Cos d’Estournel, 1989

Cos d'Estournel 1989

I think I sometimes need to remind myself that wines are really not supposed to be collected.  They are meant to be drunk.

So it was with great happiness that I decided to celebrate a friend’s birthday by opening a bottle of the 1989 Cos d’Estournel, indisputably one of the best châteaux in Bordeaux.

Château Cos d’Estournel is often called a “super second.”  This refers to the classification of Bordeaux wines in 1855, which organized the wines of Bordeaux in terms of perceived quality mostly based on the prices they were fetching at the time.  The top wines were classed as first, second, third, fourth and fifth growths.   Four wines made it to the top as first growth or premiers crus and fifteen had the distinction of being second growths.   This classification has barely changed since that time.  The important change was the “promotion” of Château Mouton Rothschild from a second to a first growth in 1973, which, incidentally, was a dreadful wine for Bordeaux in general and Mouton in particular.

A “super second” is an unofficial term used to identify the top second growths.  Wines such as  Léoville-Barton and Cos d’Estournel (among others) that exhibit pretty much the quality of the first growths are considered to be super seconds.  Cos d’Estournel comes from the commune called Saint-Estèphe, one of six communal appellations in the Médoc.  Wines from Saint-Estèphe are reputed to be a little more tannic than other Médoc wines initially.  People often think of them as a little difficult and unapproachable when young, but careful aging rewards you with intensely flavored, elegant wines.  My bottle had been carefully stored since its infancy in a wine refrigerator.

Not only were we drinking wine from a very distinguished maker in a great area, but 1989 was considered a very good year in this part of Bordeaux.  Grapes were picked early and the wine was put into new oak barrels and blended as 68% Cabernet Sauvignonn, 30% Merlot, and 2% Cabernet Franc.  Most critics rated the 1989 Cos d’Estournel very highly although Robert Parker, tasting it in 2005, called it “very good but uninspiring” with a rating of only 88, and a suggestion that it should be drunk now.  I will never forget the very pretentious description of this wine in the Wine Spectator, which gave this wine 95 points:

A designer wine that wears its oak like an Armani suit. Shows an impressive concentration of spice, berry and vanilla aromas and flavors and an excellent tannin structure. (Wine Spectator, 3/15/92)

I bet the writer of that line (James Suckling?) cringes with embarrassment whenever he sees this description quoted!

I found that the tannins had definitely softened and it seemed to be a wonderfully balanced wine exhibiting fresh ripe black fruit and some spicy vanilla on the nose.  It had a mineral (lead pencil?) taste that often characterizes Bordeaux wines that are made predominantly with Cabernet Sauvignon.  One of our group found it pleasant, but not outstanding  — perhaps a little one dimensional.  He contrasted it with the 2000 Sociando Mallet that he had drunk the week before, and pronounced the Sociando Mallet a much more enjoyable wine.

The color of the wine was still bright and ruby with barely a hint of browning although we all agreed that possibly this wine, although known for its long aging potential, was possibly past its peak.

So what was wrong?  Well nothing really!  This is simply a wine that promised to be remembered for ever — and it was just another good wine.

In summary, this was a bit of a disappointing wine.  There is no doubt that it was very good, but my expectations were extremely high as I considered this to be one of the jewels in my collection.