Two vintages of Cos

Continuing the claret theme (normal Burgundy service will be resumed shortly), over the Christmas / New Year period we also indulged in a bottle of 1976 a bottle of 1978 Chateau Cos d'Estournel. I got both of these at auction for the princely sum of £33 each. I've had a look to see what market price is, but couldn't find any listings for the 1976, and only a double magnum for the 1976 which is apparently £380 and VAT probably needs to be added to that, giving a bottle equivalent price of £114 - ha!

Cos is on my list of clarets that I know I like, so I was really looking forward to trying these, and it was also great to have them within days of each other and compare characteristics. It's a deuxième cru in the Medoc classification of 1855, and is a St.-Estèphe. I gather it usually consists of 60% cabernet sauvignon, 38% merlot and 2% cabernet franc, which means there is a relatively high proportion of merlot but according to BBR, don't be fooled as "these are full-bodied, dark, brooding tannic wines when young which develop a complexity and intensity that can rival many top growths from Pauillac."

The 1976 was glossy-looking and on the nose it had baked fruits which isn't altogether surprising as it was a very hot summer that year. I was only a nipper at the time but our local reservoir dried up, rather like it has been doing recently. So it wasn't quite the cedary nose that I love. On the palate, it was big, heady and chewy with dried berries and cooked blackcurrants. It was well-integrated and very smooth - G described it as "noble". However, it took 30 minutes to get going after we'd decanted it, and then began to fade after 1 hour 20 minutes, so had a short drinking window. Next time (because I got two bottles, hurrah), we will open it, wait for 30 minutes and then drink it within 45 minutes. We gave it 8/10.

We drank the 1978 the evening after the Latour 1964 (oh, the suffering!), so it had a lot to live up to. The bottle had an excellent level, into the neck. Again it was a nice dark glossy colour and on the nose it was more classic with the cedary thing going on. So far, so good. On the palate it didn't have the baked characteristics of the 1976 and had sweet fruit and smooth, integrated tannins. It was full, elegant and well-structured, really lovely mature claret with an excellent finish, and drinking very well now. It didn't fade over time in the way the 1976 did, and we thought it still had another 5 years or so life in it. We gave this 9/10.