2002 Cos d'Estournel (from MacArthurs haul)
Posted: Sun May 01, 2016 4:10 am
I was pretty much the first on the scene of the MacArthur's heist after the original discoverers (Jim H. and others) who posted it on the board. I saw the post early the next morning, jumped in my car (I had child care duties so I shamefully lied to my toddler about where we were going), and arrived at the store right around opening the next morning to discover the full range of stuff they had available and the 20th century prices they had marked them with.
I felt a certain amount of guilt since I was a new comer to the board and was free-riding off the info you provided without having put in the years of service to BWE that so many others have. It would have been criminal to cheat the board by taking advantage of the greatest wine bargain I had ever seen and buying every bottle of 2002 Bordeaux they had in the store -- although I was rather tempted. So I restrained myself to 'just' a case and a half.
One result of my restraint was that I only bought 3 bottles of the 02 Cos d'Estournel. I went light on it because I had an additional 5 bottles of it that I had purchased on futures. Well, we cracked the first bottle tonight -- and if the whole thing was a heist, that 2002 Cos was the greatest highway robbery of all.
The color is a bit odd, dark purple but with a brownish tinge. I wouldn't expect bricking so early in a wine's life. But have no fear, this wine is FAN FUCKING TASTIC. One of those bouquets that you can smell as soon as you start pouring it into the decanter. Intense and black-fruited, blackberry/plum/cassis mixed with leaves, leather, and just a touch of dirt. Quite extracted, it was notably tannic for the first half hour or so after the P&P. But the tannins were fine-grained, and while they messed with the texture some at first they did not block perception of the depth and quality of this wine. About 30-45 minutes in the tannic veil lifted almost completely and you were left with a rich, luxurious, wine that had lift and elegance to counterbalance the richness. This is a wine that screamed quality with every sniff and sip. It has many years to go, but it seems to be in early maturity, with the rich fruit mingling with some early secondary notes.
I liked the 02 Palmer and Leoville Barton from this haul quite a bit as well, but this is very clearly a step up. Just more of everything. I imagine that outside of the first growths this is as good a wine as Bordeaux produced in 2002. It's nice that I have the other bottles I got on futures. But you can't have enough of this wine. If I could do this all over again I don't think my conscience could stop me from going in there and demanding all their 2002 Cos.
I do wonder if these wines are a touch advanced -- I had one of my futures bottles (stored at 55 degrees) two years ago, in 2014, and it was shut down super tight. This was really far more giving, felt like a different wine. I noticed the other bottles I've had from this source also felt quite open. But there's a ton of fruit there so I definitely would not say this wine felt damaged in any way. Perhaps just stored at 60 instead of 55 or something.
I felt a certain amount of guilt since I was a new comer to the board and was free-riding off the info you provided without having put in the years of service to BWE that so many others have. It would have been criminal to cheat the board by taking advantage of the greatest wine bargain I had ever seen and buying every bottle of 2002 Bordeaux they had in the store -- although I was rather tempted. So I restrained myself to 'just' a case and a half.
One result of my restraint was that I only bought 3 bottles of the 02 Cos d'Estournel. I went light on it because I had an additional 5 bottles of it that I had purchased on futures. Well, we cracked the first bottle tonight -- and if the whole thing was a heist, that 2002 Cos was the greatest highway robbery of all.
The color is a bit odd, dark purple but with a brownish tinge. I wouldn't expect bricking so early in a wine's life. But have no fear, this wine is FAN FUCKING TASTIC. One of those bouquets that you can smell as soon as you start pouring it into the decanter. Intense and black-fruited, blackberry/plum/cassis mixed with leaves, leather, and just a touch of dirt. Quite extracted, it was notably tannic for the first half hour or so after the P&P. But the tannins were fine-grained, and while they messed with the texture some at first they did not block perception of the depth and quality of this wine. About 30-45 minutes in the tannic veil lifted almost completely and you were left with a rich, luxurious, wine that had lift and elegance to counterbalance the richness. This is a wine that screamed quality with every sniff and sip. It has many years to go, but it seems to be in early maturity, with the rich fruit mingling with some early secondary notes.
I liked the 02 Palmer and Leoville Barton from this haul quite a bit as well, but this is very clearly a step up. Just more of everything. I imagine that outside of the first growths this is as good a wine as Bordeaux produced in 2002. It's nice that I have the other bottles I got on futures. But you can't have enough of this wine. If I could do this all over again I don't think my conscience could stop me from going in there and demanding all their 2002 Cos.
I do wonder if these wines are a touch advanced -- I had one of my futures bottles (stored at 55 degrees) two years ago, in 2014, and it was shut down super tight. This was really far more giving, felt like a different wine. I noticed the other bottles I've had from this source also felt quite open. But there's a ton of fruit there so I definitely would not say this wine felt damaged in any way. Perhaps just stored at 60 instead of 55 or something.