Description
Château Cos d’Estournel was founded in 1811 by Louis Gaspard d’Estournel, who recognized the immense potential of the estate's unique gravelly hill (called "Cos" in Gascon dialect). Dubbed the "Maharajah of Saint-Estèphe" due to his successful wine trade with India, he famously designed the winery with striking oriental pagodas and an imported Zanzibar palace door. Though financial hardships forced him to sell the property in 1852, his dedication was validated in 1855 when the estate was classified as a prestigious Deuxième Grand Cru Classé (Second Growth). Since 2000, under the ownership of entrepreneur Michel Reybier, the historic estate has combined its heritage with cutting-edge modernization, including a state-of-the-art 100% gravity-flow cellar that solidifies its reputation as a premier "Super Second" Bordeaux estate.
The 1970 Château Cos d'Estournel was crafted during a historically bountiful Bordeaux vintage under the management of the Ginestet family, just before the estate was structurally integrated into Domaines Prats. Typically composed of roughly 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot, and 2% Cabernet Franc, the grapes were harvested after a late-ripening growing season, which ultimately yielded full-bodied wines with a firm, robust backbone. Vinified long before the estate's modern introduction of gravity-flow systems or truncated-cone vats, the fruit was handled using traditional, rustic Left Bank extraction techniques and aged for approximately 18 months in oak barrels. The resulting wine is celebrated for its classical Saint-Estèphe structure, emphasizing a dense, foursquare tannic profile that has allowed it to develop deep, complex tertiary layers of cigar box, smoked tobacco, and forest floor over decades of cellaring.
