By Cos d'Estournel
2021 Saint-Estephe

Wine Details
Appellation: Saint-Estephe, Classified Second Growth in 1855
Blend: 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot

History
North of the Medoc, on the hill of Saint-Estephe. At the bend of the road are the majestic pagodas of Cos d'Estournel. After the sheer delight, it seeks to penetrate the mystery carefully hidden behind the imposing Zanzibar Gate. The residence of the Maharajah of Saint-Estephe does not fail to surprise. Here is a real palace entirely dedicated to wine. This had been desired by Louis-Gaspard d'Estournel. When he inherited a few hectares of vineyards in 1791, he expanded the estate and applied the best techniques. Convinced of having an exceptional terroir, this man of taste and adventurer was praised worldwide. In the image of his wine, bewitching and elegant, as well as spicy and powerful, he took the chance to be himself in a world so conventional, cultivating his differences and owning his choices.

Estate
Property of Michel Reybier since 2000, Cos d'Estournel pursues its destiny between audacity and humility. Every decision is a risk taken in a visionary philosophy its founder would not have disowned. Culture divided into plots pushed to its peak, demanding innovation in the winery. A taste for beauty and excellence in a world imbued with unobtrusive elegance is the legacy of Louis-Gaspard, which its owner upholds today. The unique style of Cos d'Estournel, born of a sublime terroir magnified with respect by the passion of men over the centuries, made from its discovery a true journey.

The Terroir of Cos d'Estournel
Situated on the plateau's edge near the Gironde estuary, Cos d'Estournel enjoys a remarkable geographic location. The vineyard benefits from a maritime climate and gentle natural ventilation whilst being sheltered from extreme weather. Comprising a rolling landscape on deep gravel and clay, Cos d'Estournel enjoys an unparalleled situation with two hillsides and a central plateau. This location offers an incredible variety of terroirs, and the exhaustive knowledge of the vineyard makes it possible to determine what each plot has to offer, harness its full potential, and bring out its very best.

Tasting Notes
Crafted from grapes grown on the estate's oldest vines, averaging 55 years old, Cos d'Estournel 2021 is a finely honed, precise wine that is both silky and full of verve. It opens with notes of black tea and black pepper before releasing intense aromas of red berries, blackberry, and black fig. Subtle mineral notes balance an incredible concentration, resulting in an exceptionally harmonious wine. Noble and remarkably long, Cos d'Estournel 2021 is a classic, particularly refined expression of our singular terroir, certain to age very well.
[Information provided by Beyerman]

Wine: Chateau Cos d'Estournel 2021 Saint-Estephe
Score/Rating: 96 - Cellar Selection 
Review Date: 07/01/2024
Reviewed By: Roger Voss
Tasting Notes: Dense and seriously structured, this wine with its polished leather and cedar aromas is concentrated in tannins. The wine's structure dominates, partnering acidity and ripe texture. Drink from 2028. 

Wine: 2021 Chateau Cos d'Estournel (St. Estephe)
Score/Rating: 96
Suggested Drinking Window: 2026 - 2055
Review Date: 03/09/2024
Tasting Notes: Dried flowers, smoke, licorice, Indian spices, black cherries, plums, chocolate, and a hint of blue fruit shows up with ease in the perfume. The palate is the wine shines. Here, you find layers of supple, creamy ripe, black and red fruits, polished textures, creamy, soft tannins and a finish that builds and lingers with its waves if [sic] fruit and subtle, smoked herb note that comes in at the end of the finish. The wine was made from blending 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, [...] Petit Verdot and [...] Cabernet Franc. Drink from 2026-2055.

Wine: Chateau Cos d'Estournel, St-Estephe, 2eme Cru Classe, 2021
Score/Rating: 96
Suggested Drinking Window: 2027 - 2048
Review Date: 11/29/2023
Reviewed By: Georgina Hindle
Tasting Notes: This stands out for its structure, subtle power, balance and finesse. Perfumed and softly sweet on the nose, ripe and concentrated, glorious and inviting. Creamy and chalky at the same time, lovely texture and density with bright and concentrated strawberry and red cherry fruit. Crisp, sweet, salty and sour, a lovely combination of flavours and textures with great drive and an undercurrent of minerality and salty wet stone finish - real St-Estephe signature.

Wine: 2021 Cos d'Estournel
Score/Rating: 95+
Suggested Drinking Window: 2028 - 2060
Review Date: 04/23/2024
Reviewed By: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Tasting Notes: A blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot, the 2021 Cos d’Estounel has a deep purple-black color. It hits the ground running with expressive notes of black cherries, fresh blackcurrants, and mulberries, leading to hints of violets, crushed rocks, black olives, and forest floor. Light-bodied and tightly wound in the mouth, the palate features vibrant black berry and floral layers, with a fine-grained texture and bright acidity, finishing long and minerally.

Wine: COS D'ESTOURNEL Saint-Estephe 2021
Score/Rating: 95
Suggested Drinking Window: 2026 - 2048
Review Date: 09/2024
Reviewed By: J. D’Angelo
Tasting Notes: The 2021 Cos d'Estournel reveals a complex bouquet of blackberries [...], dark cherries, and violets, layered with intriguing notes of spices, charcoal, tobacco, and crushed stones. On the palate, it’s full-bodied and structured, with firm yet polished tannins framing flavors of ripe blackcurrant, plum, and subtle earthy minerality. The wine’s vibrant acidity adds freshness, while the tobacco and stony notes lend depth and complexity. The finish is long and elegant, leaving a lingering impression of dark fruit, smoke, and crushed rocks, showcasing the wine’s excellent balance and aging potential. A strong showing in this vintage that should age beautifully for the better half of two decades.

Wine: Chateau Cos d'Estournel St.-Estephe 2021
Score/Rating: 95
Review Date: 12/16/2023
Reviewed By: James Suckling
Tasting Notes: Floral aromas with violets, lavender and currants. Lead pencil, too. Medium-bodied, with fine tannins that caress and please. Elegant and sophisticated. Linear line of tannins running through this. Needs two or three years to soften. Hold for now.

Wine: 2021 Chateau Cos D'Estournel
Score/Rating: 94
Suggested Drinking Window: 2027 - 2048
Review Date: 04/03/2024
Reviewed By: Jeb Dunnuck 
Tasting Notes: The Grand Vin 2021 Chateau Cos D'Estournel checks in as 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot [...]. It's a more restrained, elegant Cos that brings beautiful red and black currant fruit as well as classic damp earth, graphite, scorched earth, and hints of tobacco leaf. This medium-bodied, elegant, seamless 2021 has ripe, polished tannins, remarkable purity, and outstanding length. [...] it’s up with the top handful of wines in the vintage. I’d happily drink a bottle today, but it will ideally be given 3-4 years in the cellar and should evolve for 20 or so years in cold cellars.

Wine: 2021 Cos d'Estournel
Score/Rating: 93+
Suggested Drinking Window: 2026 - 2045
Review Date: 02/08/2024
Reviewed By: William Kelley
Tasting Notes: The 2021 Cos d'Estournel is one of the denser, more muscular wines of the vintage, wafting from the glass with aromas of dark berries, cassis, charcoal, sweet cigar wrapper and subtle hints of smoked meats, framed by a touch of toasty new oak. Medium to full-bodied, ample and fleshy, it's rich and quite concentrated for the vintage, with a chassis of sweet, generously extracted tannin and a long, lusty finish.

Wine: Chateau Cos-d'Estournel St.-Estephe 2021 
Score/Rating: 93
Suggested Drinking Window: Drink now through 2037
Review Date: 04/30/2024
Reviewed By: James Molesworth
Tasting Notes: Alluring from the get-go, with boysenberry and creamed plum flavors that offer an almost exotic edge, backed by liberal accents of rooibos tea, mulling spices and sweet tobacco. Caressing in the end, this also shows a chalky spine that's better integrated than most in this vintage, plus a pretty, lingering curl of alder. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2025 through 2037.

Wine: 2021 Cos d'Estournel
Score/Rating: 93
Suggested Drinking Window: 2031 - 2051
Review Date: 12/2023
Reviewed By: Antonio Galloni
Tasting Notes: The 2021 Cos d’Estournel marries power with finesse. It has all the intensity that is typical of the wines here, but also a real sense of precision. Dark-toned fruit, licorice, leather, spice, tobacco and incense all unfold in a rich, heady wine with bitter, astringent tannins. The 2021 is hard to taste today, as it is decidedly quiet and understated. 

Wine: Ch Cos d'Estournel 2021 St-Estephe
Score/Rating: 16/20
Suggested Drinking Window: 2027 - 2035
Review Date: 02/12/2025
Reviewed By: Jancis Robinson
Tasting Notes: Tasted blind. Especially deep crimson. One of the headiest, ripest noses so far. Velvety texture and, strangely for a 2021, it seems to lack acidity! Fashioned to grab attention, but I prefer some of the more classical St-Estephes. Clumsy finish. Almost Napa-esque. But it will please some.