Andy Frieden, JJ Buckley, April 2011

78% cabernet sauvignon, 19% merlot, 2% cabernet franc, 1% petit verdot. 80% new French oak barrels. This is now a 71 hectare vineyard whose average vine age is 35 years. 55% of total production is going into the Grand Vin with yields a tiny 36hl/ha (2 higher than 2009). Alcohol is 14.5% and lower pH than 2009. Soils are a mix of deep gravel and clay overlooking the Gironde River estuary. Black and blue fruits dominate with crushed spring flowers, tar, freshly turned earth, and Asian spice, followed by secondary notes of baker's chocolate, minerals, black currant and kirsch. A seamless entry leads to a sinuous curve oscillating between power and precision with a massive expansion of dense, focused fruit. A peak crescendo of black raspberry kicks off complex layers of tar, graphite and truffle. An amazing wine with more precision and less opulence than 2009. The comparisons will last for many decades and will provide for many intellectual debates.

97 points,

James Suckling, jamessuckling.com, February 2013

Lifted nose of dried flowers, walnuts and dark fruits. Intense nose. A full-bodied wine, with powerful flavors of blackberries, coffee, dried herbs and spices. Super silky tannins and a long, long finish. Layered and flashy. Try in 2018.

Jancis Robinson, April 2011

78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot. 55% of total production. A real tonic. Very, very deep blackish crimson. Real energy and vitality and racy stuff. Pure, refined perfect Cabernet - pretty rich and alcoholic underneath but much, much drier and more appetising than either the 2009 - or the average Napa Cabernet, for example. Minerals and fruit in a lovely tincture. Such great texture and nobility. Racy thoroughbred Great balance and potential. Purity and energy - but you'll need to wait so long for it! 18.5 out of 20.

96 -98 points,

Jeff Leve, TheWineCellarInsider.com, April 2011

Cos d'Estournel was produced from 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and the remainder Petit Verdot. The wine reached 14.5 % alcohol which is a little lower than they achieved in 2009. Representing 55% of the harvest, the wine looks as dark as a midnight sky, with coaxing the wine offers smoke, Asian spice, cassis, boysenberry, stone and minerality in the complex nose. Powerful, dense, pure and packed with tannins as well as a wall of fruit, this wine requires serious aging. Long, fresh and mouth filling, while the tannin levels are less than they were in 2009, due to the higher levels of acidity, (which shaped the wines character) the wine feels more tannic. This broad shouldered, muscular wine will not be fun to drink in its youth. In time, it may become the perfect blend of tradition and modern. Tasters who were not happy with 2009 Cos should love this wine, (It's closer in style to 2005, with a dash of 1986 blended in, than it is to 2009.) 96-98 Pts Prats thinks 2010 Cos is a perfect definition of what Bordeaux does at its best, mixing austerity, power and elegance. While he loves 2009 Cos d'Estournel for its glamorous style, Jean-Guillaume considers it a unique vintage for the chateau.

96 -98 points,

Neal Martin's Wine Journal, March 2011

Tasted twice just to check, several days apart, the first under cloudy skies, the second under blue. A blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot cropped at 36hl/ha, delivering 14.5% alcohol with a pH of 3.5 (it was 3.68 for 2009), this has a very refined, focused bouquet with pure blackberry, blueberry, Dorset plum scented nose with wonderful tension and mineralité. I really like the precision on this 2010, far more than the exotic 2009. The palate is full-bodied with quite assertive dry tannins on the entry rendering this a slightly more masculine Cos d'Estournel that is quintessential Saint Estephe but nods southwards towards Pauillac. Touches of graphite and cedar interlace the pure blackberry and briary fruit with great tension towards the finish. Very fine sense of symmetry here with great length in the mouth. Back to the Cos d'Estournel I love. Drink 2018- Tasted March 2011.

97 points,

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, March 2013

The 2010 is a more structured, restrained, less flamboyant version of the 2009. A final blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot that hit 14.5% natural alcohol, this wine (which represents only 55% of the estate's production) is full-bodied, classic and built along the lines of the 2000 (although that wine was made before Reybier acquired the estate and upgraded quality significantly). This wine exhibits beautifully pure notes of creme de cassis, blueberry liqueur, pen ink, graphite and hints of toast and vanillin. The wine is full and rich, and although aged in 80% new oak, the wood is a subtle background component. This beauty will take longer to round into shape than the dramatic and compelling 2009. Forget it for 5-8 years, and drink it over the following three-plus decades. 97+

95 points,

Wine Enthusiast, May 2013

This is a complex and rich wine dominated by superripe fruit. It is a wine of extremes, of fruit, of dark tannins allied to some bitterness from the black chocolate extract. Ripe plums and sweet black fruits are given a lift at the end with bright acidity. -R.V.

95 points,

Wine Spectator, March 2013

An extremely well-sculpted, modern wine, with an enormous core of plum sauce, blackberry coulis and cassis fruit to match the ambitious roasted apple wood-, black tea- and tobacco-infused toast. Dense and chewy now, displaying the tannic spine of the vintage, this remains integrated, racy and incredibly long, offering a piercing chalky backbone that rivets everything together. Best from 2018 through 2038. -JM

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