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 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, 1% Petit Verdot and 1% Cabernet Franc. Drink from 2026-2055.

Super rich dark berries on the nose, fragrant and seductive, this draws you in both from the nose and colour with a deep, inky purple and pink tone. Charming and lively, this is sophisticated with a minty, fresh, high-toned fruit profile that is poised and focussed, delivering each element in a straight line right now. Not so expansive but layered vertically with tobacco, coffee, dark chocolate and vanilla notes alongside bramble fruits. It’s tightly packaged but so refined, elegant and classy. One to watch for sure. 2% Petit Verdot completes the blend.

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.

Lovely stuff, elegant and sculpted, great quality, showcasing the successful side of a cool vintage. There is some austerity, as you would expect, with chewy tannins holding blueberry and black cherry fruits, well balanced with grilled cinnamon and sandalwood smoke. 55% new oak. Among the wines of the vintage.

The Grand Vin 2021 Château Cos D'Estournel checks in as 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot that was brought up in 55% new French oak. 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. At just 12.74% alcohol, pH of 3.79, and an IPT of 77, 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.

(93+ points) 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. - William Kelley

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. -- Neal Martin

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. — J.M.