CHÂTEAU COS D'ESTOURNEL
2018 2ème Cru Classé Saint Estèphe
74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot. This is a super-charged Cos. Everything is dialed up to the maximum - the ripeness of the dark berry fruit, the form and volume of tannin, the alcohol, and the spice-inflected finish. It's head-turning and head spinning stuff - a Lamborghini rather than an E-type. Drinking range: 2030 - 2055L&S (Apr 2019)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
Just over the border from Pauillac into St Estèphe, Michel Reybier's Cos d'Estournel is for me the wine of the 2018 vintage in St Estèphe. Perhaps because it often showcases turmeric, cinammon and saffron spices, finding them in 2018 feels in keeping with the signature flavours of the property rather than being overly marked by vintage conditions. There is complexity and power here also damson, fig, cassis and blackberry fruits, alongside muscular tannins. Fresh acidities through the finish keep a sense of momentum and this is powerful with ambition, and it carries it off perfectly. 65% of production went into the grand vin. 50% new oak (a little lower than the usual 60%). Drinking range: 2028 - 2045 Rating: 97 Jane Anson, Decanter (Oct 2021)
The 2018 Cos d’Estournel showed a lot of promise when I tasted it from barrel. Now in bottle and given a 2–3-hour decant, it has a gorgeous and disarmingly pure bouquet, slightly high-toned with iodine scents infusing the lush blackberry and boysenberry scents. The oak is seamlessly integrated. The palate is fresh and crisp on the entry, delivering silky-smooth tannins, perfect acidity and a sense of harmony than is very persuasive. I cannot recall a Cos d’Estournel in recent years with such fine tannins. It gently fans out toward the finish while retaining superb precision, completing what is a beautifully crafted Cos d’Estournel with a long future ahead. Drinking range: 2025 - 2060 Rating: 96 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Mar 2021)
The 2018 Cos d'Estournel is a racy, powerful Saint-Estèphe that is going to need quite a bit of time to find its center. Today, it is tightly wound, but all the energy is there. Lush and extravagantly ripe, the 2018 possesses tremendous depth and plenty of energy to back it all up. Here, too, I found the wine a bit more expressive and giving en primeur. Drinking range: 2028 - 2058 Rating: 98 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Mar 2021)
The richness and beauty of this wine is impressive with blackcurrant, cherry, berry and fresh cloves. The fruit is so pure here. Full-bodied with tannins that are so integrated and refined that you don’t feel them, yet they are there! Very creamy and layered with great length and beauty. It turns to tar and licorice at the finish. Tight now, but the texture is special. Try after 2027. Rating: 98 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Feb 2021)
This is a bird of a different feather, with a ripe, sleek, and very polished feel as creamed loganberry, plum and boysenberry flavors spill forth, flanked for support by singed alder and incense notes, while black tea and savory threads curl around the finish. Long, showy and lovely. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Drinking range: 2024 - 2038 Rating: 96 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Jan 2021)
Deeply colored, the 2018 Cos D'Estournel shows the incredible purity and elegance that this estate delivers these days as well as fabulous crème de cassis, graphite, white flowers, and spicy oak aromas and flavors. Made from 74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and the rest Petit Verdot, aging in 50% new barrels, it builds with time in the glass and has a full-bodied, decadent yet also seamless mouthfeel, layers of tannins, and a great finish. This is as classy as it gets and certainly a candidate for the King of Saint-Estèphe in 2018. Given its purity and balance as well as depth of fruit, it should offer loads of pleasure in its youth yet also evolve nicely for 3-4 decades. This estate has been on an incredible roll over the past 7-8 years and this is another killer wine. For those interested in the technical data, this wine hit 14.59% alcohol, with a pH of 3.69, total acids of 3.3, and a whopping IPT of 80. Rating: 97-99 Jeb Dunnuck, www.jebdunnuck.com (May 2019)
Black core with narrow purple rim. Intense black fruit with just a hint of charry oak. Smells sweet and ripe but pure and fresh-fruited too. Glorious Cabernet here. Deep, chewy and rich on the palate, firm velvet texture, incredibly moreish and so fresh, as much from the tannins as from the acidity. Leaves your mouth clean with dark, savoury, rocky length. Very precise winemaking. I love those dry clean-tasting tannins on the finish. Drinking range: 2028 - 2045 Rating: 17.5 Julia Harding MW, www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2019)
The 2018 Cos d'Estournel is composed of 74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc and has 14.59% alcohol. Aging in 50% new barriques, it has a deep purple-black color and drifts effortlessly, gracefully, seductively out of the glass with slowly unfurling notions of blackcurrant cordial, wild blueberries, chocolate-covered cherries and plum pudding with touches of violets, licorice, wild roses and yeast extract plus a waft of loose tobacco. The full-bodied palate is built like a brick house with a solid frame of super firm, super ripe tannins and seamless freshness to back up the vibrant, crunchy, oh-so-muscular fruit, finishing long with loads of mineral layers. Amazing structure will keep this beauty for at least half a century and probably a full one! Rating: 97-100 Lisa Perrotti-Brown, RobertParker.com (Apr 2019)
The beautiful integration of ripe fruit and ripe tannins gives the wine a layered and agile mouthfeel. Soft and gorgeous with silky tannins that really kick in at the finish and carry the wine for a long time. Rating: 98-99 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2019)
This has some austerity on the attack, then announces its arrival in the inimitable way that Cos is able to do: with a slow build up of exotic spices, liquorice root, cedar and cassis. It stretches out through the palate and you keep waiting for the tannins to punch through like they did in 2010, but it doesn't happen, even though this is a big wine with high alcohol and an IPT of 80. There's a great menthol freshness on the finish, helped no doubt by a fresh 3.65pH. It has the luxurious signature of Cos, the glamorous touch that you look for in this wine - like at Mouton and at Angelus - that is part of their DNA, but it's also married to elegance and a touch of slate minerality. This is a wine that you would be thrilled to own. 12mm of rain on 12 September and 20mm in mid-August were just enough to stop any blockages in ripening, although the 30hl/ha yield is low due to a touch of mildew and some concentration in September. This compares to a more generous 45hl/ha in 2016. 65% of production went into the grand vin. 1% Petit Verdot makes up the blend, and the wine is aged in 50% new oak (a little lower than the usual 60%). A candidate to upscore when in bottle. Drinking range: 2028 - 2042 Rating: 97 Jane Anson, Decanter (Apr 2019)
The grand vin took 65% of the crop, from a yield of just 30 hl/ha. The assemblage is 74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. Picking began here on September 19th, finishing October 6th. Of the three top growths in St Estèphe this registers the lowest alcohol, at 14.59%, with a pH of 3.69. It presents a simply divine aromatic precision, the nose filled with the scents of crisp black plum and floral notes reminiscent of violets. There is a polished texture at the start of the palate, with flavours of plum cream, liquorice, creamed blackcurrant and damson fruits, with a floral energy. This is simply beautiful, brightly defined fruit with an open floral lift, fresh and bright, with such great energy. A pure, cool, lightly mineral style, with such fine elegance and also a very fine sinewy concentration, with perfectly judged grip. A very complete wine, so textured, long, savoury and poised in the finish. This is a divinely magnificent Cos d'Estournel which presents the substance of the vintage framed with precision in the best way possible. Rating: 98-100 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2019)
Big, rich and smoky in nature, with powerful fruits and dense tannins, this is a wine that is straining at the limits but still within balance. Rich, smoky flavors shine along with the black plum fruit and bright acidity. It will age for many years. Rating: 96 Roger Voss, Wine Enthusiast www.winemag.com (Apr 2019)
Château Cos d'Estournel
Founded in 1811, Château Cos d'Estournel is almost as renowned for its spectacular pagoda architecture as for its intense, opulent and complex wines, marking it as one of the two the leading châteaux of Saint-Estèphe and classification as a second-growth.
The original owner, Louis Gaspard d'Estournel, travelled widely in Asia and set about building the impressive château we see today, drawing heavily on Oriental influences. Ever the showman, the doors of the château were imported from the Palace of Zanzibar. The property has had several owners and has belonged to Michel Reybier since 2000, who has invested substantially with a spectacular new cellar opening in 2008.
The 91 hectare estate is densely planted (8,000 to 10,000 vines per hectare) with 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot. On the border with Pauillac, Cos looks across the Jalle du Breuil at Château Lafite, Cos, from old the Gascon language meaning the hill of pebbles, suitably describes the terroir along with clay, gravel, sand and limestone soil. The vineyard is managed by teams and each team member is given 45,000 vines to look after.
A second wine - Les Pagodes de Cos - was introduced in 1994. A more recent, and controversial, innovation has been the introduction of a white Cos d'Estournel (80% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Semillon) which comes from a vineyard further north near where their 'Goulée' Médoc is grown.
Please make sure that you have read the terms of this offer which are different from those on the main website. If you are unclear as to what is involved in primeur purchases please do contact our private client team via email or on 020 7018 0187.
Ordering
Prices are all in bond by the case size stated.
Pre-Orders are a firm commitment to buy wines on release, as long as the release price is within the upper and lower price bands set by you on the pre-order form. Pre-orders will be fulfilled subject to availability but providing this firm commitment to buy effectively gives you priority and is a good idea for the most desirable wines.
Wines listed on the website can be ordered in the usual way via the website wishlist order form. You can also send orders directly to our private client team via email. Please note that, for the most sought-after wines, priority will be given to those who ordered the same wines last year and to those that have pre-ordered.
Confirmation
All orders will be confirmed by email and are binding unless written cancellation is received within seven days of email confirmation. Pre-orders are not binding if the release price is above your upper price band.
Invoices are all raised at the in bond price (excluding any duty and VAT) which will become payable at the prevailing rates when the wines arrive in the UK, should you wish to take duty paid delivery.
Payment is required on sight of invoice, by cash, cheque, debit card or bank transfer. We regret we cannot accept credit cards for en primeur orders. We reserve the right to apply a dunning charge of 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.
Delivery
- Shipment to our bond (at LCB Creek Road) and insurance are included in the in bond price.
- Delivery is free to Lea and Sandeman / Elephant storage accounts, both duty paid and in bond.
- Other deliveries (In Bond and Duty Paid) are also free subject to a minimum order from the offer of £500. Orders below this total will be charged an administration and handling fee of £16.50+ VAT when invoices are issued. We will group deliveries and this is a charge for your entire purchases, not a per-case charge.
- Delivery of 2023 Bordeaux bought en primeur is expected during 2026. Delivery dates may vary as wines are shipped from Bordeaux at different times.
Practical notes - how it works
We start a sale in each customer's name and add all their primeur orders to one sale which is invoiced at the end of the campaign (or when the customer wishes). Immediate payment of invoices is then required by cash, cheque, debit card or bank transfer. We and our customers find that having a single invoice for the vintage is the simpler option but please note that confirmed orders are still binding even if the final invoice has not yet been issued.
Please specify on your wishlist order form where you would like the wines shipped on arrival in the UK. If this is to a third-party bonded warehouse, please specify the relevant account details. If the wines are required duty-paid we will issue a second invoice for duty and VAT at the prevailing rate when the wines are available for delivery.
Half-bottles, Magnums and larger bottles.
One of the additional advantages of buying en primeur is being able to order the wine in the format you want. While most of our listings are for 75cl bottles, we can source wines in any format that is offered by the Château. Please note that format requests cannot be changed once wines have been invoiced. Additional charges for special formats do apply and are as follows:-
- +£18.00 per case of 12 half-bottles
- +£30.00 per case of 24 half-bottles
- +£7.50 per case of 3 Magnums (2 bottles equivalent, 1.5 litres each)
- +£11.00 per case of 6 Magnums
- +£45.00 per individually boxed Double Magnum (4 bottles equivalent, 3 litres)
- +£60.00 per individually boxed Imperial (8 bottles equivalent, 6 litres) for Salmanazars, Balthazars, Nebuchadnezzars and Melchiors please enquire for availability and price.
Storage Options:
Wines bought en primeur won't arrive in the UK until 2026. If you do not wish to take home delivery at that point, you may wish to consider where you would like the wines shipped. Lea & Sandeman offers duty paid and in bond storage through a dedicated storage company called Elephant Storage. For more details on the terms and fees associated with storage please go to our Storage Homepage or contact our private client team for more information.