A rich Bordeaux Primeurs Vintage 2021 tasting
The Maître de Cave team once again invested five days in tasting a wonderful selection of Bordeaux en Primeurs wines. This year tastings of the 2021 Bordeaux Red and White wines ranged from Vins de France to Premier Grand Cru Classé. We tasted approximately 450 wines, many multiple times, from 241 different Châteaux.
Contrasting quality with Vintage 2021 Bordeaux en Primeurs
Our observation and judgement, after tasting this broad spectrum of wines, is that the 2021 vintage is a “Good Vintage”. As usual, there are some great wines, and there are some mediocre wines, but the general quality is good with an average note of 87 points. However, unlike many vintages, the goodness is not by variety or by AOC. So, it is difficult to generalize. This year the goodness is found in individual Château and created by their individual effort to make a great wine. Neighbors were often unable to produce the same quality wine. There were too many extreme variables, and almost all of them were weather issues. As a result, we believe that the pricing for many wines will be lower than last year. Most of the prices will remain the same, and only a small number of Châteaux, happy with their superior quality, will add less than 5% to last year’s price.
A real capricious weather
The 2021 vintage was a problematic year. To be specific, extreme weather variables were behind the difficulties. As most Châteaux were happy to point out, they believe the weather issues were the result of climate change. It was a year of weather extremes. The winter ended with periodic freezes and hail. Spring offered excessive rain and flooding with an occasional hailstorm. Summer followed filled with excessive heat and drought. Summer ended in September with unexpected rain.
An ever-present wetness
All year long the ever-present wetness, even during the dry spells, caused issues in the vineyard. These issues included mildew and oidium, both fungi that can advance out of control in fewer than 48 hours; destroy the leaves, shoots, and canes; and ruin the flavor of the grapes, and potentially destroy the harvest. However, the problem does not go away with the harvest. If untreated, it returns more ferociously the following year.
Mildew on a vine leaf : Stade « tache d’huile »
Many different harvest philosophies
Harvesting asap ?
The rains at the end of September and during the beginning of October clearly divided the region by harvest philosophies and picking efforts among the châteaux. Many decided to harvest before the rains at the end of September to avoid the potential for an ongoing, bad weather condition. A prolonged rain would wash away the acid, the sugar, the flavor; the good qualities in the grapes and finally ruin the vintage. These châteaux ended up with slightly under-ripe fruit with the hints of bitterness that green, unripe seeds can give. It happened to some early harvesters to chaptalize to offer the additional sugars to create the correct level of alcohol. Some of the early harvesters used a technique called saignée, a process often used in the making of roses where one bleeds off the pale, less concentrated juice. Here, in the making of red wine, it concentrates the color and flavor by draining off the pale, free-run juice. Some of the early harvesters spoke about using both chaptalization and saignée.
Or know how to wait, that was the question
The late harvesters waited until after the rain stopped, hoping there would be some additional days of sun and heat to rebuild the natural sugars in the grapes. Although the number of days of sun and heat varied from AOC to AOC, the sun and heat did arrive. It dried up the vineyards and reconcentrated the grapes. Those with patience and a large harvest team were able to wait until just before the next rain. These producers had grapes that were equal in quality to the grapes they usually produce. Some of the late harvesters even said they were able to pick excellent fruit.
Bordeaux Primeurs Vintage 2021 Château Haut Brion/La Mission Haut Brion
Prize list of the 80/450 wines tasted for you
Of the 300 wines we tasted, 91 wines scored 90 points and above.
• Of the 91 wines 21 were white, of which 1 was a Sauternes.
• Of the 91 wines, 11 wines scored 95 points or higher.
Of these 11 wines, 6 were white, and of these 6, 1 was a Sauternes.
Surely, the notes, comments and media of the 80 other wines will be available a soon as possible. One generalization we can make about the Bordeaux Primeurs Vintage 2021 is that it was a year of Great White Wines. We will wait to reveal our scores, comments and reviews, and the names of our top 10 wines, which are really 11 wines, in upcoming posts. A complete list of the wines we tasted, the scores, and the reviews will be available on our upcoming blog, Maitre de Cave. join us on our upcoming website https://www.Maitredecave.com. Other tastings in Bordeaux and other places to come.