Château Cos d’Estournel, Saint-Estèphe 1988

Cos D'Estournel 1988 #1

Twenty-five years on tasting.

Fullish ruby red, paling rim.  Carnal, stentorian, four-square and astringent: susbtantial if adolsecent expression of black cherry and dark-skinned plum.  Char-y, dense (bordering on thick), structured and tannic (with a tilt towards agrestic).  Glimpses of gravel, blood, iron, oolong.  But not much insight into the breed and dimension one should expect from Cos d’Estournel.  This is more forced and driven, with an anvil opacity, all bluster and rumble.  Will this ’88 ever shed its bulk?  For now: burly, unresolved (but hopefully not immutable) St. Estephe.  Now – 2018.

Cos D'Estournel 1988

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