The 2022 Château Cos d'Estournel is one of the most acclaimed wines of the legendary 2022 Bordeaux vintage and a candidate for the greatest Cos d'Estournel ever produced. The blend is 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot, showcasing extraordinary concentration, exotic aromatics, and impeccable balance. Cos d'Estournel's distinctive style—often called the "Maharajah of Saint-Estèphe"—is on full display.
Professional Ratings
| Critic |
Rating |
| James Suckling |
100 Points |
| Jeb Dunnuck |
100 Points |
| Vinous (Antonio Galloni) |
99 Points |
| Decanter |
98 Points |
| Wine Advocate |
97–99 Points |
| Wine Spectator |
97 Points |
Tasting Profile
Aromatics
- Crème de cassis
- Blackberry and black cherry
- Violet and rose petals
- Graphite
- Asian spices
- Incense and cigar box
Palate
- Full-bodied and intensely concentrated
- Velvety, seamless tannins
- Extraordinary depth and precision
- Layers of dark fruit, floral notes, and mineral complexity
- Powerful yet remarkably elegant
Finish
- Exceptionally long and persistent
- Lingering cassis, spice, graphite, and floral notes
- Built for 40+ years of aging
Critics praised its combination of opulence and precision, with James Suckling awarding a perfect score and describing it as a wine with incredible depth, sophistication, and length.
Sommelier Presentation Note
2022 Château Cos d'Estournel, Saint-Estèphe
A monumental Bordeaux from the exceptional 2022 vintage, offering aromas of cassis, blackberry, violets, graphite, incense, and exotic spice. Richly concentrated yet impeccably refined, the palate reveals extraordinary depth, velvety tannins, and remarkable precision, culminating in a seamless, age-worthy finish.
Jeb Dunnuck
One of the finest wines to ever pass my lips, the 2022 Château Cos D'Estournel is a monument in the making. Based on 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, and 1% each of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, this saturated ruby/purple-hued Saint-Estèphe offers a full-bodied, massive, opulent style as well as perfumed red, blue, and black fruits, ample spice, chocolate, graphite, and lead pencil-like aromatics, a stacked mid-palate, flawless balance, and a monster of a finish. An improved version of the 2009 (if that's possible), this is a legendary wine in the making. Hats off to Michel Reybier and technical director Dominique Arangoïts.
James Suckling
Review Date: 04/2023
Unique structure to this wine and very Cos with all the spices and dark fruits. Tobacco and cedar. It's starts off full-bodied and flavorful, but continues to unfold in an energetic and weightless way. Savory and primary. Al dente grapes here. Exciting and thought-provoking.
Decanter
Review Date: 03/2023
Fresh and vibrant blackcurrant aromas with milk chocolate, vanilla and floral scents - so aromatic and expressive. Juicy and alive, bright and vibrant on the palate with soft herbal scents surrounding the fruit. The flavours - blackcurrant, black cherry, damson and orange rind - settle vertically but the firm and textured tannins give the focus, structure and tension. It has liquorice and flint edges all the way giving a savoury touch and clear minerality as well as dark chocolate and clove spice. Refined and serious but also there’s such a delicious juicy undercurrent giving life and energy. Confident winemaking on show, this is a real success in delivering a complete and powerful wine with depth but no heaviness. Totally delicious and moreish. A wine you're going to finish! Potential upscore in bottle. Two-third grand vin production. 2.94 total acidity. 3.79pH. 90 IPT. 1% Petit Verdot completes the blend. (GH)
Jane Anson
Review Date: 04/2023
Inky colour with violet edging, this is full of intense damson, incense, baked plum and black chocolate. A huge quantity of tannins but the texture is velvety, giving a creamy edge to the fruits, with contrast and freshness provided by orange zest and slate. Some of the old Merlot vines on gravel were picked early to tame them but generally the vineyard took the vintage in its stride, and almost 75% of production is in the 1st wine. Harvest September 7 to 23, 33hl/h yield, 90IPT, 50% new oak. Potential upscore in bottle.
