WHAT

Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot

WHEN

2010

WHERE

Saint-Estèphe, Haut-Médoc, Bordeaux, France

Château Cos Labory takes its name from the hill of Cos — "caux" in old Gascon, meaning hill of pebbles — and François Labory, who owned the estate in the 1820s and 40s. It was classified a 5th Grand Cru in the historic 1855 classification and sits on 18 hectares of deep Günz gravel over a marly limestone subsoil, right next to its illustrious neighbor Cos d'Estournel. The Audoy family ran the estate from 1971 until 2023, when Michel Reybier — owner of Cos d'Estournel — acquired it, keeping it independent. The vineyard is 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, and 6% Petit Verdot, fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel and aged 14 months in French oak barrels, 50% new.

The 2010 Bordeaux vintage is among the greatest of the modern era — a warm, dry year that produced wines of exceptional concentration, structure, and aging potential across the Médoc. Cos Labory's 2010 is a classic Saint-Estèphe: dark cassis and blackberry fruit, tobacco, leather, crushed stone, and that characteristic Saint-Estèphe grip that needs time. Now drinking beautifully with an hour of decanting, or lay it down for another decade and revisit something even finer.