Chateau Cos d'Estournel 2025

A density to this, yet it remains balanced and complex, with well-integrated tannins and a juicy finish. It seems to be a wine with lots of fruit, but then it diffuses and shows open-grained, velvety tannins. Intense yet subtle blackberries, lead pencil and hazelnuts. Some flint. Persistent and reserved at the end. Great potential. A blend of 60% cabernet sauvignon, 39% merlot and 1% petit verdot.

• Name des Kritikers: James Suckling

Cassis, currants, smoky tobacco, chocolate, and graphite all define the 2025 Château Cos D'Estournel, a powerful, ripe, concentrated beauty based on 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot that's still resting in 50% new barrels. On the palate, it's full-bodied, with a pure, layered mouthfeel, integrated oak, and a great finish. It stays lively, balanced, and remarkably fresh despite its weight and richness, and I'd happily put this up with the crème de la crème of the vintage.

• Name des Kritikers: Jeb Dunnuck

Intense and fruity wine, deep and dark with peppery fruits and Asian spices. This is a very crispy and pleasant wine, with a strong and powerful structure and a massive tannic though well integrated backbone. It would need considerable cellar time , 7-9 years before being approachable. It is a very successful wine both for the chateau and for the vintage.

• Name des Kritikers: Ivar Bjurner

Vivid pink colour in the glass. Plush, plump and chewy yet serious in a tight, cool blue fruit and graphite way. Lots of gravelly minerality keeps this quite focused and straight but with lovely fine layers of flavour and fruitiness. Classic in the sense of lower alcohol but still with ripe tannins – a nice combination. Still shy I’d say for Cos, definitely not the showy more exuberant style you can find. Refined but well built and definitely not overripe. Dominique Arangoits, technical director of Cos d'Estournel said 2025 was a: ‘Very interesting vintage, the dry situation arrived early so the vines adapted better. Easter brought three days of rain with 115mm on 20 April which proved vital, followed by helpful rain at the end of August. We started harvest on 3 September – our earliest ever. Nice quality of tannins and colour – we have the benefits of a hot season but with cool nights too, low alcohol and nice quantity of fresh fruit. It’s a mix of styles – ripeness and precocity of 2022 and freshness of 2016. Maybe a bit like 2020.’ 3.68pH. 65% grand vin production.

• Trinkreife: 2034 - 2050
• Name des Kritikers: Georgina Hindle

Dark in hue, without fanfare, the aromatics showcase black cherries, flowers, licorice, smoke, raspberry, and spice-filled nuances. The palate is even better, with a vivid display of sweet, energetic, lingering fruits, licorice, oceanic influences, dark chocolate, and Indian spices. There is richness, density, lift, and length. Balanced and harmonious, this wine will offer an extraordinary tasting experience. Give it a few years in the bottle before pulling a cork. The wine comprises 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot. 13.25% ABV, 3.68 pH. The harvest took place September 3 - September 19, making this the earliest harvest in the history of the estate. Yields were 29 hectoliters per hectare. The wine is aging in 50% new, French oak barrels. The Grand Vin was produced from 50% of the harvest. Drink from 2030 - 2065.

• Trinkreife: 2030 - 2065
• Name des Kritikers: Jeff Leve

The 2025 Cos d'Estournel is shaping up to be one of the wines of the vintage. Grand, dramatic and sweeping, with notable textural intensity, the 2025 hits all the right notes. Even in the very early going, the 2025 is magical. Dark red/purplish fruit, spice, new leather, tobacco, lavender and mocha build effortlessly in the glass. More than anything else, I am blown away by the wine's magnificent balance. A masterpiece.

• Trinkreife: 2035 - 2075
• Name des Kritikers: Antonio Galloni

The 2025 Cos d'Estournel appears to be one of the finest wines this property has produced in the last decade. Unwinding in the glass with a deep bouquet of dark berry fruit mingled with violets, pencil shavings, burning embers and anise, it's full-bodied, ample and velvety, with a broad attack, layered mid-palate and beautifully fresh, concentrated flavors. All of this terroir's inherent power is present, contained within very classical proportions at 13.3% alcohol. The 2025 is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot.

• Name des Kritikers: William Kelley

Incense and sandalwood aromatics, combines the density and concentration of a hot vintage with the freshness and balanced alcohols of a cooler vintage, meaning both weight and lightness of touch (this is something you will hear a lot with the 2025 vintage but rarely find in reality). A real breadth and wide spectrum of possibilities are contained here, a little austere right now but these dark berry fruits and firm tannins are waiting to bloom with ageing. 3.68pH. 50% new oak. Harvest was September 3, earliest since the Reybier era (they began September 7 on 2022, and also in 1989) through to September 19. Last year in organic conversion.

• Trinkreife: 2036 - 2055
• Name des Kritikers: Jane Anson

The 2025 Cos d'Estournel was picked between September 3 and 19 and matured in 50% new oak, the analytic alcohol at 13.25%. There is just a touch of CO2 on the nose that soon dissipates, gorgeous black plum and damson aromas, pencil lead and light iodine scents all delivered with impressive delineation. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, a hint of cracked black pepper and pencil lead that infuse the layered black fruit. There is a real crescendo of flavours in this Cos d'Estournel, fanning out gloriously towards the sustained finish. This is a serious Saint-Estèphe that will age supremely well in bottle.

• Name des Kritikers: Neal Martin