James Suckling on Bordeaux 2021: Saved by Sauternes

It’s already hard to remember the Bordeaux 2021 vintage, given all the recent information circulating around the world about the very good-to-outstanding 2023, but a few Sauternes have come up on top.

2021 is clearly not at the same quality level as 2023 and is even less so compared with the spectacular 2022. In fact, I’d need to go back to 2014 to remember something as middle-of-the road as this. At least, the year made better wines than the insipid and fading 2013s.

But there are numerous exceptions to the overall quality of the vintage, which could have been even worse considering the extremely difficult grape-growing season, which included spring frosts, mildew, botrytis, lots of rain, a shortage of sunlight and mild temperatures during key months in the summer.

“It was so cool during the summer that you had to be great in the vineyard,” admits Frédéric Faye, the winemaker and manager of St Émilion’s Château Figeac. “Average viticulture didn’t do well. You had to be really on top of it. Our vineyard manager didn’t sleep well for many months, because he was worried about all the problems in the vineyard during the growing season.”

Nevertheless, numerous wines are still worth seeking out from the vintage, particularly some incredible Sauternes, which could be compared in quality to such heralded years as 2001, 1988 and 1967. A couple of the sweet wines could be at the same level of quality as legends like 1921.

“It was tragically beautiful,” says Christian Seely, the head of AXA, which owns the historical Sauternes estate of Suduiraut, alluding to the 85 percent loss of his grape crop because of a powerful spring frost that year. “We made hardly any sweet wine, but it was one of the greatest ever. We were down to about 10 percent of normal: one hectolitre per hectare, but the average is 10 hectolitres.”

The growing season was difficult for everyone. “It was a nightmare to manage in the vineyard,” says Pierre-Olivier Clouet of Château Cheval Blanc, who made a superb red through a strict selection of the best grapes in his vineyards as well as the best young wines in his cellar. “We had huge pressure with mildew, and I wasn’t happy with what it looked like in the vineyard through the summer. Finally, we found the excellence in the wine in the cellar. Slowly we accepted that we had excellent-quality wines in the barrels.”

The best reds of 2021 highlight the old adage that great vineyards can make great wines in difficult vintages.

“The great terroir really adapts to harvests whether cold or hot,” explains Guillaume Thienpont, the winemaker whose family is part owner of Pomerol’s Vieux Château Certan. “That’s what makes these vineyards so unique. They can make something great no matter what happens.”

Some winemakers and viticulturalists, such as those at Thienpont’s neighbour, Château Lafleur, saw 2021 in an even more positive light, particularly in comparison to all the hot and sunny recent years. “Very early, in people’s minds, they saw 2021 as an off year,” says Lafleur’s Omri Ram. “We very early saw it as an opportunity. We were doing only solar vintages until then, and to see that we had a non-solar vintage was good for us. We hadn’t seen that in while, so we were very happy.”

Not everyone saw 2021 as an opportunity. A couple of winemakers admitted that they needed to chaptalise their reds, a process of adding sugar to the grape must to slightly increase the alcohol in the wine during the fermentation process.

“I had some young winemakers who didn’t even know how to chaptalise,” one winemaker laughingly tells me. “The vintage reminded me of cool years in the 1990s when we had to do this, but most of my team were just children. They didn’t know.”

According to Jean-Philippe Masclef, the technical director of Haut-Brion and La Mission Haut-Brion, precise elevage, or aging of the wines in barrel, was essential to improving the quality of 2021. It gave tension and texture to both the red and white wines.

“This is one vintage where the elevage in barrel really improved the wine,” he says. “The wood gave a little sweetness to the wines and it rounded the rather angular tannins. The angles needed to be rounded. The complexity also comes from the wood, and it makes the wine more interesting.”

“2021 is really a great, great year for white,” he adds. Indeed, I thought the La Mission white was better than the Haut-Brion in my tasting.

So, how are the wines? My team of tasters and I rated more than 1,600 wines in our office in Hong Kong as well as in Bordeaux. There are a lot of very good to excellent reds and whites but few very special bottles. The wines certainly don’t have the plushness of fruit and impressive structure of top vintages like the recent great trilogy of 2018, 2019 and 2020.

But the wines we rated 90 points or higher have finesse, polish and classicism in character that will tempt lovers of Bordeaux, and they won’t need to wait long to enjoy them. Some are already very drinkable. Maybe some new consumers will get the chance to explore top Bordeaux with wines like this. I used words like “caress”, “balance” and “fine” to describe the top wines in this report and in general for the best red wines of the 2021 vintage.

Even the top wines are attractive now, but they should age well for the next six to eight years. “2021 is more digestible,” says Olivier Berrouet of Château Petrus, alluding to the wines’ lower alcohols, fresher acidity and medium bodies. “It has lots of potential good acidity, tannins and balance,” he said. “It will age well.”

The question now is when and where to buy the 2021s. Prices were too high for the wines when they were released as en primeur during the early summer of 2022. The top wines are still slightly overpriced compared with the 2023 en primeur, which was just released on the market a few weeks ago, with some chateaux cutting prices by 40 percent compared with the 2022. Plus, you have all the other vintages that are better priced and of better quality, even 2017.

I think the 2021s will drop in price as wine merchants sell them with reduced margins in hopes of raising cash for their Businesses, especially with a decline in wine sales and a difficult global economy. Wait for a while and you may pick up some bargains with 2021 and other vintages.

When prices come down for 2021, people are going to enjoy these wines whether in a restaurant or at home. And then many more people are going to remember the vintage. 

James Suckling picks the best from Bordeaux 2021

Château d’Yquem Sauternes 2021

100 points

Dreamy, subtle aromas of dried fruit such as apricots and mangoes, but also fresh lemons and pears. Then there are caramel and tart tatin undertones with some bananas, pineapple, tangerines and other tropical fruit. Full-bodied, yet it remains vivid and compact, giving it a lightness even though it is really structured. 

Château La Mission Haut-Brion Pessac- Léognan Blanc 2021

100 points

OMG. This is really so Bordeaux with incredible semillon character. Lemon skin, pears, apples and hints of stone and wood. Full-bodied yet polished and compact. Endless finish. Ethereal.

Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey Sauternes 2021

100 points

The transparency of this is incredible. It’s like drinking glacier water but with so much white pepper, clove, dried mushroom and spice character. Intense and pure and so perfect.

Château Suduiraut Sauternes 2021

100 points

Very intense spices on the nose with nutmeg, cinnamon, dried apples, apple tart, lemon peel and hints of brown sugar. Full-bodied and very sweet but not at all cloying. The finish is endless.

Château L’Église Clinet Pomerol 2021

100 points

Extremely complex and subtle with blackberries, wild forest fruits, orange peel, bark and mushroom on the nose. Structured and layered yet compressed on the finish. Give this three or four years in bottle, but it’s surprisingly attractive now.