Collection: Ch Cos d Estournel
Ch. Cos d'Estournel is a Second Growth Estate under the 1855 Bordeaux Classification System located in the commune of St-Estephe.
The men and women of Cos d’Estournel are at the heart of the winemaking process. True artisans of the vine, they use the most highly advanced equipment to pursue the purest traditions of winegrowing and winemaking. They have the intimate knowledge of the vineyard, patiently honed expertise and long-standing commitment needed to make the best choices. Every detail counts when seeking to fully reveal the potential of such a magnificent terroir while also considering its overall ecosystem.
Each vine-grower on the estate is entrusted with the same ten plots, or forty thousand vine plants, year after year. He or she follows them closely from one season to the next and is entirely responsible for their care. Each vine is treated with the utmost respect, as is the rich, diverse environment surrounding the vineyard, with its forests, hedges, pastures and stream, all of which must be carefully tended to.
More than two hundred years ago, Louis Gaspard d’Estournel had already grasped the diversity of his vineyard. A man ahead of his time, he began a process of selection, using only grapes from the most qualitative plots in his wine.
Today this approach has become an underlying principle: the team adjusts its methods to match the unique characteristics of each plot, often dividing the plots into subplots for even greater precision. A perfect understanding of the soils, coupled with experience acquired over the years, makes the most intimately tailored approach to winegrowing possible. From one vine plant to the next, the vine-grower will adapt to soil, exposure and placement, resulting in the creation of distinct batches of wine.
Precise and rigorous, this process of selection demands major investment—both financial and human—but it is a necessary prerequisite to revealing the vineyard's potential. It is only because each batch of wines is treated individually that the incredible diversity of the estate's terroir can express itself to the fullest. This extremely meticulous approach to winegrowing and winemaking favors the development of a magnificent aromatic complexity and a unique signature that makes the Grand Vin of Cos d’Estournel one of the world's finest wines.
Entirely devoted to winemaking, the main edifice of Cos d’Estournel houses state-of-the-art facilities. Since 2000, the estate has massively invested in studies and analysis to understand the precise needs of the vineyard and highly innovative techniques to perfectly match the exact characteristics of the site. New research and experiments are confronted against traditional winemaking methods in the cellar, where highly innovative materials maximize energy efficiency and advanced equipment allows the enterprising team to produce a most exceptional wine. A symbol of owner Michel Reybier's commitment to mobilizing necessary resources, the cellar is also symbolic of the spirit of technical audacity and quest for excellence dear to the estate's visionary founder Louis Gaspard.
In 2003, Cos d’Estournel set a new standard for winemaking when it implemented isothermal vats shaped like truncated cones; it was the first time a vineyard would choose stainless steel as its material of choice while also seeking to maintain certain qualities associated with wood. The unique shape of the vats would allow for homogeneous extraction during fermentation and the temperature-controlled environment would mean a highly precise winemaking process, to maintain the wine's freshness and intensify its aromas of fruit. Today a fleet of 84 vats allows winemaking at Cos d’Estournel to take place under ideal conditions. Their very existence is proof of the team's willingness to bypass existing methods in search of solutions adapted to the specific needs of the vineyard. In looking beyond traditional winemaking techniques to seek answers in other industries, the team has embraced the avant-garde values of the estate's original craftsman.
Cos d’Estournel once again proved a paragon of innovation in 2008 with the construction of a vat room—complete with four vats encased in glass elevators—entirely based on the laws of gravity. The winemaking process, from harvest reception to bottling, would take place without pumping. Grape berries, their juices and the resulting wines would be handled as gently as possible, resulting in a subtle nectar with softer, more refined tannins. Unprecedented, the winemaking techniques used at Cos d’Estournel are perfectly adapted to the vineyard, so that its uniquely complex terroir and the grapes it produces may express themselves in the purest form. The level of precision and consistency achieved has even exceeded the team's expectations.
