2002 Cos d'Estournel and Maine oysters on the back deck....

[JimHow]

Like Patrick I was not a fan of the '02 Cos the first time I had it a few years back.
Tonight it is showing nicely out of the gate. Mmm, Damariscotta oysters on the back deck.
I told you I drink Bordeaux with anything!

[Comte Flaneur]

Nice

[JimHow]

This bottle was from the famous DC MacArthur's heist.
Boy, Patrick, this opened up into all the best of what you would expect from 2002 + Cos.
I agree with you that this was gangly early on.
But it has opened up into a cedary, reserved, classic, with lead pencil, a little tobacco and leather but just great restraint.
It's got that blueberry thing going on.
A Jim How kind of northern Medoc. 13.5%.
Cos is great when it starts to hint at that neighbor just across the street to the south, just like when St. Julien meets Pauillac, here we have Pauillac meeting St. Estephe.
Great terroir, combined with a unique, classic, Parker-overlooked vintage post 9/11.
94 points. An excellent Cos.

[Blanquito]

Sounds like a lovely evening, Jim. I’m glad to hear the Cos has come around.

[Nicklasss]

I had the 2002 Cos d'Estournel once, and while it was young and very exotic, i liked it. I think Cos went a bit more on the dark side, starting with that 2003 vintage, from what i can read, because i never had a post 2002 Cos d'Estournel. And you know what? From what i read, i don't have any attraction for post 2002 Cos d'Estournel.

My brother is waiting your return to Montréal Jim, to open that dawm magnun of 1986 Cos d'Estournel. Should be a good one.

Nic

[Claudius2]

Nic
86 is the best Cos vintage I’ve had.
Went to a vertical with Bruno Prats in Sydney some yrs ago and from 82 to 2000, the 86 was the overall winner and my highest rated wine. Wish I had more. Drank my last bottle soon before leaving Sydney in 2010 and it was still young and vibrant.
At the tasting, the vintages from 82 to 90 were all well rated Though 89 was a little odd. 88 was excellent in a more traditional form. The wines from the 90s were generally too young though 96 was very good. The 2000 was impossible to rate as it was very tightly wound.

In relation to 2002 the vintage was somehow forgotten.
The wines were a little angular when young with firm acidity, some tobacco and Stalky or undergrowth characters. They were never big, bold fruity wines. Maybe what the English would call gentleman’s vintage. Yet they have generally Developed well.

[OrlandoRobert]

Jimbo drinkin well lately, he must be getting a lot of boys out of Club State lately.

I think Cos was turning the corner before 2003, but I do like 2002. I really like 2002 Mouton. I really did not buy hardly any 2002s, however.

[JimHow]

Frustrated that we have no trials going on, OB, I have five pending homicide cases (3 murder, 2 manslaughter), and it looks like we won't be going to trial til 2021... at the earliest.
The weather has been spectacular up here in Maine this summer.

I've been working on a summer Shakespeare project:

https://www.sunjournal.com/2020/08/09/j ... roscoggin/

I really enjoyed that 2002 Cos, it kept blooming with air. I'm a huge 2002 left bank fan, it is as classic a vintage as it gets.

[JCNorthway]

Jim, that is a really cool project if you can make it happen.

[OrlandoRobert]

Wow, super cool, quite the sophisticate Mr. How is!!!

[JimHow]

Ha a regular Thomas Jefferson of our times, minus the slaves. Th.J could have very easily called for a benevolent dictator form of government, no less than Plato and Aristotle did!
I've gotten a tremendous response.
We started a public theater 30 years ago when I was mayor and it is still around and thriving three decades later!
Lewiston is a funky old New England mill town but we have a beautiful riverfront which would be just perfect for summer Shakespeare theater under the stars.

[DavidG]

Very cool idea - hope it is a smashing success.

[stefan]

That was a great article, Jim; good luck on bringing back the Bard to Lewiston.

The lowest point in my acting career was when I was foolish enough to accept a singing part in Twelfth Night:

When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came to man’s estate,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
’Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came, alas! to wive,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
By swaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came unto my beds,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
With toss-pots still had drunken heads,
For the rain it raineth every day.

A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that’s all one, our play is done,
And we’ll strive to please you every day.

[JimHow]

I'm picturing a young Stefan in leotard.

[robert goulet]

Jim....I was out my buddy for beers the other night ... He's from Bath Maine I believe it's not too far from u.

[JimHow]

A skip and a hop, Bobby, about 25 minutes away. Small world.

[OrlandoRobert]

I'm picturing a young Stefan in leotard.

That’s hot!

[Blanquito]

I'm picturing a young Stefan in leotard.

That’s hot!

Or not.

https://hotornot.com/

[stefan]

stefanAsFeste.jpg (133.22 KiB) Viewed 1079 times

[JimHow]

Oh. My. God.
Tremendous.

[robert goulet]

Pure gold


I demand Stefan sing this in an inebriated at all future BWE conventions

[robert goulet]

Who will add the cowbell?

[OrlandoRobert]

Pure gold


I demand Stefan sing this in an inebriated at all future BWE conventions

In a Speedo!

With a cowbell around his neck.

Finally, BWE is partying like the Orlando boys!

[Antoine]

I like cos 2002 quite a bit one of the better 2002s. So not surprised... Have not bought any since then though

[JimHow]

Yeah, we are kicking ourselves for not cleaning out MacArthur's, we got all these 2002s -- Cos, Montrose, Pichon Baron, Calon Segur, etc., etc., for between $29-$39.
It was the heist of the decade.

[Jeff Leve]

2002 Cos is one of the wines of the vintage. Was that in the $29-$39 price?

[JimHow]

It was indeed. I bought six bottles.

[stefan]

Jim left two for me. I bought only one case because I was not sure of shipping, which turned out to be seamless. I would have bought everything that other BWEers did not had I been sure of no shipping problems. Just one of many lost opportunities...

[Chateau Vin]

Yeah, we are kicking ourselves for not cleaning out MacArthur's, we got all these 2002s -- Cos, Montrose, Pichon Baron, Calon Segur, etc., etc., for between $29-$39.
It was the heist of the decade.

Other notables that needed to be included in that list are Pichon Lalande and Pontet Canet....

[Blanquito]

Yeah, we are kicking ourselves for not cleaning out MacArthur's, we got all these 2002s -- Cos, Montrose, Pichon Baron, Calon Segur, etc., etc., for between $29-$39.
It was the heist of the decade.

Other notables that needed to be included in that list are Pichon Lalande and Pontet Canet....

I still have my 6 bottles of the 2002 Pichon Baron from MacArthurs (for $36 per), when to start drinking I wonder?

[JimHow]

Ah, the MacArthur's 2002 Bordeaux heist....
One of the great moments in BWE history....

[AlexR]

Jim,

As my son sees me tucking into large green salads day after day he says "Jeez, Dad, you must have been a rabbit in a former life".

Reading about your hedonistic tendencies (wine, oysters, etc.), I say "Jeez Jim, you must have been *French* in a former life". ))))))))))

Alex

[JimHow]

Ha well my mother was French-Canadian, Alex, so that counts.

[Comte Flaneur]

So Jim you could emigrate to France or Canada; I wouldn’t recommend the U.K. because we have Trump with a posh accent and his evil enforcer - the UK is in danger of become a totalitarian state. In 2024 you will have the secret police trying to bang down your door at 3am in the morning. Mark my words.

[OrlandoRobert]

Jim,

As my son sees me tucking into large green salads day after day he says "Jeez, Dad, you must have been a rabbit in a former life".

Reading about your hedonistic tendencies (wine, oysters, etc.), I say "Jeez Jim, you must have been *French* in a former life". ))))))))))

Alex

Exactly!

When I read Jim’s post, I went back in time to a weekend I spent in Arcachon, in the Bordeaux region, lounging on the Atlantic, enjoying some of the best oysters in the world, giant langostines and white Bordeaux. Jimbo had it mostly right, just the wrong color of Bordeaux! I wonder how many people know that the Bordeaux region is equally renown for oysters.

[JimHow]

I take that back, Ian, my mother was born here in Maine, her parents came from Quebec.
Likewise with my father's side, my grandparents came from Poland in 1914, just before the guns of august.
I've already looked into citizenship in the EU by virtue of my Polish ancestry, unfortunately I just missed it because of Poland's status when my grandparents came over.
I quickly checked once based on my French ancestry as well and I think I likewise miss it.
I love the United States but it has fallen and does not seem to be able to get up.
The government is broken irretrievably.