Saturated dark ruby. Exotic, port-like aromas of blackberry liqueur, mocha and grilled meat. Fat, lush, saline and sweet, conveying an impression of extreme port-like ripeness. Huge, mouth-saturating flavors of dark berries and chocolate. Not heavy but doesn't exactly dance on the palate. Does this need years to shed some of its baby fat or will it always be a bit monolithic? Finishes with a boatload of ripe, broad tannins and palate-staining fruit. In a distinctly extreme style, and yet this maintained its sweetness of fruit for days in the recorked bottle. This is bound to be one of the most controversial wines of the vintage. I look forward to checking back in on it in 10 or 15 years. Juli 2012

The 2009 Cos d’Estournel has an expansive and undeniably seductive bouquet, a mélange of red and black fruit, cold slate, damp earthy bordering on mulch-like aromas all delivering with ample freshness and certainly better delineation that it showed in its infancy. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, quite rich in style, decadent with a sweet core of fruit that is attractive but very un-Bordeaux like. Cos d’Estournel? Plush but bereft of intellect. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners’ 2009 Bordeaux tasting. März 2019

Deep garnet colored, the 2009 Cos d'Estournel features a myriad of wonderfully intense notes, including blackcurrant pastilles, redcurrant jelly, kirsch and blueberry compote with hints of rose hip tea, sautéed herbs, underbrush, pencil shavings and Indian spices. Full-bodied, rich and opulently fruited in the mouth, it has beautifully plush tannins and fantastic freshness, finishing very long and very spicy. März 2019

A very bold, ripe and complex wine with excellent concentration and a warm, engaging personality (cinnamon and allspice) that's hard to resist. With aeration a hint of dried fruit character emerges. Massive, yet polished finish. It’s been rated 100 in the past. We will see. Drink or hold. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019) März 2019