Getting Upfront with Château Cos d'Estournel- The Maharajah of St Estephe

Some wine tastings are more equal than others and a tasting of Bordeaux Grands Crus wines definitely falls under this category. Aficionados will know that the 1855 classification of top French wines initiated by King Napoleon III is still the synonym for the best wines of the world, though much water has flown down the Gironde ever since the classification was made.

The classification, restricted to the Médoc and Graves region of Bordeaux has a total of  62 estates across 5 subclassifications stretching across Premier (first) to Cinquième (fifth) growths . These are the wines that are long lived, full of character and quite understandably produced under the most stringent of Appellation regulations .

This March, I had the good fortune of attending a vertical tasting cum dinner of one such prestigious estate which is also identified with  its old Indian connection . This connection manifests in the form of  India pagodas and an elephant logo that make the estate property quite distinctive. Yes, I am talking of Chateau Cos d’Estournel  the famed St Estephe  deuxième (second)  growth.

The tasting was organised under the aegis of FICOFI, a niche fine wines and services organization headquartered at Paris. Aymeric de Gironde, the General Manager Cos d’Estournel and Cecily Burchett-Chambers, Business Development Director FICOFI arrived specially in New Delhi to guide this vertical tasting meant for business leaders and high end wine consumers . I found my place courtesy an old friend who happens to be a member of Le Club FICOFI- an exclusive 200 member club of high net worth wine passionates.

In august company: (L-R) Aymeric de Gironde, Cecily Chambers and Me

About Cos d’Estournel

Chateau Cos d'Estournel (image- FICOFI)

With history dating back to the 18th century, Cos d’Estournel (pronounced kozh destoornel) derives its name from the Gascon word caux, which is an abbreviation of the phrase colline de cailloux meaning  a “hill of pebbles”.  The typical terroir of this estate offers good drainage during the rainy season and its proximity to the stream  "La Jalle du Breuil"  moderates the climate. Hence, even in lesser than average years, their wines turn our appreciably well. Their Indian connection began when one of  its early owners Louis Gaspard d’Estournel started shipping wine in barrels to India and back after discovering that this journey made the wines taste  better probably due to accelerated ageing. He signed such bottles  with an inscription expédié par moi (dispatched by me), and this earned him the sobriquet of the “Maharajah of St Estephe”.

The Tasting

Even as the evening commenced with rounds of Champagne while the guests assembled, I took time to converse with Aymeric as well as Cecily getting valuable insights into the tasting. We moved to the table and the proceedings started with Aymeric introducing the estate amidst many light moments. His take on fine wines that "they should be enjoyed and not just collected" met with a huge applause that set the tone for the proceedings that lay ahead.

The reds for the evening

It was a cosy setup in hotel Trident Gurgaon with just around 20 guests seated around a long table with imposing candelabras lighting up the environs alluringly. Live Indian music  added to the ambience and worked well to highlight the marriage of authentic  Indian food with the bottled pleasures . The pairings are shown in an image further below and here is  how it went:

Cos Blanc 2013

Cos started producing white wines only in 2005 and their 2013 vintage is considered by far the best.

Notable wine critic James Suckling reaffirmed this perception in 2014  saying- “ this is the best Cos Blanc ever!’

Tasting notes:  Pristine clear and light straw in colour. A complex floral bouquet with hints of stone fruits, notably peaches. A high acidity and a flavourful palate powered the wine to go better with food than on its own. It was hand in glove with the Tandoori Jhinga (clay oven cooked prawns) and Murg Methi Malai (cream and fenugreek marinated char grilled chicken chunks ).

Cos d’Estournel 2000 (Served from a magnum)

This vintage is no longer available in the open market hence we were fortunate to sample it. Coming from a magnum (1.5 litres) the bottle  opened up like an extrovert within no time!

Tasting notes: Medium ruby with a fading rim, the wine exuded aromas of ripe red cherries and spice. Medium bodied and juicy on the palate, it first appeared subdued by the spiciness of Galouti Kebab ( Parboiled mutton patty cooked on griddle), but a larger gulp of the wine did the trick rather well!

Cos d’Estournel 1996

Aymeric informed that 1996 started as a cold year in Bordeaux but went on to being warm in the later stages. It was considered perfect for Cabernet Sauvignon and the 65% Cab Sauv content of this wine seems to have benefited this wine well (the remaining 35% being Merlot).

Tasting notes: Clear, deep ruby with a luxuriant nose of dark berries, tobacco and spice. After some time in the glass, notes of iodine were also detected. The palate was well structured with rounded tannins turning grippy towards the finish. The robustness of Murg Begum Pasand (succulent chicken chunks in rich viscous gravy) had a desirable candidate in this powerful wine.

Cos d’Estournel 2003

As opposed to 1996, 2003 was a hot and dry year in Bordeaux. Vines were stressed for water but the later part of the season welcomed rainfall that was much needed for a good quality fruit. These fluctuations brought an intrigue to the vintage that resulted in some very special wines specially from Northern Médoc and  particularly St Estephe.

Tasting notes: Deep ruby colour and aromas of white flowers, blackberry and spice. Full bodied with velvety tannins and a super long finish. The Tandoori Raan (clay oven slow cooked whole leg of lamb) was in an ideal company with this wine.

Cos d’Estournel  1989

Famous wine critic Robert Parker said in 1997 that this wine was drinkable for the next 15+ years, so I guess we made it home well on time. 1989 is also considered a good vintage where Merlot dominated the quality charts,  attaining full ripeness as compared to Cabernet Sauvignon dictated by an earlier than usual harvest.

Tasting notes: Medium ruby in colour with floral as well as vegetal aromas – notably so, mushrooms and caped gooseberry. The wine expressed a medium body with well rounded tannins more powerful towards the finish. With the mildly spiced rich Kaju Biryani (fragrant rice with cashews slow cooked in a sealed clay pot), the wine’s refined expression had a good match.

Our experience concluded with an exotic dessert served inside a ‘jewel box’ inundated with a dense fog of dry ice. The service at the venue was impeccable, enabled by right wine temperatures, sufficient decanting where required  and abundance of pours. Sommelier Rakesh Awaghade did a wonderful job befitting the stature of the event.

Of course a Grand Cru tasting would demand nothing less!

(Factual References : www.estournel.com, Fine Wine and Champagne India and www.thewinecellarinsider.com) 

Guns to Gewürztraminer ?...Ahem....Guns to Mouton!

Mention the word “Grand Cru” to  wine lovers and instantly see their faces light up! Such is the aura of this classification of wines made in  1855 under the directions of King Napoleon III,  that any serious wine lover strives to memorize the list  to be truly called a connoisseur. The classification has a total of  62 estates across 5 subclassifications stretching across Premier (first) to Cinquième (fifth) growths mainly in the Médoc region of Bordeaux, France.

The  Premiers Crus are considered top of the ladder and fetch highest prices in the global  wine market. These five wines are- Châteaux Lafite Rothschild, Mouton Rothschild, Margaux, Latour and Haut Brion. Out of these, Château Mouton Rothschild made it to the club in 1973- being elevated from the second to first growth.

Now what if a good friend offers to bring you one of these first growths neither in standard, nor in magnum but in double magnum size- that too, from a vintage very close to your heart?  I bet you  can sense the aromas and flavours of the excitement  to follow.

So when  Gajendra (Gajju) Sareen, my buddy from the Military Academy informed  me that he had procured two double magnums (3 litre bottles) of Château Mouton Rothschild 1987 specially to celebrate our course anniversary (we graduated from the Indian Military Academy in 1987), my anticipation knew no bounds. It was a true “Guns to Gewurztraminer” moment realizing that two former army mates  who were more used to gun powder aromas in the past would now collectively revel at the complex  aromas of none less than a Premier Grand Cru Classé! That Gajju is now a global business tycoon  and a frequent buyer of fine wines  was surely a facilitating factor for this proposition.

Time flew fast before I received a message from  Gajju,  seeking to fix the itinerary of the tasting on his impending brief visit to Delhi. We were to meet at  his permanent suite in one of Delhi’s finest star properties  to sample the wine before carrying  the bottle to a larger gathering  of our course reunion.

I arrived at Gajju’s suite with  Smita, my lady who is also my Chef de Cuisine for wine pairings. With great enthusiasm he whipped out the wooden case containing the wine from a large bag. The box had several  stickers on it, apparently tracing the wine’s journey before it had reached us. On my enquiring Gajju told me that he bought the wine at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong and parked it in Crown Wine Cellars in the same city. Being a member of Le Club FICOFI (a prestigious club for buyers of fine wines ) he requisitioned them to fetch the wine to his Singapore cellar and voilà! There it was with us!

The box was handed over to his designated butler for opening.  Seeing him struggle with the box, I realized that three of its sides were nicely nail-hammered while the top panel was stapled. The butler accepted my suggestion to crowbar the top panel out, and a screwdriver  did the job just well.

The box with it's marked journeys  and after the top lid removed

The magnificent bottle emerged and we took some pictures. We were now ready for the grande oeuverture. Though I have been served wine from much larger bottles during my stay in Bordeaux, this was my maiden experience of opening a double magnum,  and I believe many wine lovers would be in the same boat. Therefore, I am sharing the micro level details:

The label

Château Mouton Rothschild is known to engage eminent artists to design the labels for each of its vintages. The 1987 label was created by Swiss painter Hans Erni and it  bears the face of its ancestor -the iconic Baron Philippe de Rothschild, as a homage to his last bottled vintage. A dedicating note by his daughter Baroness Philippe de Rothschild completes the homage and sums it up by a  phrase “Mouton ne Change” implying the continuing legacy of the Baron.

Au début

The Oeuverture (opening)

"Ah-so" cork remover

A thicker capsule required two well pressed turns of the knife to cut through. As I leveraged the fulcrum end of the waiter’s friend on the bottle lip, I realized that the lip was much thicker for the fulcrum to afford a snug grip. Endeavouring to pull out the cork carefully, I further realized to my horror that the cork started crumbling on the top and I paused. Gajju told me not to hesitate as he had seen it happening often with bigger bottles. He lent me a helping hand and the day was saved. I suppose an “Ah-So” cork remover (that pulls out a cork by sliding two prongs on its either side) may be a good choice if things indeed go awry. Any experiences?

Men at work

Reveling in the moment

The Tasting

Contrary to my long standing conviction that a  vintage wine of high pedigree need always be decanted before you could meaningfully appreciate it, Gajju insisted that we pour a glass right  away since time was at premium. I readily complied since I had already noticed intense aromas wafting out from the bottle. We did well by summoning  the largest bowled stemware with the hotel rather than the routine ones in the suite.  The first glasses were poured followed by a generous pour in a decanter for our second glass. As we swirled and sniffed, the Grand Cru pedigree started emerging:

Colour: Medium ruby with a fading rim

Nose: Vastly expressive aromas of red berries and pungent spice.

Palate: Dry, medium bodied with very soft tannins. A delicious palate of abundant berries and a distinctively spicy lingering finish.

The third tasting partner

Tasting after decanting for 1 hour

Nose: Aromas of cedar wood, jasmine and forest floor emerged apart from ripe red berries becoming more evident.

Palate:  A juicier palate of red berries with mineral hints, followed by a warm spicy finish going deep into the throat. Pigmented tannins could be noticed in the decanter and that explained the mellow character of the wine.

Food Accompaniments

An assortment of cheeses placed in the suite offered us an ample playing ground before the Burrah Kababs (char grilled, lightly spiced, tender lamb kababs) that I had recommended for the pairing arrived. Given the wine’s ample acidity, creamy cheeses like Brie and Smoked Gouda paired very well with it. And as expected, the Burrah Kababs were delightful, matching the savoury and spicy attributes of the wine, step by step.

We could continue for longer but a bigger gathering  awaited.  As we concluded the  surreal rendezvous, getting the bottle ready for the next stop, Gajju promised me to get some more gems like these on his next trips.

Not something I would complain-of for sure!

Clicking for posterity