WTN: Just B Cos

[Jenise]

1997 Cos d'Estournel, Ste. Estephe, Bordeaux
Opened last night to serve with a rosemary-smoked prime rib cap from Bryan Flannery. Color appropriate for it's age, muted nose, plummy, a bit green, tannins resolved, wine dries out a bit toward the end. Entirely drinkable and actually just fine with the beef, but as Cos goes, not an especially satisfying experience.

[David M. Bueker]

Living proof that while there were some hidden gems in 1997, there were also plenty of frogs. I wonder what 1997 would have been like 10 years later.

1997 Cos d'Estournel, Ste. Estephe, Bordeaux
Opened last night to serve with a rosemary-smoked prime rib cap from Bryan Flannery. Color appropriate for it's age, muted nose, plummy, a bit green, tannins resolved, wine dries out a bit toward the end. Entirely drinkable and actually just fine with the beef, but as Cos goes, not an especially satisfying experience.

We talked about this aging gem before. After many a summer dies the swan, and you can quote me on that.

God, I hope the 2007s are a repeat of the 1997s. I am actually waiting for them to stock up, putting off other purchases.

[David M. Bueker]

Triage & rigorous declassification make it unlikely that 2007 will bear much of a resemblance to 1997, except perhaps with second wines and/or serious underachievers (of which there are fewer and fewer).

[Jenise]

God, I hope the 2007s are a repeat of the 1997s. I am actually waiting for them to stock up, putting off other purchases.

I've still got Grand Puy Lacoste and Montrose from this vintage, both are great but I should probably make a point of drinking them sooner than later.

God, I hope the 2007s are a repeat of the 1997s. I am actually waiting for them to stock up, putting off other purchases.

I've still got Grand Puy Lacoste and Montrose from this vintage, both are great but I should probably make a point of drinking them sooner than later.

I have only a Canon-la-Gaffeliere and a Cantenac Brown left, and a GPL in a local store, which I will buy rather than let the store owner eat my recommendation. I bought the rest already.

I agree with David that the 2007s will probably be nothing like the 1997s. A man can’t even rely on a twin sister to be as good much less the same. For one thing, the 2007s have more acidity. They went through a cool summer, rather than a tropical one. But the harvest went on and on as it did in 1997, and that somehow seems to correlate with early if not immediate drinkability. I also like a touch of greenness, which they both have, or had, in the case of the 1997s. I love the way a young and very fresh Bordeaux tastes, which at the same time has soft tannins. I am waiting for Parker to give his opinion of drinkability. If he says many of them are ready upon release I will buy a lot of them.

I don’t share taste at all with David. I found very few 1997s that I didn’t like a lot. You and I agree on many bottles, so I am responding to you and ending with an unrelated nod of appreciation for a 1998 la Fleur Bouard, which I opened on Saturday evening. We had just put the umbrella out on the deck and were about to enjoy a turned-down end of a gorgeous day on the lake, when Lynn proclaimed the wine too good to take out of doors (wind sweeps too much away from the nose, and flowers and pine compete with the bouquet). This was after she put on a bikini and makeup to impress the birds, and any man in her mind’s eye. That’s how much she appreciates a fine wine, and how good the little Lalande de Pomerol was. Beautifully sweet and elegant with a touch of cedar. I can’t even find any mention of it in Parker’s guide or Broadbent’s atlas of chateaus. Oh how I wish I had purchased more than one.

[David M. Bueker]

Covert,

FWIW, I am a fan of La Fleur de Bouard.

God, I hope the 2007s are a repeat of the 1997s. I am actually waiting for them to stock up, putting off other purchases.

I've still got Grand Puy Lacoste and Montrose from this vintage, both are great but I should probably make a point of drinking them sooner than later.

I think I'll save my '90 Montrose a bit longer.

[Jenise]

I don’t share taste at all with David. I found very few 1997s that I didn’t like a lot. You and I agree on many bottles, so I am responding to you and ending with an unrelated nod of appreciation for a 1998 la Fleur Bouard, which I opened on Saturday evening. We had just put the umbrella out on the deck and were about to enjoy a turned-down end of a gorgeous day on the lake, when Lynn proclaimed the wine too good to take out of doors (wind sweeps too much away from the nose, and flowers and pine compete with the bouquet). This was after she put on a bikini and makeup to impress the birds, and any man in her mind’s eye. That’s how much she appreciates a fine wine, and how good the little Lalande de Pomerol was. Beautifully sweet and elegant with a touch of cedar. I can’t even find any mention of it in Parker’s guide or Broadbent’s atlas of chateaus. Oh how I wish I had purchased more than one.

David and I are pretty well calibrated on wine, and I have to say from what I know of him that though he wouldn't like all the Bordeauxs you do for exactly the same reasons, you would like all the Bordeauxs he likes. Too bad you don't have another Fleur Bouard, but let me add a reccomendation for the '99 if you happen to run across that vintage. It's splendid for current drinking and very much from the same ouvre as Barde Haut.

I think I'll save my '90 Montrose a bit longer.

It will get different, but not better. It's a beauty, as you well know.

Disclaimer: All metaphysical posits are necessarily matters of opinion.