- James Suckling found one candidate for perfection in Sauternes.
- For Suckling, 2021 is incomparable to previous vintages.
- He said that the vintage produced ‘some pretty and lively young reds wines and some fantastic whites’.
James Suckling is the latest critic to release his impressions of the Bordeaux 2021 vintage in a report titled, ‘A difficult 2021 comes out easy’.
Suckling shared the view of other critics that the year was one of the most challenging on record, ‘giving wine producers just about every calamity imaginable, including spring frosts, mildew, botrytis, lots of rain, a shortage of sunlight and mild temperatures during key months in the summer’.
Having tasted Bordeaux barrel samples for 39 years, Suckling revealed that ‘it’s hard to think of a vintage to compare’ with 2021. He found the ‘bright fresh acidity’ and the low alcohol striking.
According to Suckling, 2021 produced ‘some pretty and lively young reds wines and some fantastic whites’.
Top-scoring wines
However, the real ‘miracle of the harvest’ for Suckling may be the sweet wines of Bordeaux. He said that ‘they show great promise’ and awarded his single highest-score to a wine from the region. For him, ‘Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey 2021 is perhaps the greatest sweet wine produced in 100 years at the property’.
His list also included Domaine de Chevalier’s white wine, which he awarded a barrel range of 98-99 points. Lafleur, Le Pin and Pétrus were his favourite reds.
Our Bordeaux En Primeur 2021 page contains everything you need to know about this year’s campaign. You can also sign up for our daily En Primeur email alerts using the form below.
