97pts James Suckling
Aromas of sliced pears, green apple, matchstick, and dried papaya follow through to a full body with a solid core of fruit and phenolics that give it structure and tightness. Slightly chewy at the end. Very structured. Give this time to open and show its true self. Try after 2026.
95pts The Wine Independent
A blend of 71% Sauvignon Blanc and 29% Semillon, the 2021 white Cos d’Estournel conjures notions of lemon balm, lime leaves, and green apples, giving way to suggestions of passion fruit, honeysuckle, and sea spray. Light-bodied, the palate is electric with intense citrus, tropical fruit, and minerally layers, framed by a racy backbone and satiny texture, finishing long and chalky. Nice! Should age wonderfully.
95pts Jeb Dunnuck
The Grand Vin in white, the 2021 Château Cos D'Estournel Blanc includes slightly more Semillon and is 71% Sauvignon Blanc and 29% Semillon raised in 8% new barrels. It's a slightly more closed and tight white, revealing beautiful citrus fruit that gives way to more mint, floral, and chalky mineral-like nuances with air. Medium-bodied and balanced, it plays in the fresher style of the vintage but is still concentrated and serious, and it will benefit from a year or three of bottle age. It’s built for the cellar and will benefit from 2-3 years and drink well for at least a decade. This is 12.3% alcohol with a pH of 3.13.
94pts Vinous
The 2021 Cos d'Estournel Blanc is a big wine - rich, dramatic and expressive. Low yields in 2021 created a white that is deep, layered and quite potent in feel. Tangerine peel, citrus confit, marzipan and a touch of new oak give the 2021 a decidedly flamboyant, extroverted personality. - Antonio Galloni, December 2023
94pts Decanter
Such a gorgeous nose, really so aromatic filled with caramel , honey, lemon balm, cream, apricot, honeysuckle and white flowers. Generous, unctuous and driven, this is also quite sharp but in a precise way, it finds the back of the throat and takes aim delivering all the flavour at once in a straight line. I love the intensity, the drive of lemon and fragrant spice also with a wet stone bitterness that lingers. It’s not round or expansive necessarily but so confident, super juicy and mouthwatering. Lots of complexity and detail - a yummy and impressive white.
93pts Wine Advocate
Gently reductive aromas of pear, nectarine and gooseberry introduce the 2021 Cos d'Estournel Blanc, a medium to full-bodied, ample and satiny wine that's seamless and enveloping, with a bright spine of tangy acidity. As readers may remember, it's a blend of 71% Sauvignon Blanc and fully 29% Sémillon.
92pts Vinous
The 2021 Cos d'Estournel Blanc, bottled in December 2022, shows a bit of reduction in the glass, with touches of candle wax and lanolin infusing the yellow fruit, perhaps requiring a little more delineation. The palate is well-balanced with fine poise. This clearly has more tension and mineralité compared to the Pagodes Blanc, with a crisper finish. This is a successful white Cos d'Estournel that should age well in bottle, but one should afford it time for the aromatics to fully open. - Neal Martin, November 2023
History
Chateau Cos d'Estournel is a Grand Cru vineyard located in St. Estephe. Its oriental facade is adorned with three pagoda turrets, all cast in a soft golden sandstone. Chateau Cos d'Estournel today covers 170 acres separated from Chateau Lafite, along the southern edge, by the stream between St. Estephe and Pauillac. The gravelly soil, over a flint, limestone and silicate subsoil low in nitrogen, has eroded over centuries to form steep ridges which perfectly drain the vineyards. The vineyards are planted 60 percent in Cabernet Sauvignon vines, 2 percent of Cabernet Franc, and 38 percent in Merlot. Naturally, the percentage of Cabernet or Merlot in the composition of each vintage depends on the climate which favors one grape variety or the other.
