Wednesday, July 22, 2009

2003 Montrose vs 2003 Cos D'Estournel


If you have these both in your cellar, and you want to know what to sell and what to drink, my suggestion is that you sell the Cos and drink the Montrose.

Both wines are about $240 retail and $170 at auction these days +/- the usual $30/bottle for condition, provenance, owc, etc. The Montrose is about $20 more than the Cos in both markets, and it is worth the extra.

In a side by side comparison, the Cos was more cedary and was itself a great wine, which needed several hours to open up. The Montrose had a richness of mid-palate that only the best wines ever achieve. It was not Californiazed, but to be fair it was showing more fruit to go with its obvious glycerin.

Overall, both are great wines, but the Montrose requires no intellecualization or justification. Just pour it and let your guests react. Yes, it is still very young and will improve, but you won't feel the need to point that out. It speaks for itself.

In the same tasting, I also drank the 2000 Montrose, and it was not even close to the 2003. I'd sell that one too.