The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's 50 best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.
Viinin Kuvailu
The Story
The call of faraway lands. As mysterious and intriguing as a lone adventurer returning from a solitary sail, Cos d’Estournel is slow to reveal itself. Little by little, it evokes stories of distant places, market stalls brimming with unfamiliar fruits, spices and wares, village festivities warmed by the joy of revelers and the setting sun, and sumptuous visions of ladies and their voluptuous curves. A myriad of scents, colors and tastes appeals to the senses. The Grand Vin of Cos d’Estournel is both demure and deliberately sensuous, a fascinating and elegant nectar.
The vineyard of Cos spreads around the château on 91 hectares.The Cabernet Sauvignon vines (60% of the vineyard) find the soil of their choice in the thin layers of gravely soil situated on the top and on the southern slopes of the hill. On the other hand, the Merlot vines (40% of the vineyard) excel on the eastern slopes and on the slopes where the Saint-Estephe limestone bed shows on the surface.
The percentage of Cabernet and Merlot varies from one vintage to another according to the year weather conditions, benefiting successively to the one or the other. Plantation is extremely dense (8000 to 10000 vines per hectare) and the average age of the vineyard is high (35 years old on the average) in order to enable the roots to extend excessively and to obtain a very slender yield per vine that will create the « Grand Goût »
Each vine grower is in charge of 45 000 vines on which they have got to undertake various labours every year. These cultural tasks are for most of them done manually. The harvest is of course manually picked too. And it is by hand that the grapes, once collected in special wooden baskets, will be strictly selected.
Wine Information
Crafted from grapes grown on the estate’s oldest vines— fifty-five years old on average—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 liberating 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 that is certain to age very well.
Vuosikerta 2021
NEWS: BORDEAUX 2021 VINTAGE by Pros:What Critics Thinks?
Antonio Galloni, Vinous : "The 2021 Bordeaux have turned out to be such a surprise. Weather conditions were challenging, and yet the top properties turned out gorgeous, classically built wines that will absolutely thrill readers who appreciate freshness and energy. Restrained alcohols and mid-weight structures will remind readers of Bordeaux pre-2000s. The best wines offer a striking combination of old-school classicism with modern-day precision. Quality is inconsistent though, so choosing carefully is essential. Even so, there is much to like in the 2021s."
At the Wine Advocate, William Kelley has been one of the first out with his report on the vintage, with largely positive feedback on the top estates of the region. He underlines his thoughts by reminding his readers, “We may have lost the habit of tasting wines with moderate alcohol levels and classic pH en primeur, but anyone who enjoys the great benchmark Bordeaux wines of the 1980s and 1990s should seriously reflect on what the 2021s may have to offer in 10 to 15 years’ time. It’s a style of wine that could come from nowhere else.”
Matthew Jukes:"In many cases, they can rightly say that they triumphed over Mother Nature thanks to their tenacity, experience and tireless work ethic, and the finest wines are singular in their purity, freshness and uncommon resonance... If a château has noble terroir, an entirely dedicated team, state-of-the-art technology (to sort out the clean, pure, ripe fruit from the weaker berries) and a slice of luck, then there is no excuse for not making fabulous wine... this is a classic example of a vintage where every single wine must be tasted individually... Suffice to say that I found some exquisite wines in 2021, and they are all pure, long, refreshing, pristinely elegant and refined, and the epitome of the plots of vines from which they were harvested."
Georgie Hindle at Decanter also notes the marked contrasts to the recent blockbuster vintages, “This isn’t a big, opulent, plush year […] the heat and sunlight simply did not avail enough to produce the sun-kissed fruit, high alcohol and uber glamour on show in grand vintages like 2016 and 2018. However, what we get instead is freshness and elegance, racy acidity, lower alcohols, balance where successful, and a true sense of terroir and grape signatures in the glass.” She also reminds us of the benefit of this more restrained style, “It’s likely that they will present earlier opportunities to be consumed compared to the more robust and plush vintages.”
Jane Anson (who has the benefit of being based full-time in Bordeaux) had several insights as to who was inevitably the most successful in 2021. The first came down to the resources of the estate, “This is undoubtedly a vintage that rewarded estates that have a talented team of full-time employees who work in the vineyards throughout the year, and who know their terroir. It rewarded skilled and timely decision making. Those who sub-contract vineyard work were at a disadvantage.” The best wines of the vintage in her opinion revealed, “Classical balance and lower alcohols. Malic acid levels were high at harvest but after malolactic fermentation ph and acidity levels were in the main classically balanced, giving wines that are fruity, and supple in texture.” And finally, unlike vintages where all the hard work could be achieved in the vineyard, the complex work in 2021 only continued in the winery, “Skilful winemaking. We have got used to repeating that wine is made in the vineyard. This is of course still true, but in 2021 it was abundantly clear that the best wines are also sometimes made in the cellar.”
Honest Grapes: Let’s not forget about the whites either. The quality here is more consistent than the reds, and Jancis Robinson proclaims that “in general the dry whites are brilliantly crisp, aromatic and well defined with quite enough fruit, while the sweet whites are some of the best ever, albeit most of them produced in catastrophically tiny quantities”. Haut Brion & La Mission produced sensational whites, among the “finest set of dry whites since 2017” for William Kelley. Meanwhile Georgie Hindle reports “The whites are excellent and maybe more consistent across the board with ample freshness, drive and clarity on the palate as well as an astounding aromatic complexity”. Sauternes has managed the tragic feat of producing some of the all-time greatest sweet whites in the history of Bordeaux, yet in some of the smallest quantities we’ve ever seen. If you can find some sweet whites, we highly recommend piling in!
WHAT THE CHÂTEUX THINKS:
Marielle Cazaux, Winemaker, Château Conseillante “You needed three things this year. The first is the soil. If you have good terroir, you have a chance to make great wine. The second is a good team, you need to have people by your side to help with the frost and the mildew and with green harvest. The third is luck, forecast for rain but multiple times, it was never as bad and warmer than expected. Chances were taken, but they paid off.”
Pierre Olivier Clouet, Technical Director, Cheval Blanc: How would I describe the vintage? It is Academique - for me the wines have rigidity, in a good way. The tannins are ripe, but just ripe - almost al dente. Actually it was (oenologist) Thomas Duclos who described it best, classical but also contemporary…Contemporary Classic”
Hervé Gouin, Commercial Director, Mouton Rothschild “Our biggest challenge was needing to work on the weekend, it’s funny because it’s true, but it made all the difference, especially with the mildew pressure in June and July. The same was true with the harvest.“
