Pagodes de Cos 2010

This big, rich, chocolaty wine is powerfully built with considerable extract. The wine is huge and solid, its tannins extreme and dense. At the same time, the juicy blackberry fruit drives the wine into an opulent aftertaste.

For the price of a bottle of Cos, you can buy four Pagodes (around €65), which, in terms of style, elegance, sensuality, freshness and craftsmanship, outshines some older vintages of the grand vin. All clear?

Bright loganberry and blackberry fruit pumps along, while hints of licorice root, singed apple wood and charcoal chime in on the finish. Pleasantly firm, open and accessible, this is engaging and lively but a bit shy on stuffing overall. Drink now through 2023.

Fragrant dark fruit, ripe and perfumed with cola and crayon notes. Juicy, upfront and lively, the tannins giving both a gentle weight and sense of outline. A nice expression, not especially layered or complex but focused and easy to drink, with blackcurrant and cool blueberry fruit. St-Estèphe signature in the slight austerity. Unfussy and enjoyable.

Blackberries, black currants, thyme, flowers, smoke, and espresso crowd into the nose. Round, soft, lush, and packed with sweet, ripe, spicy currants, espresso, and dark chocolate in the mid-palate and fresh, silky finish. No decanting is needed, just pop, pour and enjoy. For a second wine, this is simply off the hook. Drink from 2022-2028.

Deep purple with lilac hues, dense core. On the nose it almost shows a certain Pinot Côte de Nuits affinity, with red plums and wild raspberries. Velvety palate, supple texture, good balance—almost a sensational selection for a second wine. As with the 2009, quite a great Pagodes!

Intense purplish-purple, dense core. On the nose it almost shows a certain Pinot-Côtes-de-Nuits affinity, with red plums and wild raspberries. Velvety palate, soft texture, good balance—almost a sensational selection for a second wine. Just like the 2009, a rather big Pagodes!

Very elegant, with a long finish, elegant and fresh.

Probably the best second wine ever made at Cos (although the 2009 should not be discounted), the 2010 Les Pagodes de Cos is a blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon and 38% Merlot finishing at 14% natural alcohol. This wine exhibits beautiful, silky tannins as well as sweet, rich mulberry and black currant fruit with hints of spring flowers, licorice and subtle toast. A full-bodied, opulent and -ideal- second wine, most people who have tasted it would probably agree that it is actually better than many vintages of Cos d-Estournel from the 1960s and 1970s. Drink it over the next 10-15 years. These are two terrific wines from Cos d'Estournel. Proprietor Michel Reybier will have to continue his great success over the next decade without his top lieutenant, Jean-Guillaume Prats, who has taken another job, but the estate seems to be in superlative condition, and at the very top of its game.