graphite show the power of St-Estèphe clays. Fresh, bright and well structured (3.61pH, 65IPT), this is bristling with fruit and silky tannins, and may even close down for a few years. A blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46.5% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot and 0.6% Cabernet Franc from vines averaging 35 years old, aged in 30% new oak. Drinking range: 2023 - 2040 Rating: 92 Jane Anson, Decanter (Apr 2017)

An attractive second wine, the 2016 Les Pagodes de Cos is built on finesse and nuance rather than power. Silky and gracious from the outset, the Pagodes is quite expressive today. In 2016, it has a bit more Cabernet Sauvignon than Merlot, yet it remains quite understated in style. Grilled herbs, smoke, leather and tobacco infuse the delicate, lilting finish in this attractive, midweight Saint-Estèphe. Rating: 88-90 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Apr 2017)

Just over half of the crop at Cos went into the second wine in 2016, with most of it from the same plots as usual. Subtly oaked and graceful, it’s a St. Estèphe-meets-Margaux style that’s a world away from what the château produced in 2009. Scented, poised and refined. Drinking range: 2022 - 2030 Rating: 94 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (Apr 2017)

The 2016 Les Pagodes de Cos has a wonderful bouquet of vibrant, expressive red berry fruit, strawberry and raspberry, conveying a tangible sense of mineralité and tension; the new oak is very well integrated here. The balanced palate offers fine-boned tannins and very well judged acidity. Utterly harmonious, with a caressing and beautifully poised finish. This is a top-class Saint-Estèphe that will age with panache. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting. Drinking range: 2021 - 2035 Rating: 92 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Dec 1899)