2002 Château Cos d'Estournel

This is a fully mature Second Growth benchmark from Saint-Estèphe: the prestigious Château Cos d'Estournel 2002. Reared on the gravelly heights overlooking Pauillac, Cos d'Estournel is celebrated worldwide as a quintessential "Super Second," famed for its exotic spice aromatics, opulent fruit intensity, and commanding structural presence. The 2002 vintage benefited from late-season Indian summer sunshine in northern Médoc, yielding an exceptionally focused, classicist expression that has evolved after nearly a quarter-century into a prime window of tertiary drinking maturity. The nose opens with a soaring bouquet of cassis, black cherry preserves, and dark plums, seamlessly layered with hallmark Cos notes of Asian spices, incense, sweet tobacco leaf, cedarwood, pencil lead graphite, and crushed gravel minerality. On the palate, it is medium-to-full-bodied, rich, and beautifully textured, where the estate's firm tannic backbone has softened into velvety fine-grained structure, enlivened by a vibrant line of acidity that carries into an endlessly long, dry, and savory mineral finish.

Highlights

• Vintage: 2002

• Region/Appellation: Saint-Estèphe, Médoc, Bordeaux, France (Deuxième Grand Cru Classé / Second Growth)

• Producer: Château Cos d'Estournel

• Grape: Classic Bordeaux Blend (Predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon, with Merlot and Cabernet Franc)

• Style: Fully Mature, Exotic, Silky, and Complex Super Second Red Bordeaux

• Perfect for (food pairing): Fine cuts of slow-roasted rack of lamb with a garlic-herb crust, dry-aged prime ribeye or wagyu steak, roasted squab, pan-seared duck breast, or tender venison loin. Its complex tertiary notes of exotic spice, cedarwood, graphite, and forest floor also make it a magnificent companion for pan-seared wild mushrooms, truffled risottos, savory earth-driven pastas, or a well-curated plate of mature hard cheeses such as an aged Comté or Gouda.