A Grand Finale and the Highlights of En Primeur
At a dinner on the last night of our visit to Bordeaux, we were given the question “What was your favorite wine of the trip?” That usually has two-fold implications—what was the wine that shined the brightest for you from the new vintage, and what will be the wine that showed up at another event that you’ll add to your roster of all-timers from other vintages. One of the wonders of wine is that, although we spend so much time ranking every bottle we experience, it is often hard to really pin down one as the singular wine that ranks above all others. For example, we enjoyed a 2015 Haut-Bailly with Veronique Sanders, a wine that was incredibly delicious and a great reminder of how much the region flourished in 2015. The 1928 that was served at the end of the meal was perhaps in no sense a technically “better” wine, but its impact made it an unforgettable experience.
Taking stock on the 2021s themselves, we can start at the end, with our trip to Pessac-Léognan. Like Margaux, Pauillac, and St-Julien before it, we found some wonderful surprises in the town just south of Bordeaux proper. The wines seemed to be composed and focused, with great purity and drive, while maintaining a thread of gravelly minerality and sense of place. Like many of the vintage, they were certainly a step back in concentration, but the only consistency that lacked was production—where one neighbor would have normal yields, another was often down by up to 70%. Such is the story with this vintage, meaning that the scales are certainly not balanced when we look at how one property might approach pricing compared to the next. Quality wins out at the end of the day, however, and samples from the aforementioned Haut-Bailly, as well as Smith-Haut-Lafitte, Haut-Brion, and La Mission Haut-Brion came through the proverbial storm to craft distinctive renditions.
The whites were another story altogether, as they hit incredible heights. A wine like La Mission Haut-Brion is all too easy to adore, but all so difficult to afford. Those who snag a few bottles will have a monument to Bordeaux Blanc for their cellar for years to come. But for the rest of us mere mortals, Domaine de Chevalier Blanc will be in that same conversation. Two different samples we tried brought out the wonders of this cult-favorite Bordeaux Blanc, with a seamless texture, beautiful aromatics, and one nuance after another on a long finish. As Technical Director Rémy Edange so perfectly put it, “You cannot taste all of this wine in one sip.”
Looking back on the rest of the trip, it was relatively clear to find our top wines, given the luxury of a few selections. These were renditions that we adored, all shared an admiration for, and seemed to come up in conversation with our peers when we had this conversation throughout the trip.
2021 Conseillante – Most often the first answer in the “wine of the vintage” conversation for many we asked, it is a complete and resounding wine that stood head and shoulders above most of the Right Bank.
2021 Figeac – This might be the exception to the rule, but when is Figeac not these days? The St-Emilion stalwart took full advantage of their Cab-heavy blend and wrote another chapter in one of the region’s biggest success stories.
2021 Lynch Bages – The new winery is already providing dividends in its second vintage, with a masterful Pauillac that hits all the marks in 2021.
2021 Margaux – It’s hard to not love Margaux in any vintage, but the success seen throughout Margaux was especially transparent in this phenomenal First Growth.
2021 Ducru-Beaucaillou – The perfect marriage of pure texture, pinpoint richness, and regal tannin, Ducru is once again at the top of the pack. How this is below 13% abv, I’ll never know.
2021 Domaine de Chavelier Blanc – A purely profound white that will live alongside their finest vintages for a long time to come.
Honorable mentions go to La Gaffelière, Troplong Mondot, Cheval Blanc, Léoville-Las Cases, Palmer, and Pichon-Baron, all of which made an impression and could easily be among the class of the vintage after élevage. Branaire Ducru and Malartic-Lagraviere should also be on the radar for value selections of the vintage, as they delivered at an incredibly high level. As always, we will delve into these and more as we write our vintage report.
Insofar as the wines that we enjoyed outside of the 2021 vintage, we were spoiled once again by the generosity of not only our hosts in Bordeaux, but our own Clyde Beffa as well. Various visits gave us the remarkable opportunity to check in on all-timers such as 1996 Margaux, 1989 Palmer, 2009/2010 Cheval Blanc, 1995 Ducru-Beaucaillou, 2009 Haut-Bailly, among others. But Clyde’s additions were otherworldly—1983 Pavie, 1982 Labégorce, 1950 Angélus, 1954 Smith-Haut-Lafitte, 1928 Haut-Bailly, and 1957 La Gaffelière. These monuments to Bordeaux, young and old, are just mindboggling in scope. To add that they’ve traveled the world and made it back home in style is a story for another day and a testament to aged Bordeaux.
I would also be remiss to not give a shout out to the K&L team that made this trip extraordinary. Clyde’s endless generosity is one thing, but his ability to bring us into the inner circle of friendship and comradery that he’s build over decades in the region is something that is beyond words. Trey planned a brilliant trip that was at the same time busy as it was efficient, and left us with a terrific experience of the vintage. Ralph’s endless expertise is as indispensable as it has been on every visit I’ve participated in these past few years. Gary, a seasoned veteran who was new to K&L's Bordeaux trip, rolled into the mix right away, from calling 1996 Margaux blind to filling in as the backup driver on the spot. And we’d be helpless without Jacques, whose fluent French bailed us out more than once, but his authentic spirit, kindness, and curiosity was the glue that kept it all together.
You’ll hear more from the K&L team over the next few months—we expect that this late visit will lead to a relatively early En Primeur campaign, and something tells us it might be a quick one once a big name sets the bar. Keep an eye out for our tasting notes on the product pages, and our vintage report which will be published in the next few weeks, with more from our team about the regions that shaped the 2021s. Until then, thanks for keeping up with us On the Trail.
- Ryan Moses, Bordeaux Specialist/Marketing and Retail Analytics Manager