TN: 1990 Château Cos d'Estournel (France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe)

[jal]

Opened for a couple of hours but not decanted, with roast chicken, green salad, and roasted sweet potatoes and butternut squash.

Dark color, almost black, slight bricking on the rim, very expressive old school nose of earth, graphite and tobacco. On the palate this is delicious, not the most precise or focused but still good balance with resolved black fruit, tannins are almost completely gone, and I discern a slight bitterness in the back palate.

This has none of the exuberance of other 1990 Medocs, but it is a complex delicious wine. I don't think it will improve from here but it is so delicious and will last at least another decade maybe more. Long lingering finish. (94 pts.)

[JimHow]

It was great to see you the other night, Mr. Levy, if only by Zoom.
And as we all agreed, the great Stefan was looking healthy and lovely.
I always knock on wood and hold my breath when it comes to the health of Professor/Doctor Stefan, but he looked like he had put on a few pounds and his color was good.
I had a 2014 Stony Brook chardonnay, this wine is just lovely, Gerry, I can give you six of them in exchange for those 6 bottles of 2012 du Tertre, let's shoot for meeting in Nashua sometime soon after the 2019s come out. I think that 2014 Stony Brook chard is a Gerry M kind o wine.
as for the '90 Cos...
Oh man, there's a story there with that wine.
It was New Years eve 1999, when the world was going to end.
We were in Quebec City...
What was that restaurant, Nicola?
Plaintive string instruments, cello primarily, a harbinger of things to come, like on the deck of the Titanic...
But for the moment, all was happiness, however tenuously...
With a young 1990 Cos now uncorked.
Volatile. Wild... Not of Bordeaux...
And now Jal has uncorked a well stored bottle some 22 years later....
Ah, BWE....

[stefan]

It was great to get together with Jacques & Jill & Jim after a few months of isolation.

With bass en papillote we drank a wonderful 2018 Henri Boillot Puligny Combottes. No loss to drink this kid at age four. The 1990 Cos sounded great and much different from what it was in its youth.

[Comte Flaneur]

Thanks for the notes Jacques. Over the years I have found Cos 90 to be an enigma. Can be amazing, can be awkward, but I suspect age has ironed out some of those quirks. Glad your bottle was a good one.

[smoore4]

I have a 1997 Cos d'Estournel that I had planned to drink with your bro @JimHow. Come to Tampa and I will open it with you. Steve

[jal]

Sounds good Steve, Jim keeps threatening to come to the west coast of Florida, we should meet when he does.

[JimHow]

I like that idea Jacques, you’ll like Steve Moore, he’s a good man, he has the BWE attitude. He was good friends with my brother Dan who we lost last year. I’ve been getting down to Florida every winter, Steve, usually Miami but sometimes the west coast. I’ll try to make it happen this winter!

[smoore4]

I would love to host a BWE in Tampa. March is the best month of the year in FL (imho). November works too. Where are you located Jacques? @jal

[jal]

I'm in Sarasota Steve