Bordeaux 2010 Primeurs: More on Cos, and Montrose
So it all looks good. And tasting the wines, in particular the grand vin, they are clearly of a different style to 2009. Put simply the 2010 Cos d’Estournel is less extreme than the 2009. Having said that, although I heard many positive comments on the wine, I have to be true to my own palate. And for me, these wines still focus too much on structure, and not enough on the other elements. It is as if 2010 Cos d’Estournel is a boy-band on the point of breaking up; there is evident disharmony in the group, and one member’s personality seems to take on a life of its own, as they seek to dominate the charts, the tabloid press and the glossy magazines in their quest to be the most newsworthy, the most noticed. Cos d’Estournel is Take That, circa 1996; the tannins are Robbie Williams. Rather than remain integral, supporting the wine from within, they burst out and dominate the wine on the palate. I look for harmony in barrel samples, for tannins that support the wine from beneath, and remain well covered by the texture and fruit; but here the tannins remain unintegrated and lie all over the top of the wine.
I suppose the question is, will the tannins follow Robbie’s example and return to the wine once again, melting seamlessly back into the fold in order to create a harmonious whole, or will they remain forever disparate and disjointed? Unfortunately I think this is a difficult call to make; there are no reference points, no wines made in the style of modern Cos with a track record of cellaring over one or two decades, with which we can compare it. Nevertheless, I am sure there will be praise heaped on this wine from many quarters. Mine will be a minority voice, I think.
