Rarely have I been so pleasantly surprised by a tasting of Bordeaux Primeurs. The 2021 vintage, however, shows the entire quality spectrum: From great to very moderate, everything is represented.
Frankly, I didn’t expect much from the 2021 vintage when I arrived in Bordeaux. I remembered the rainy summer only too well, as well as the heaps of negative reports from winemakers in various parts of Central Europe. Fortunately, the qualitative classification of a vintage is somewhat easier if one has been tasting Bordeaux wines from the barrel since the 1990s. Participants who have only been tasting Bordeaux for a decade, on the other hand, experienced a mostly sun-drenched period with correspondingly alcohol-rich and powerful wines.
2021 immediately reminded me of some vintages of the 1980s and 1990s, which had a lower alcohol content and a much cooler aroma and texture. After all, what fascinates us about Bordeaux is not its power, but its noble elegance, and fortunately this can be found in the best 2021s. Incidentally, they have been vinified much better and more precisely than their predecessors thirty years ago; the work in the vineyard and cellar has changed considerably and is now much more complex.
For example, the parcels are no longer harvested at the same time, but rather at the optimal ripeness and fermented separately. In order to better understand the character of the vintage, we will, as usual, take a look back at the weather patterns.
Weather in Bordeaux
A rainy December was followed by an exceptionally mild February and a spring-like March. April also began very warm, with temperatures reaching 25 °C. But on 7 and 8 April, the entire Bordelais was hit by heavy frosts with temperatures down to -5 °C, which caused severe damage, especially in the Sauternes. May was quite cool overall, similar to 2014, but even more rainy, and some vineyards were again affected by frost on 2 and 3 May. During flowering in June, the weather was favourable for the first two weeks before thunderstorms and truly torrential rain came in. A record rainfall of 184 mm was recorded: This is more than twice as much as usual in June and even more than half of the total rainfall of the growing season in 2015!
Powdery mildew like 2018
To make matters worse, the subsequent rise in temperatures led to a warm, humid climate and thus ideal conditions for downy mildew. This fungal disease, introduced from North America in 1878, often causes major damage. More and more Crus Classés are also practising organic or biodynamic viticulture, which is a huge challenge in such wet years and usually causes enormous yield losses.
Omri Ram from Château Lafleur mentioned: “We were 24 people for 21 hectares and worked around the clock. It’s a miracle that we didn’t have to spend the night in the vineyard.” Particularly in the case of Merlot, where plant protection was not optimal, the damage was sometimes devastating. Since the Merlot grape variety is more susceptible to drought than the Cabernet varieties, it tends to be cultivated in plots with higher humidity. The thinner skins also make it much more sensitive to rot. But that was not enough: vines that had already been damaged by frost were weakened and thus usually suffered more from mildew. The cool, rainy weather persisted throughout July. By the end of the month, the situation was completely discouraging and the mildew continued to spread. If there had been further rainfall, the disaster would have been unavoidable. Fortunately, the weather improved from mid-July and, after a short interruption, lasted from 8 August until the beginning of September, although the temperatures never really rose much. With an average of 19.8 °C, August remained well below the long-term average; only in August 2014 were cooler temperatures recorded. The constant precipitation and low temperatures meant that the vines stopped growing far too late and even after the colour change still put their energy into growth. At least September was a little warmer than usual, but there were low temperatures at night.
The Cabernet benefited.
The time of harvest made a big difference in quality. Although heavy rains were predicted for October, the month was actually quite sunny. But unfortunately, the cold air at high altitudes made it difficult to make reliable weather forecasts, because due to the lack of pressure centres, the rainfall did not occur near clearly defined fronts, but often at random. Those who therefore started harvesting early for fear of rain harvested significantly fewer ripe grapes than those who kept their nerve and waited. In fact, many harvested at the beginning of October, although the majority now say they harvested late.
A difficult vintage
The quality of the easy wines is often indicative of the general level of a vintage. In 2021, ripeness was often insufficient, with significantly lower sugar levels and high malic acid. The grape berries were unusually large – especially in the case of Merlot – which is a disadvantage. The sometimes very modest products show that it was primarily the producers with the best sites who were able to produce outstanding wines. And even these had to go to enormous lengths to achieve their goal through yield reductions, elaborate spraying and draconian selections.
Simple producers with little financial means and moderate locations, on the other hand, hardly stood a chance. The increased practice of organic cultivation is also a huge challenge in the oceanic, often humid climate of the Bordelais and can lead to painful yield losses in years like 2021 and 2018. Many organic farms harvested around 20 hl/ha, Pichon-Lalande even only 15 hl/ha. Another fact not to be neglected in organic viticulture is the increased number of journeys required for the application of crop protection, which, it should be noted, are still made with diesel tractors. In 2021, for example, 15 to 25 sprays with copper preparations were necessary on most organic farms.
Character of the wines
In terms of style, some of the wines are somewhat reminiscent of 1996, 2001 or 2008, the more fruit-driven ones of powerful 2012s or 2014s. There are many 2021s that lack power and volume, and the acidity is also more pronounced than usual. The best growths of the 2021 vintage, however, are astonishingly finesse-rich and endowed with noble fruit and mature tannins thanks to the significantly more elaborate working method. While the wines of the last few years were often between 14.5% and 15.5% alcohol, the Cabernet-rich 2021s are around 13%. Lafite reached 12.6%, Latour 13.1%. A lower alcohol content is considered positive today. Nevertheless, tastings show that wines with higher percentages are usually preferred. For some products, it was therefore necessary to increase the alcohol content by means of chaptalisation (addition of sugar before fermentation), a practice that was common in the past but has not been used for some time because of the sunny years.
The late-ripening, robust Cabernet benefited particularly from the beautiful October compared to the more rot-prone and earlier-ripening Merlot. In Libournais, too, the Cabernet-Franc wines seemed to us to be well done. Some outstanding examples impressed us with their clear, incredibly fine, noble character, which is extremely rare to find in this form. That is why – also to my great astonishment – 2021 is a year that one should definitely keep an eye on selectively for Bordeaux friends.
Great Château Margaux
In the south of the Médoc, we were particularly impressed this year by Château Margaux, which produced a classic, great red wine. Alexis Leven – Mentzelopoulos explained with a beaming smile that he himself was extremely surprised by the unusually high quality. But the Pavillon Blanc was even greater.
Château Palmer, on whose grounds an in-house restaurant is currently being built, also presented itself very well, but for us a little below the level of Château Margaux. Only one third of the yield of only 22 hl/ha made it into the “grand vin”. The alcohol content was raised by half a degree by means of chaptalisation. An excellent, deep wine from low yields was presented by Ducru-Beaucaillou, whose “grand vin” consists of 98% Cabernet Sauvignon and has a moderate 12.5% alcohol.
Successful Pauillac
At Pichon-Lalande, too, I tasted a very excellent, supple wine that is worth remembering. By the way, 11 ha of Pichon-Lalande’s 105 ha of vineyards are located in St-Julien, which is why some of the wine was sold under the appellation St-Julien instead of Pauillac until 1959. Jean-Emmanuel Danjoy, responsible for the Mouton domains, showed us very serious wines, and his team produced a noble Mouton-Rothschild. He said that this year only the very best plots could have been used for the “grand vin”. Eric Kohler at Lafite-Rothschild succeeded in producing a rather ripe, profound wine. He is currently managing the conversion to organic cultivation. As one hears, Lafite read relatively early.
Lynch-Bages produced a very good wine. Since 2020, the well-known estate has new cellar buildings with twice the number of fermentation tanks; unfortunately, despite its famous architect, the huge new building exudes the charm of the headquarters of a medium-sized insurance company. We tasted a powerful wine from the new Pontet-Canet cellar master Mathieu Bessonnet. He worked for Chapoutier and Michel Rolland, among others, and seems much more relaxed than his predecessor Jean-Michel Comme, who was almost messianically committed to biodynamics. He lets us know ingenuously that the nine horses used in the vineyard undoubtedly damage the vines less than the tractors and that soil compaction is also less. But another important reason why he keeps the horses is that the employees simply enjoy their work more with them.
Christian Seely, who is responsible for all AXA vineyards, is justifiably proud of his wines, but the yields were low at around 22 hl/ha: Château Pichon-Baron is noble and elegant. Suduiraut is quite excellent, but will remain a great rarity: Only an almost symbolic quantity of 1 hl/ha was harvested! I tasted also a grand Latour, next to the elegant 2014 that has just been brought to market.
Montrose and Cos d’Estournel
The two leading estates from Saint-Estèphe shone with successful wines. Distinguished, with a lot of finesse Montrose, which harvested only 23 hl/ha due to mildew – they have been working organically since 2019. Vincent Decup compares 2021 with the 2014 vintage, although today the cultivation of the vines is much more elaborate and precise. Impressed by power and deep colour
Cos d’Estournel. Technical director Dominique Arangoïts mentioned that their hottest day was not in July or August, but on 6 September. They also increased the alcohol a little by means of chaptalisation.
First-class Haut-Brion Blanc
In the Graves region, some were thrilled by the Dillon estates, which clearly benefited from their much warmer location and harvested an impressive 48 hl/ha of red wines. Surprisingly powerful and concentrated is Haut-Brion, immediately ahead of the marginally less densely woven La Mission Haut-Brion. The two white wines are simply superb (with a slight plus for La Mission), demonstrating that 2021 is an excellent year for dry Bordelais white wines. In this context, special mention should be made of Château Olivier, which produced an excellent white.
Domaine de Chevalier produced one of the most remarkable Graves red wines; the somewhat acidic, reserved Pape Clément still seemed reserved at the time of the tasting. Latour-Martillac is reasonably priced and surprisingly attractive.
Pomerol and Saint-Émilion
Jacques Thienpont’s rounded, simply superb Le Pin, which seemed almost Burgundian in its finesse, took our hearts by storm. Also among the best wines of the year was Vieux-Château-Certan, historically considered the leading Pomerol estate. Guillaume Thienpont emphasised that the great terroir in combination with the very old vines was responsible for the first-class quality.
The energetic Figeac director Frédéric Faye spoke of a year-long marathon that demanded everything of you. He is happy to have waited despite bad weather forecasts and to have read relatively late towards the 19th of October, thus achieving a much higher quality. It is therefore not surprising that his wine can be counted among the best of the vintage.
Château Ausone
Château Ausone tasted simply ravishing and succeeded in being unbelievably fine and noble.
Stephan Graf von Neipperg showed us powerful, rich wines. His Aiguilhe from the Côtes de Castillon, which is very attractively priced, stood out very positively. I tasted another highlight at Cheval-Blanc. Pierre-Olivier Clouet is rightly impressed by his wine; extremely finesse-rich, noble and unbelievably charming, it reminds us of the great classics. Equally magnificent are the Petit Cheval and Quinault l’Enclos, which belongs to Cheval-Blanc and produced perhaps its best wine to date. Fortunately, the products of Gérard Perse’s estates no longer seem to be so heavily over-extracted. Monbousquet was surprisingly pleasant, but Pavie also seemed less tannic than usual. We was not so enthusiastic about Château Angélus. The wine did not make a particularly strong impression, but rather a rustic one.
Reclassification in Saint-Émilion
Like Ausone and Cheval-Blanc, Angélus is no longer applying for its Premier Grand Cru A status. This is all the more surprising as Angélus owner Hubert de Boüard was the driving force behind the last classification. The St-Émilion classification has only existed since 1954 and was revised in 1969, 1985, 1996, 2006 and most recently in 2012. In that year, Angélus and Pavie were reclassified as Premier Grand Cru A, a status previously reserved for Cheval-Blanc and Ausone. One of the criticisms of the classification is that the buildings and the reception at the château are also included in the assessment. Another cause for disagreement was that Hubert de Boüard was a member of the INAO commission that had to decide on the classification in 2012. Under Boüard, who advises various wineries that rely on the classification, Château Angélus was newly elevated to the Premier Grand Cru A rank. Last year, a Bordelais court sentenced him to a fine of 60,000 euros for illegal influence. As it stands, only Pavie would currently be Premier Grand Cru Classé A. This increases Figeac’s chances of promotion, especially as the quality is very good and the soils are better than those of Angélus. (Château Cheval Blanc, for example, was originally part of Château Figeac.) An upgrade from Canon would probably be premature, even more so for Bélair-Monange, which has consisted of Bélair and Magdelaine since 2012.
The market
The primeur campaign of the 2019 vintage went extremely well thanks to attractive prices; the more expensive 2020 also sold well. The lifting of the US tariffs in March 2021 also provided a strong boost to business; many négociants made pleasing sales and were able to significantly reduce their stocks of older vintages back to 2011. However, this applies primarily to the 200 most famous châteaux. The other, approximately 6400 Bordeaux producers are struggling – like many worldwide – with low prices and faltering sales.
Should one subscribe?
The experience of the last decade shows that a subscription can only be justified to a certain extent for very good vintages. Before 1996, subscriptions were worthwhile: the prices of Bordeaux Crus Classés were usually around 30% higher than en primeur after delivery. 1996 saw the first price surge, followed by 2000, 2005 and 2009. With the 2010 vintage, the price level reached new record levels due to the huge demand from China in 2011. Subscription definitely no longer paid off, as some 2009s and 2010s could be bought cheaper than en primeur even years after delivery. In recent years, prices have become somewhat more reasonable again, although they were still too high for many vintages (such as 2017).
An extremely pleasant exception was the 2019 vintage, which succeeded excellently and was brought to the market at very attractive prices – which have meanwhile risen by a good 30%. The prices communicated so far for the 2021 vintage are similar to those of the better 2020 vintage.
There are a handful of wines you might buy en primeur in 2021. Some I mentioned above and some you will find in my coming press release. For the others, it’s best to wait for a taste after bottling, because I don’t think prices will increase when they are released on the market in two years.