2009 Bordeaux Wine Vintage Report and Buying Guide with Tasting Notes, Reviews and Ratings and producer comments for the best 2009 St. Estephe wines from the appellation. The 2009 St. Estephe Bordeaux wines were tasted in barrel in Bordeaux, June 2010.
2009 Bordeaux St. Estephe tasting notes, reviews, ratings and buying guide for 2009 St. Estephe.
2009 Cos d’Estournel is midnight black with dark purple accents. The wine smells like a basket of fresh picked blackberries and blueberries with the added aromas of ground spice, coffee, incense, smoke, licorice, and black raspberry liqueur. This powerful wine coats every inch, nook, and cranny of your tongue, cheeks, gums, and palate with pure essences of black and blue fruit complemented by chocolate and kirsch. The seamless finish lasts over 60 seconds. I tasted this wine 3 times with similar results. 99/100 Pts
Jean-Guillaume Prats explained the role of the new cellars in producing the wine, “Gravity cellars allow for a complete non intervention in making the wine. This allows for the purest possible expression of the fruit grown in the gravelly rock terroir. The wine is always moved by gravity, thus never touched by human hands.”
The wine is expensive. For most people, paying $300 for 2009 Cos D’Estournel is out of the question — a perfectly reasonable point of view. Having finished tasting every major property and a plethora of smaller estates in the Medoc, I say that if you are not planning to buy Latour, Margaux, or Haut Brion in this vintage, if you desire to own what will be a reference point wine from 2009, this is the wine to buy. I can also share the little known fact that not much 2009 Cos was sold to America. Other countries took larger shares. I have no idea what will happen in 2011 when the wine is released; but based on the quality, if you can afford this wine, it is worth considering. You can take this to the bank, this is not only the best 2009 St. Estephe, it’s a candidate for one of the top wines of the entire 2009 Bordeaux vintage.
2009 Les Pagodes de Cos is a scaled down version of Cos d’Estournel. It lacks that wine’s intensity and completeness, yet at a fraction of the price it offers some of what makes Cos sublime in 2009. Dark berries, floral, spice, and chocolate aromatics fill your glass. The long finish ends with waves of dark berries and spice. 91-93 Pts
2009 Le Crock is another great 2009 selling for a fair price. Located not far from Cos d’Estournel, the wine has a nose filled with aromas of berries, rocks, and spice. Round in texture, the wine finishes with dark cherry and earth flavors. This is one of the better values of the vintage. 89/91 Pts
2009 Haut Beausejour is another value play from the vintage. From a terroir located close to Phelan Segur, this is a supple style of wine and should drink well early. 88/90 Pts
2009 Montrose is dark purple. Aromatics of earth, rocks, cocoa and dark berries are easy to find. Full bodied and massive in concentration, with a wall of polished tannins, this structured wine finishes with a long, mouth filling expression of espresso beans and fresh picked dark berries. This could be the longest lived wine of the vintage. It will take decades to develop. This is the biggest wine from the Medoc in 2009. 95/97 Pts.
2009 Ormes de Pez opens with floral and sweet berry aromas. Full bodied and lush, the wine ends with sweet berry flavors. 91/93 Pts
2009 de Pez starts off with chocolate, blackberry, and earth aromas. Rich, sweet, ripe, and round, the wine ends with dark berries, cassis, and cocoa. 89/91 Pts
2009 Tronquoy Lalande sports berry, licorice, and earth aromatics. Soft and approachable, the wine ends in chocolate covered blackberry flavors. 90/92 Pts