How it tastesWarm cassis and black cherry with smoked meat, charcoal, clove and a hint of new leather. Voluptuous and full-bodied, generous in black fruit, the tannins ripe and refined and the finish long and spicy. Cabernet Sauvignon 50%, Merlot 46%, Petit Verdot 3%, Cabernet Franc 1%.The producerCos d'Estournel was founded in 1811 by Louis Gaspard d'Estournel, who built an Asian-inspired palace at the centre of his vineyard on the site known as the Hill of Pebbles and sold his wine into the Far East and India, earning the name the Maharajah of Saint-Estèphe. Classified a Second Growth in 1855, the estate was bought by Michel Reybier in 2000 and now works from a fully gravity-fed cellar. The vineyard has grown from fourteen hectares in 1791 to a hundred today, a mosaic of gravel-and-clay slopes facing east and south-west around a deep-gravel central plateau, ventilated by the nearby Gironde. Pagodes is drawn from plots identified for it rather than from whatever the grand vin leaves behind. Grapes were chilled on arrival and cold-macerated, fermented at low temperature to avoid harsh extraction, with pump-overs run by gravity, then aged in French oak, 30% of it new. 2016 delivered 62% more rain than usual to the end of June before a warm dry finish, giving a long slow ripening and wine of natural richness.Food and drinkingServe at 17–18°C. Good with rib of beef, barbecued short rib, roast venison, or aged Gouda. Drinking well now and through to around 2035; give it two hours in a decanter.
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