Mesdames, Messieurs… Bonjour!
As you are reading this we (Andrew and I) are en route to London Luton Airport as we embark on ‘Le Grand Retour’. After 2 years of Zoom tastings, we are back on the road for our vinous pilgrimage to Bordeaux and an intensive week of Châteaux visits with the Union des Grands Crus (UGC) to taste the 2021 vintage from barrel.
After a 2-year hiatus from face-to-face visits due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we are delighted to once again be crossing “La Manche” to see our dear Bordelais friends and colleagues. It is Andrew’s third visit to Bordeaux (following the 2016 and 2018 campaigns) and will be the sixth En Primeur campaign under his belt overall (2016-2021). However, does he have the stamina to get back in the game? Will he be up to the immense challenge of tasting 120+ wines per day? Only time will tell…
You would be mistaken to believe this is a holiday; far from it. The days are long, and we often taste from 7am-7pm throughout the course of the week… it is fair to say, En Primeur is not for the faint hearted! Once again, we have rented our usual chalet at Bordeaux Lac – our oasis amidst a sea of Claret - next to our tasting buddy, the renowned Bordeaux wine guru: Monsieur Bill Blatch.
It is important to remember that each vintage is truly unique. Over the last decade we have been fortunate with a run of great vintages (namely 2010, 2015, 2016 closely followed by 2018, 2019, and 2020). The big question on everyone’s lips is: what can we expect from the 2021 vintage?
The Bordelais have been rather quiet so far regarding the 2021 vintage, perhaps a sign of the cool, complicated growing season they endured from beginning to end. Quite simply, winter was cold and wet, followed by a mild spell in very early April that encouraged an advanced bud-break. Sadly, a devastating frost that covered most of the region during the nights of 7th and 8th April affected many producers, resulting in loss of yield. Christophe Chateau, Communications Director at Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB), did however stress that it wasn't as bad as first feared, and that the region as whole has made “less than 4m hectolitres”, compared to 4.4mhl from the 2020 vintage.
May continued in the same, rather ominous manner yet thankfully, June heralded the arrival of warmer weather and flowering occurred in favourable conditions. Nevertheless, Mother Nature once again had other plans, as hail and heavy rainfall fell at the end of the month, and into July. The risk of mildew and rot was a real cause for concern for many Châteaux, with vines needing constant monitoring and treatments.
Véraison began slightly later than usual (early August) when the long-anticipated dry, sunny period, finally came and there was, of course, enough water in the reserve table to off-set any potential hydric stress (though in truth temperatures were much lower in comparison to the heatwaves of 2018, 2019 and 2020 and rarely exceeded 30°C). The remainder of August was dry and sunny with cool nights, which allowed for the slow accumulation of both physiological and sugar ripeness. For dry whites, Sauvignon Blanc was the first to be picked, starting on 28th August, followed by the Sémillon a week later.
September saw the arrival of an unexpected, yet welcome Indian Summer, which saved the vintage for the reds. It gave much needed time to both Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon to reach a good level of ripeness, without alcohol levels becoming too high. As such, the earlier ripening Merlot was picked around 25th September through to the first week of October, with the Cabernet Sauvignon being permitted extra time and not harvested until mid-October.
For those in Sauternes-Barsac, cooler temperatures for the duration of the season slowed down the spread of Botrytis Cinerea until rains in mid-September kick started development, complemented by a short, hot spell concentrating the grapes. The first “trie” (selection) commenced in early-October, another between 9th and 17th October, and the last coming in right at the month end from 27th-30th.
Although it is still too early to generalise, we anticipate there will be stylistic differences and varying quality levels throughout the appellations due to such a complex year, which is why it is critical to taste the wines during the UGC week. This will become more and more apparent as the week goes on, and we strengthen our thoughts and reflect on the vintage.
As ever, it is now up to Andrew and me – especially in years with such a complicated growing season - to fill our glasses and discover what the vintage is all about, where the value is, and what we believe are the best buys of the campaign. As Jane Anson (ex-Decanter Bordseaux correspondent and author of Inside Bordeaux) recently and in our opinion, quite rightly stated “a vintage like 2021, which was complicated from beginning to end, truly benefits from independent interpretation - you want to know what really happened, where are the bright spots, what kind of wines you are going to be tasting, and whether they are worth buying... there are some real successes, if you know where to look, and plenty of things to watch out for.”
We are due to arrive at Bordeaux-Merignac airport at 16h30 this afternoon, just in time for the annual traditional meal of “Sauternes et saucissons” chez Bill… on y va!
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