1989 Cos d’Estournel TN

[jckba]

So I bought some veal the other day and was eagerly waiting to fire up the grill this weekend and as it was drizzling slightly over here yesterday evening, I waited until today to pull a 1989 Cos d’Estournel which I had been standing up for just over a week in anticipation of a nice holiday meal. Ceil (my girlfriend of 16 years (btw bless her soul for being able to put up with me for this long)) was like why don’t we drink more older wines to which all I could do was shake my head and say if only, anyways onto my note;

1989 Cos d’Estournel - really took an hour to get into the zone and stabilize as there was an initial mustiness that had me worried, but this was wonderfully fragrant with a nose of black currant and plum, cedar, earth, leather, green pepper and tobacco which led to a medium bodied, ripe red fruited licorice and cedar driven palate that lingered ever so elegantly on the finish. 95 points

[AKR]

Good on ya for the greens!

========

You've probably noticed over the last couple of decades how much less available veal is in the markets. When its around, its often vacuum packed, unless you go to a specialty butcher, and even then, they'll have to order it a lot of times if you want a bigger cut. And veal costs more too.

It's all a function of the progress made in the dairy/milch industry which now can pretty much guarantee that artificially inseminated cows will have a 90% chance of female calves. They do this with some kind scientific trickery with the bull's contribution. So much more milk, thus cheaper cheese and all that. And the 'byproduct' which was veal, has been drastically reduced, and is now priced higher.

Bizarrely, my dad grew up on a cattle ranch and lime orchard, and would go through all of this stuff with me. He was originally a botanist before becoming a physician, so we used to also get constant education on all the flora surrounding us.

I'm saddened with the much less availability of veal, and how dear it is now. We used to make prune stuffed veal chops, with a port reduction, at the holidays. But now, even finding fresh chops is annoying.

[JimHow]

you know, there's all those videos out there on what we do to these poor creatures.
And yet we continue to eat this stuff.
we are evil, humans.
There was an article recently, in the NYT I think, asking whether the Earth would be better off if the human species were extinct.
Probably, I say.
There's a documentary out there narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, I recommend it, but it is not for the feint of heart.
we are pigs, the human species.
But, hey, I eat meat, so I can't preach.

[JimHow]

"Earthlings" documentary.

Don't watch if you are squeamish, you have been warned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrlBSuuy50Y

[jal]

I loved this wine in the 1989 Bordeaux tasting at Fabios ten years ago (jeez)
I will try to find one and bring it to Denver 2019
Arv, I agree. I get veal rib chops shipped to Florida from Pat LaFrieda. It's impossible to find here. I used to buy a few at Grand Central on the way home in NYC in my old old life.
And Jim, I recommend reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma".
https://goo.gl/nsrmtD
The omnivore's dilemma - United Diversity - Library

[JimHow]

Geez, sorry, jckba, didn't mean to hijack your post.
the '89 Cos, that's good drinking.
I drank a '98 Troplong Mondot recently, I was in an end-of-year transition-period mood to drink something good, it was splendid, though needed to be blanquitoed at least once or even twice. It was splendid now, though, at age 21. Should still be very strong at 30 though.

Will check out the Ominovore's Dilemma for sure Jacques!

[AKR]

I remember all those Pat LaFrieda trucks in the Meatpacking district when I was younger. I'm not sure that industry is even left there, no?

Cortis Bros. out here is our specialty purveyor, and is excellent, but its generally chaos to deal with them around the holidays. Mostly direct farm/rancher access, with all kinds of specialty breeds.

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Without casting a pall on that Cos, I think I've had that 89 a few times, and it never seemed as awesome as it should have been. Some musty, some wan. Maybe because it was invariably paired off against the Montrose.

[Blanquito]

Thumbs up on Omnivore's Dilemma. Thumbs down on veal.

I also gave up pork (most US pork is crate raised) and lamb 6-7 years ago. Still eat poultry and beef though.

[Blanquito]

My lone bottle of the 89 Cos -- opened with great anticipation after reading the Fabio's notes and Ian's many praises of this wine -- was badly corked a few years back.

[JimHow]

Come to think of it, I take back my comment on the 89 Cos.
I’m not sure I’ve ever had a good 89 Cos.
My memory is that it was in that range of 89 disappointments that included GPL (of course), Latour, Margaux, and others.
The best Coses of the 80s were 82, 85, 86, 88.
The 90 was a whole different story, worthy of a separate discussion in a different thread.
We drank the 90 Cos in Quebec City on New Year’s Eve 2000 ... Jesus has it been 19 years... it was a volatile flamboyant adolescent beast at age 10....

[Nicklasss]

I feel like i need some, but hey, you know underesrtimated 1989 Cos is like so genius? Man i like tn fron jc.

Nic

[jckba]

Jim - I brought a btl of ‘89 Cos from the same case to that dinner at La Mangeoire in NYC when Ian (and Maureen) were in town back in 2016 and while it was good, the ‘90 LLC absolutely slayed that as well as the ‘90 Baron that you brought.

Nic - I have 1 btl left of the ‘96 Cos and a bunch more of the ‘89 so whenever it is that I see you, that’s what I’ll bring/open.

[Comte Flaneur]

Thanks for the note JC.

Cos is a great 1989 in my opinion, easily top ten in that brilliant vintage, and dare I say it, better than Montrose; well, at least, in my opinion. Better also than the ostensibly more flattering 1990 Cos.

For example, we had a St-Estephe tasting here 3-4 years ago, with ten participants, and the 1989 scored 29 out of a possible 30 points, it was everyone’s favourite wine, barring one person (me actually) who voted for the 1985 because it was readier to drink (the fact that there were quite a few flawed wines did not detract from the Cos’s greatness). But there was no doubt the 1989 was the better wine. It has however taken a long time to evolve. It would be nice to have one at the convention.

[Winona Chief]

I do remember the 1989 Cos from that long ago 1989 dinner at Fabios. I was surprised by how good it was - I agree it is one of the best 1989s. There are a number of disappointments (Latour and Mouton and Grand Puy Lacoste come to mind) from 1989 and Cos was a bit disappointing early on but I think it has been really shining in recent years. Still think Lynch Bages, the two Pichons, Montrose, Palmer, Haut Brion and La Mission are the big stars of 1989.

I can bring a 1989 Cos to the convention if needed.

Chris Bublitz

[Blanquito]

Yes, an 89 Cos vs 89 Montrose would be fun to try at the convention.

[Blanquito]

Was 89 a Left Bank or Right Bank year? Or equal? My experience says Left Bank, but there are some brilliant Righties too and the Right Bank maybe had fewer duds overall.

[Blanquito]

There’s always been very little buzz about the 1989 St Juliens.

[jal]

Well, put me down for a Cos along with the Baron, Patrick.