St. Estephe Tasting

[manton]

Attended this last night. Core wines were Cos, Montrose and Calon Segur from various vintages. Also a few others, Phelan Segur, de Pez and Marbuzet.

The core wines were tasted blind, which embarrassed most of us, but I will get to that. A few, we knew.

So, they started with the Pez and the Phelan to get us used the terrior. The de Pez was 2009 and the Phelan was 2006. I must say, I was surprised by the 2009, this is supposed to be a "charming" early drink vintage but it was harsh as hell, super rustic, overly mineral and vegetal and just not pleasant. Maybe I don't like that wine, I don't know. I like Les Ormes de Pez a lot.

The Phelan on the other hand was much softer, had a hugley perfumed nose and drank very well even now.

Then it was a 99 Marbuzet, which I gather is wholly owned by Cos. This was introduced with negative comments along the lines of “This is their attempt to make garagiste or cult wine” but honestly I liked it. Very fruity nose, which did indeed smell rather Napan but the palate was quite elegant and totally Bord.

OK, onto the main wines. It was not totally bind as we were mostly told the vintage and we knew that they could only come from three Chateau. First up were two ‘66s. I will just reveal it and say that wine #1 was Montrose and #2 was Calon. The Montrose was dark red with slight brick edges; nose of flowers and herbs, and a very dry palate with tobacco and tea but still a strong fruit core. This wine can last.

The Calon was much lighter in color with a massively perfumed nose and very soft palate but it faded in the glass quickly, so I drank it up. I guessed this flight correctly. I would have either of these again, BTW, but the Calon needs to be popped and poured, don’t let it linger.

Flight 2 was a 70 Montrose which I also guessed correctly having had it very recently. There were a couple of guys who said it was corked, and several agreed but I didn’t. Later in the night they said other wines were corked that nobody agreed with so maybe they were a little overly cork sensitive.

Flight 2 were two ‘61s. Yay! I have not had a lot of these so this was cool. #4 was crystal clear but very light. Slightly vegetal on the nose but still quite fruity and dense and delicious on the palate, if a tad acidic. But I was way impressed with this wine. #5 was darker but cloudy, almost muddy and had a quit funky nose. On the palate it seemed faded and dried out. So I naturally guessed that the wine I loved was Cos and the other was Calon, but WRONG! Reversed.

Now, interestingly, at the end of the night I had a chance to taste them both again, and the Cos was tremendous, had all that perfume Iove and the fruit had come out to play, but the Calon was completely dead. It was opened at about 5, I was told, we probably tasted it at 7:30, it was shining, then by 9 it was gone.

Flight 3 were 1982s of all three. I had an 82 Cos in August so I thought, I can get this right. #1 was the lightest and had a massively fruity nose. It seemed tight at first but with lots of swirling and a little waiting it revealed itself to be quite soft and mature, definitely the furthest along of the three.

#2 was dense and dark and first had no nose whatsoever. I could smell, literally, nothing. A couple of others wondered whether it was a tainted bottle. Eventually I got lots of spice and a hug grip out of it. And, much later, tea. It did finally open and drank superbly after the formal portion of the tasting was over.

#3 was in the middle in terms of color, had a gorgeous nose but was totally tight on the palate. Still, clearly a medium weight wine compared to #2. By the end of the night it had opened fully and was fruity and delicious.

So, I guess #1 correct: Calon. But I switched 2&3. 2 was Cos and 3 was Montrose. A much of people there said that they had been drinking the 82 Cos for a long time and it was definitely on its way down. I could not say. I will say that neither this one nor the one I had in August blew me away.

The final flight was an 85 and 86 Cos, an 89 Calon, and the 1990 Montrose. We were told which wines were in the flight but not which were which. I went 0 for 4.

#1 was the darkest. It had a dense nose but a super harsh palate, all tannin and acid and, surprisingly, no finish. It either needs a million years or simply will never come around.

#2 was the clear winner: heavily perfumed nose with some vegetal notes but great complexity and a palate with absolutely everything, drinking fine right now but could hold a long time.

#3 had an elegant nose but seemed massively tannic at first. It softened up as the night wore on and turned out to be quite nice.

#4 also seemed tight but softened up quickly and I eventually concluded that it was the most approachable of all, though not the best.

#2 was the 1990 Montrose. This was surprising as I had expected that wine to be much “bigger” and more of a kick in the balls but it was not. Totally ready, IMO. Definitely the best of the night.

#1 was the 86 Cos, #4 the 85 Cos and #3 the 89 Calon. I really am not sure if the 86 Cos is ever going to come around.

Finally they poured us an ’05 of one of them to show how the style had changed, more forward, more fruity, more approachable young, more Napan. It was very dense and chewy so I said, well that rules out Calon, but between the other two I don’t know. So of course it was Calon.

[Ramon_NYC]

Looks like a fun blind tasting. Thanks for the good notes.

1982 Montrose had always been good-but-never-great when I tasted, and appear lightweight when compared to the other more heralded wines in the vintage, including Cos d’Estournel.

Looks like you had a very good bottle of the 1990 Montrose. When it’s a clean bottle, 1990 Montrose is a great bottle, one of the best I’ve had in that vintage.

A Cos vertical a couple of years ago also showed an accessible ’85 and a less-than-accessible ’86. Although, during a massive ’86 vintage BWE tasting that we held in NYC about 4 years ago, I was very impressed with the 1986 Cos d'Estournel.

[Nicklasss]

Very intersting comments Manton.

I strongly believe that St-Estephe produces it's best wine in warm vintages. So 1982, 1989, 1990, 1996, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2009 and 2010 are probably strong vintages for St-Estephe.

Nic

[Claudius2]

Guys
Interestng notes on the Cos.
Some years ago I went to a big tasting with Bruno Prats with all wines coming from the chateau.
1986 was by far the fav wine, ahead of 1990, 96 (still very young then), 1988, 1982 and 1985.
1989 sis not show well and seemed to lack mid palate fruit though showed a lot of oak.

I have now drunk the 86 about a dozen times, and it is one of the few wines I ever see at at auction.
never had a bad bottle despite buying several lots.
I always decant it a few hours before consumption. It is a dark beauty, with heaps of everythng.
Yet it sounds like the bottle you has was out of condition, worse luck.

[manton]

A friend of mine had the 86 Cos about a year ago and he said it was really good. But the consensus in the room at the tasting was that nobody really liked that bottle. I actually didn't ask but nobody stuck up for the wine in general based on past tastings, they way some did for the 82

[robert goulet]

Excited just found an '05 Meyney for $29