2021 Bordeaux: L’Enfant Terrible

BY ANTONIO GALLONI | FEBRUARY 27, 2024

Left Bank: Saint-Estèphe | Pauillac | Saint-Julien | Margaux | Moulis and Listrac | Pessac-Léognan and Graves | Left Bank Satellites | Sauternes

Right Bank: Pomerol | Saint-Émilion | Right Bank Satellites

After three highly successful vintages, Bordeaux owners and winemakers were presented with a highly challenging growing season in 2021. En primeur tastings presaged a vintage with a high degree of variability. Extensive tastings from bottle confirm that initial first impression. Within that context, though, readers will find a wide range of compelling wines that merit attention.

The tendency is often to write off 2021, especially in our world today, where so often things are highly polarized into some version of either “great” or “terrible.” I don’t share the view that 2021 is a bad vintage; rather, I believe it is more accurate to say that 2021 is a highly inconsistent vintage. Yes, there are some wines, many perhaps, that don’t reach their customary levels of excellence, but those wines are far from bad. At the same time, a number of estates turned out seriously impressive 2021s.

How about Calon Ségur, for example? It’s magnificent. The same is true for Ducru-Beaucaillou, Lafite-Rothschild, Pichon-Comtesse, Rauzan-Ségla and a host of other wines on the Left Bank. To the south, in Pessac-Léognan, Les Carmes Haut-Brion is majestic. Over on the Right Bank, Vieux Château Certan, Cheval Blanc, Canon and Lafleur, among others, are compelling. There’s a lot to admire in the best dry whites, starting with the riveting Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc, Haut-Brion Blanc and Domaine de Chevalier Blanc. So far, I have only tasted a few Sauternes. Yields were decimated by brutal conditions, but the wines are tremendous.

The 2021s In Tasting

Almost without exception, the 2021 reds are lighter in body than the wines we have become accustomed to seeing in Bordeaux since the dawn of the 2000s. Alcohols are down about 1% from the recent norm in Bordeaux, while acids are on the higher side. The balance of structure, alcohol, acid and other technical measures is one that has not been seen in more than two decades. In many ways, 2021 can be summarized as a year in which classic Bordeaux weather of the past meets the technical know-how of today in both the vineyard and winery.

Last year, I wrote, “It is important to note that the 2021s are not finished wines. Many of them feel quite fragile at this stage. This is a vintage in which élevage (aging) is going to be especially critical in determining the final result.” That has turned out to be very much the case.