Bordeaux 2021 at Two Years: Sauternes & Barsac
This, the final batch of tasting notes in my post-bottling 2021 Bordeaux report, is without a doubt the briefest. This is perhaps always true of my review of the latest Sauternes and Barsac releases, but it is especially so in this vintage.
The vineyards of Sauternes and Barsac lie well to the south of the city of Bordeaux, an enclave of the broader Graves appellation. They are relatively low-lying; to the east, on the far side of the Garonne, the land rises quickly onto a broad plateau of limestone, and this places the Sauternes vineyards at particular risk of frost. Cold air tumbles down off the plateau and settles over Fargues, Preignac, Bommes, Barsac and Sauternes, and with no protection from the distant Gironde the vines freeze.
The vineyards were decimated by frost in 2021. The most obvious casualty was Château Climens, which produced no grand vin, one more in a run of disastrous vintages for this property; on the ropes, Bérénice Lurton was forced to sell a majority stake in this historic property the following year. And, although it probably goes without saying, Château Climens was not the only casualty; numerous other châteaux produced no grand vin in 2021.
Of those that have managed to fashion a 2021 cuvée, none came through unscathed; much was lost to the frost and low yields – even lower than is the norm for the sweet wines – were de rigueur. Château Suduiraut, for example, brought in 1 hl/ha. Château Bastor-Lamontagne reported their yields not in hectolitres, or even in numbers of cases, but in number of bottles produced (which was, if I recall correctly, a few hundred). It is to their credit that the owners, Grands Chais de France, have continued to show the wine; their small stock must be dwindling rapidly. A tiny crop has also resulted in some unusual blends, the châteaux forced to work with what they had; some assemblages feature much more Sauvignon Blanc than is the norm, and even Muscadelle gets a bigger part in one or two wines.
Despite all this, conditions at the end of the season were very good, producing some top-notch botrytisation. On the whole there were three pickings, the first rich in fresh flavours and acidity, the second (the majority of the crop) full of botrytis complexity and corresponding concentration, and a third minor tri. The blends, built largely around the second tri, are of exceptional quality.
