Fresher, more accessible wines, lower prices and excellent scores The 2021 vintage represents the fruit of the hard work of winemakers, who were not spared by the weather throughout the season. To help you with your decision making, our team is delighted to share our favourite picks…
1. For the characteristics of the vintage: fresh and accessible when young, 2021 is a winemaker’s vintage.
Over the past few decades, we’ve grown accustomed to very hot summers, raising concerns about the future of vineyards and leading to wines with higher alcohol content and less freshness than before. In a way, 2021 is a kind of step back in time, offering an old-style vintage that will delight long-time Bordeaux enthusiasts.
A quick word on the weather conditions of the vintage: it wasn’t exactly a walk in the park for the winemakers, with spring frosts, mildew, lots of rain and little sunshine… In the end, it was the superb late season, just in time for harvest, that saved the day. This means that quality is there but quantities are minute.
In short, the weather patterns made this vintage one of the most complicated in recent memory for Bordeaux winemakers. This proves that the result in the bottle definitely reflects the soil, the terroir, the weather, and also the human touch!
The result? The wines are fresh, elegant, well balanced and more readily drinkable than neighbouring vintages with lower alcohol levels.
So what’s the bottom line? If you’re looking for fresh, easy-drinking wines that can be opened immediately, without having to let them age too long for the tannins to mellow, this vintage is just the ticket for you. If you prefer full-bodied, powerful, sun-drenched wines, skip this vintage and go for the 2022, for example.
2. Impressive scores, above recent year trends
As you already know, every year, iDealwine assigns an overall score to each vintage, region by region. Although it’s no easy feat to sum up a year’s work in a single score, the process does allow us to trace a year’s mark over time, and to establish a comparison that can be followed from vintage to vintage. Here are the 2021 Bordeaux scores:
16/20 for the red
18/20 for the white
19/20 for the sweet wine
By comparison, these ratings are, on the whole, above the average of the past 10 years (17.66 compared to 16.3 for the last decade). Here’s a summary table:
| Vintage | 2021 Bordeaux red | 2021 Bordeaux white | 2021 Bordeaux sweet wine |
| 2021 | 16 | 18 | 19 |
| 2020 | 17 | 16 | 15 |
| 2019 | 17 | 18 | 17 |
| 2018 | 17 | 16 | 16 |
| 2017 | 16 | 16 | 17 |
| 2016 | 18 | 16 | 16 |
| 2015 | 18 | 17 | 18 |
| 2014 | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| 2013 | 14 | 14 | 15 |
| 2012 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| 2011 | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| Averages | 16.36 | 16.18 | 16.36 |
Score out of 20
3. List of our top picks
Each year, our team heads to Bordeaux to taste the wines from the vintage during the En Primeur tastings. This is also a chance for us to share tales from our adventures in the vineyards with you and reveal a few of our favourites. But remember, at this stage, the wines are still developing, and appreciating them fully can be tricky. Once the vintage is bottled, we taste them again, usually at the Wine Paris fair, to confirm our initial impressions. Here’s a list of the wines that really thrilled our taste buds.
Red wines
2021 Le Puy, Emilien: Seductive and indulgent, vibrant from its early years
2021 Château Haut-Marbuzet: Smooth and delicate, with a lovely texture
2021 Château Giscours: Floral and elegant
2021 Château Pavie Macquin: Fruity, delightfully acidic, very silky
2021 Château Siran: Nicely balanced with lots of freshness
2021 Château Canon La Gaffelière: Perfectly ripe fruit with a refreshing finish
2021 Château Canon: A velvety texture and impeccable fruit maturity
2021 Château Phélan Ségur: A very classy, pure wine
2021 Château Saint-Pierre: A true wine for pairing with food with a rich and opulent texture
2021 Clos Fourtet: Beautifully spicy and so silky…
White wines
2021 Smith Haut Lafitte: Pure and indulgent, extremely elegant
2021 Domaine de Chevalier: Complex and spicy
2021 Cos d’Estournel: Ample and satiny, with great liveliness
Sweet white wines
2021 Château d’Yquem: An opus we’ve tasted on several occasions, not least in a completely unconventional version as an aperitif… Stunning!
Château de Rayne Vigneau: Wonderfully exotic
