Bordeaux 2021 En Primeur - a "New Classicism"?
After a trio of excellent warm, dry vintages in Bordeaux, where most producers and appellations did very well across the board, 2021 was less straightforward for the vignerons of the world’s most famous wine region. Pressures from frost and mildew were the complications that tested some Chateaux’s resolve but nevertheless, the 2021 growing season has created what Decanter’s Georgie Hindle believes to be ‘one of the most interesting and talked about vintages of recent times.’
Generalising is a difficult thing to do in 2021 Bordeaux but if we were forced, we’d say that the vintage has yielded elegant & classically proportioned wines. Many have moderate alcohol levels, think 12-13.5 % rather than the loft heights of 14.5-15%, whilst they also have more supple, charming profiles more in line with the great Bordeaux wines of the 80s and 90s than the recent blockbuster vintages of 2018, 2019 and 2020. It is in vintages like 2021 where we really appreciate the pedigree and winemaking knowledge of the very best properties within this majestic region– with all the modern science, technology and investment now behind these great estates, it is hard for them to make anything other than beautiful wine.
Don't miss the whites of 2021 as they have been universally praised and were a joy to taste. The cool conditions of 2021 have certainly created the ‘finest set of dry whites since 2017’ that ‘exhibit considerable potential’ (WA).
