2005 Pagodes de Cos

With 2005, Cos has a new set of small, double-skin stainless steel vats that were designed to accommodate the property's multiple parcels and are slightly triangular in shape to facilitate better extraction. A new vertical press was also purchased prior to the harvest of 2005, which took a relatively long 18 days. Cos began with the merlot on September 22, then stopped for a few days before bringing in the cabernet sauvignon. In fact, noted Jean-Guillaume Prats, "now that we do smaller-lot fermentations, our picking is much more precise. As recently as 1995 and 1996, we picked everything in nine days. In 2005 we took twice that long." He went on: "We actually go through the vineyards in July and August and color-code the vines to prepare them for the harvesters. Today, we sometimes actually harvest through the same vines three or four times.