2021 Château Cos d'Estournel, Cru Classé St-Estèphe

The 2021 Cos d'Estournel has retained a Cabernet Sauvignon-driven nose, with pencil shaving scents infusing the black fruit, and a touch of dark chocolate and loam coming through with aeration. It is well-defined and composed, though it doesn't have the complexity of some of the great recent vintages from the estate. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly chalky tannins on the entry. Showing modest depth, it’s quite sapid, with a touch of brininess to the fruit. This is not a flamboyant Cos d'Estournel, but it is very well composed and lingers temptingly on the finish. Give this five to seven years in bottle.

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.

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.