Bordeaux | 2021 vintage
Throughout the Bordeaux region, the 2021 vintage was not a walk in the park and was perhaps the most testing one since the difficult 2013 vintage. The weather conditions tested everyone’s nerves during the entire year.
To begin, an excessively mild winter caused an early budburst across the region. At this stage, the vines showed a degree of precocity that would ultimately prove detrimental in the following weeks. The severe frosts that swept through the vineyards in early April affected the entire region, with Sauternes being particularly hard hit and suffering significant, and sometimes total, crop losses. These extreme frosts, which lasted until early May, also resulted in the grapes ripening unevenly from one terroir to the next.
Nevertheless, flowering took place relatively smoothly in June thanks to a brief respite, but there were already noticeable signs of delays in the vegetative growth cycle. Hailstorms hit some sectors hard, while the rain seemed to have no intention of leaving the region. From late June to late July, the weather was the gloomiest it had been for years This constant humidity naturally provided a very favourable breeding ground for disease, particularly mildew. Insufficient sunshine and cool temperatures resulted in slow ripening, with berries swollen by the rain.
Nevertheless, the vintage was salvaged by the return of fine weather in early September. The dry whites harvested during that month benefited the most from these dreadful conditions. The coolness of the summer preserved good acidity in the grapes, which also displayed excellent aromatic potential. On the whole, dry whites offer excellent results, sometimes to a very high standard, particularly in the best Graves Crus.
Despite being badly affected by the year’s conditions, yielding very few grapes, the Sauternes region also profited from the alternating heat and rainfall, which provided the ideal conditions to encourage noble rot to develop. The grapes, which retained their fine acidity and aromatic complexity, reached superb levels of balance, heralding great, enduring successes.
As for the reds, the outcome is far more complex. Heterogeneity is undoubtedly the operative word here. Each estate was affected in its own way by the catastrophic weather conditions, and the choices made in the vineyards and regarding harvest dates further accentuated the significant differences observed in terms of quality. Overall, the Merlots, especially on the right bank, displayed interesting aromatic complexity, even if they were not as flamboyant as in some previous vintages. As for the Cabernets, both Francs and Sauvignons, they achieved excellent balance whenever the estates extended the ripening period sufficiently. While the harvest in this region started in September, with some under-ripeness resulting in a lack of substance and a hollow mid-palate, the excellent weather conditions that followed (slow, regular ripening, wide variations in temperature between day and night) produced some fine, fleshy, full-bodied wines, particularly on the finest Graves terroirs.
With reds, this more classic vintage should not be overlooked relative to the amazing trio of previous vintages, although discretion is called for between the different estates.
