Bordeaux 2021

WINE TALK
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Here are my takeaways from the NYC UGCB (great running into you @PeterB):

Even the UGCB organizers themselves admitted 2021 was “a challenging vintage”, per the card handed out at the event. The positive side is that virtually no wine felt overextracted, and many of the wines are drinking well for their youth. The downside is, well, none of the reds really struck me as having the potential to reach Bordeaux’ lofty heights. I don’t think I would even put it on par with 2014 which, despite being similarly early maturing and restrained, had the average chateau just put out more polished wines than in 2021.

Whites seemed to have suffered the least in the vintage. Overall, they were refreshing and lively, with very little of the heaviness of richer vintages. Standouts for the blancs were DDC (best structure and focus), Smith Haut Lafitte (most layered and complex), and Pape Clement (beautiful, exuberant aromatics). Not that I think it should be surprising to anyone that these three came out on top. Even the lesser whites, however, were very enjoyable.

I also echo Peter’s view that the Right Bank seems to have fared better than the Left. Here, my favorites were Canon (superbly balanced and fresh), Canon-La-Gaffeliere, and Clinet (very ambitious even with the limitations of the vintage). Le Gay was notable for how plush and open for business it seemed already at this stage. Surprised by the awkwardness of Petit Village and Pavie Macquin, underperforming their pedigree/price point.

Of the Medoc appellations, I preferred Margaux in this vintage as a group over the others. If you’re going to treat 2021 Bordeaux as a “restaurant vintage” and drink them on the young side, then I think Margaux’ soft, perfumed characteristics work best with this approach to consumption. Malescot St. Exupery and Rauzan Segla in particular impressed me as pretty and graceful at the same time.

In St. Julien, the stars in my book were Gruaud Larose and Leoville Barton - the restrained nature of the year may have played to their style more. The couple of Pauillacs I got to (Lynch Bages, Duhart Milon) were too tight to enjoy in any meaningful sense but seemed to have the stuffing to evolve into classically styled, squared-away sort of clarets.

Unfortunately I cannot speak to the Graves/Pessac reds or Sauternes/Barsac as I ran out of time before I could get to them :frowning:

I will probably look to purchase DDC blanc but that’s the only thing I want to actively pursue from this vintage. Or if the discount is steep enough, I might opportunistically buy some reds. The problem is 2021 is just a tough sell because of the string of excellent vintages that came before and after it.

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Were you able to try LCHB?

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I thought it was one of the best of the night.

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So I spoke to a number of people who seem to have hated the vintage but from what I tasted at the UGC, it has a lot of charm. None of the wines were green, none were over the top, the wines from Margaux in particular were quite nice, and whether they call it a restaurant vintage or not, the better wines are actually quite charming, without aggressive tannins or acidity.

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I tasted in San Francisco, and my general takeaway was that the wines were quite variable, with quite a few wines lacking in density and midpalate - Haut Bailly and Lagrange were among the disappointments. A few also showed harsh overextracted bitter notes, perhaps from an attempt to get squeeze more flavor on the fruit side. Several of the less exalted wines fell into this camp, but also Leoville Poyferre.

There were some excellent wines, and I classify them along two lines - 1) the more classic, old school claret style wines, with good structure and slightly burlier mouthfeel like Leoville Barton, Gruaud, Lynch Bages and (surprisingly) Pavie Macquin; and 2) the more suave, new school wines that seem to lean into the lightness of the vintage to produce really elegant wines that have an ineffable grace and charm (DdC, Canon, Rauzan Segla, Carmes HB). Canon was my clear favorite - bought 3 bottles during EP and would have no qualms buying more at the price. Everything else I’d look for a 15-30%+ discount to get me interested.

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I went to UGC in SF as well (actually tasted with Vince for some of it), and I’ll add my thoughts.

As context, take what I say with a shaker full of salt. Bordeaux is not really my thing (I began my wine journey with Loire Cab Franc), and I went more out of curiosity and wanting to learn more about an important wine region rather than a zealous enthusiasm for the wines.

I basically agree with a lot of what Vince, Sam, Juergen, Panos and others have said about Leoville Barton being the standout wine in the room. Lots of complexity and depth on the palate, yet restrained with good structure. I really liked this.

Gruaud Larose was probably second for me among the St Julians, although I liked it less than the Barton – it lacked the pop and intensity of the Barton, but I liked is restraint and “classicism.” Langoa Barton was also enjoyable, but a simpler wine.

Leoville Poyferre was velvety and fruitier than the Bartons or the Gruaud, but I didn’t find it too offensive or over-the-top; (I actually think the vintage’s restrained nature helped this wine’s balance, based on the reputation of the estate). Similarly, the Beychevelle also felt surprisingly lush and rich for a '21, – I liked it ok, but it seemed a little simple and one note (like the Poyferre). I had Lagrange, but, for the life of me, I can’t remember anything about it (which is probably saying something).

Moving on to the right bank, I really liked Canon. It felt like a quieter version of the '20 I had last month: it retained the elegance and delicacy on the palate, and had a similarly spicy finish, but lacked the '20s intensity and length. Still really good. Canon-le-Gaffeliere and Grand Mayne were fine, but not particularly memorable.

Clinet really stood out to me among the Pomerols – delicate, relatively weightless on the palate, and while perhaps a bit sleek, it still felt classical. I liked this a lot. Le Gay and Pavie Macquin both seemed rather amped up and velvety in comparison – good wines, but not my cuppa.

Among the Graves (sorry, Pessac-Leognans), I liked the Carmes Haut Brion quite a bit. Graceful, charming, delicate, and elegant. This producer deserves its hype. I disagree with Vince on Haut Bailly – I thought this was very enjoyable and balanced, with hints of earthiness and pleasing green notes to balance the fruit. Yum.

Tbh, I don’t quite understand the enthusiasm for Rauzan Segla or DDC. I found them both to be rather lush, velvety, fruity wines with not a lot of interesting mineral or really any non-fruit flavors. They aren’t bad, but I would lump them together with Poyferre, Beychevelle, and Canon-le-Gaffeliere as kind of on the correct, acceptable, un-spoofed, but boring side of the modern, Bordeaux spectrum.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to most of Margaux, Pauillac, or St. Estephe. I was chit-chatting too much. The Cantenac-Brown was fine and I remember liking Cantemerle.

I thought the '21s were, as a rule, fine, but probably nothing to get super-excited about. If they were 30% cheaper, I would consider getting Canon, Carmes, Haut Bailly, and Clinet. I might actually pick up some Leoville-Barton and Cantemerle. Though I’m probably most excited about '21 Baudry.

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William Kelley’s reviews just landed.

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Having read his summary, and his and Yohan Castaing’s notes, it sounds like we’re entering an era where you’ll find fewer left bank/right bank dichotomy vintages, or “wines close to the river did better than those inland” or “clay soils > schist” or whatever. More like the successful wines will come from makers who knew how to lean into whatever weather the vintage gave them.

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Hmm. I bought some Calon-Segur based on pretty great barrel tasting notes for the vintage, but looks like WK downgraded his rating from the previous range of 95-96 to 93 after a disappointing bottle. I’ll be interested to see if others have the same downgrade after releasing bottle notes.

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I know I’m a broken record at this point in this thread but I give it one more go. Now that the 2021s are about to be tasted by consumers it will be quite obvious that a lot of the careful optimism, to be kind, that surrounded this vintage when being sold and pushed is not showing up when the corks are pulled. They will be able to judge for themselves rather than take anyones word for it and the proof is in the glass.

21 stands out like a very fractured thumb in comparison to 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22 and most likely also the coming 23. It is the vintage which will nearly always take last place in upcoming vertical tastings of these. Some wines are quite lovely and all but pleasure is not at the same level.

Yes, there are a handfull, and I mean a handfull, of wines which I would be happy cellaring but when then also price is factored in I just can’t justify it.

Bordeaux is at the moment the best value in the world, but 21 is not the reason.

Greetings from Beauséjour Duffau-Lagarosse below:

crIMG_8498 (kopia)
crIMG_8498 (kopia)1920×1920 646 KB

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Do you guys think prices for 2021s will go down over time since it’s considered a weaker vintage relative to surrounding vintages? I’m thinking of getting some Montrose and Canon, but not sure when to pull the trigger.

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Maybe, but probably not by that much. I think more likely is if they are unpopular less will be brought in and they may be more difficult to find than better vintages, stabilizing prices.

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You should pull the trigger in 10 years when you want to start drinking it. :slight_smile:

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I am not a psychic, but I do expect prices for the 2021 vintage to go down. I just can’t imagine the vintage selling through at current pricing, particularly In the context of so many other very good vintages still remaining on store shelves.

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Prices are already going down in Europe. I was offered Pichon Lalande at around 20% off its opening price.

Not enough to be tempting. As the critics seem to feel this is the least attractive vintage since 2013, I expect prices to go down further, but whether you will see the bargain prices in the US will be dependent on whether someone like Costco bites. Otherwise, they will go supermarkets etc and disappear.

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As with 2013, I suspect a lot of 2021 will be pushed to the Asian markets where there’s a large segment of consumers who are status conscious and know enough to recognize the classified growths but don’t follow vintages as closely.

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It’ll probably plummet. Especially on bid-accept platforms like BBX and Cru, where it doesnt have to be “market” price to trade. People on wineEP discord are talking about getting some wines at 50% their notional market price.

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I respectfully disagree here. I was sick and could not attend the UGC where I would have had a large sample size, but I have happily tasted about 2 dozen and what I tasted in barrel is certainly echoed in the bottle. I’m not sure if that was the point of your comment, but certainly an observation that the wines have been quite consistent to bottle.

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I think he meant that consumers who normally do not taste from barrel will be disappointed when pulling the corks. And that may be especially when people compare the wines to vintages like 09, 10, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20.

2021 is not a disaster in the better examples. It would have been called a decent vintage in the old days. But now with global warming and ripe to very ripe vintages as a normal this year is pretty dissimilar. It is something like 1994, 1997, 2007 etc.

I agree with Mark and others that the main problem is the price. If one pays a lot of money the expectation is high. That is logic. But the experience will not meet those expectations. So disappointments will be most likely the rule I guess.

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I’m not sure how other retailers are marketing the vintage, but we marketed based on what I tasted- a classic, low alcohol vintage that reminds me more of something from the 80s style.

That’s what they will get when they open the wines. So I’m not sure how disappointed folks can be if people were being transparent? If you read past that and thought you were getting some of the 2020 style, that’s your own fault.

I’m still not getting this “price” thing either. I don’t find the wines pricey at all. There is a bunch of second labels from Second Growths from $30-$50 USD, and they are better (IMO) than what William rated them this week.