Château Cos d'Estournel

Château Cos d'Estournel is an estate of the level Deuxième Grand Cru Classé in Bordeaux. The estate is one of the biggest names in Bordeaux and produces first-class wines according to its tradition.

Château Cos d'Estournel - India and France in one chateau

The name of the château goes back to Louis-Gaspard Estournel, a wealthy merchant who founded the estate. He often commuted to Arabia and India for his business, which is reflected in the architecture of the château. The chateau is located next to the famous Château Lafite, Estournel bought the property for this very reason, as he also wanted to benefit from the very good terroir.

After some time, he noticed that the wine he took with him to India and did not sell, tasted better on his return than the one that had remained in the château. So he always sent some of his wine with him on a ship journey to India and marked this wine with an "R" for Retour des Indes - Return from India. While this wine was very successful, the cost of his wine and construction adventures eventually ruined him.

The estate subsequently passed through the hands of many families who owned well-known wineries in their own right, until it finally landed with Michel Reybier in 2008. Since then, Château Cos d'Estournel has been thoroughly modernized, new technology and methods have been introduced.

The terroir and the vineyards of the Château

ChâteauCos d'Estournel is located in the northern Médoc near Saint-Èstephe, where it has clay soils with a gravel overlay. Two slopes extend from the center of the estate, one facing southwest and the other east. On the hills grow the grape varieties:

• Merlot
• Cabernet Sauvignon
• Cabernet Franc
• Petit Verdot
• Sauvignon Blanc
• Sémillon

With its location on the Gironde estuary, Château Cos d'Estournel benefits from ocean air, which intercepts heat spikes and moderates winters. The wind carries away excess moisture and gives the grapes excellent conditions to ripen at their best.

Today, Château Cos d'Estournel has a total of 100 hectares of vineyards. 2/3 of them are Cabernet Sauvignon, the next largest part is Merlot, and a small one is Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. The plants are on average 45 years old, the oldest up to 100.

The grapes from these plants are used to refine the estate's wines. For the first wine, the proportion of older plants is higher, so the average age here is 55 years.

In the cellar of Château Cos d'Estournel

In the cellar, 84 conical steel tanks are used, whose structure favors fermentation over the classic cylinders. Finally, under the room with the tanks, we find the barrique cellar where the 1500 barrels of the estate are stored.

The barrique cellar of Château Cos d'Estournel is temperature-insulated and constantly maintained at 15°C to minimize the impact on nature and provide the wine with optimal conditions for aging. A part of the barrique cellar is reserved exclusively for the best and oldest vintages, where they are stored behind a carved wooden door.

In addition to the main wine, the second wine Pagodes des Cos, the third wine Goulée by Cos d'Estournel and a white called Cos d'Estournel Blanc are also vinified.