Quality and demand decide.
Increased prices in 2021…funny idea.
It remains exiting.
The small crop irrespective of quality translated into higher prices is really a throwback to farming rather than normal winemaking.
Raising prices for small poor vintages has never worked and is not going to work now. The best parallel was the 1984 vintage, a time when there were two good/great vintages preceding it. The Bordelais used the same rationale, and were surprised by the dismal primeur campaign.
They are not stupid, and have learned from their past experiences. If they price high, they know there will be a very weak campaign, but then they have little to sell. And if they price low, there still won’t be much of a campaign anyway.
But, by not reducing prices, they are essentially setting the platform for 2022, which hopefully is a larger crop. Any reduction in 2021 would lower the base for 2022 and subsequent vintages.
My guess is they are not writing off the campaign but putting in a place marker. No need to panic, there is lots of wine around, the negociants will have to buy almost irrespective of price, and with any luck, 2022 will be both bountiful and good.
After a couple of weeks done I would have to go against some early formed proclamations and say that there is certainly more pleasure on the right bank vs the left bank. You know, if that’s the sort of thing you’re into.
Shhhhhh…. Don’t say that. 2014s are weak. 2014s aren’t as good as 2015/16. How else am I going to keep backfilling them at 40% lower than 2016 prices if you post things like this on a public forum!!! 
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No worries, this gap will never close.
Some information from Jane Anson on volumes 2021 vs 2020.
Crop is smaller, overall -14% volume over 2020. Looking at the major appellations, St. Emilion and Pomerol volumes were down around 30% vs 2020. On the left bank, however, volumes are not down vs 2020 (single digit percentage up for Margaux, St. Julien and Pauillac, single digit percentage down for St. Estephe and Pessac). Of course, 2020 overall had around 10% less volumes than 2019 & 2018 which produced volumes close to the 10 year average. Hence, 2021 will be >20% below the 10 year average. In 2020 the left bank saw a far bigger volume reduction while the right bank fared a bit better. In 2021 the right bank was hit harder and came down to the left bank level (or worse), which stayed >20% below the 10 year average.
On another note, Pessac whites were down 18%, while Sauternes (-71%) and Barsac (-86%) have considerably less to sell than last year.
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Aside from the fact that the '14’s are quickly disappearing from shelves, I’d guess we have maybe 4 to 5 years (?) remaining until they’re priced accordingly to quality (much like what we see for the '08s now). I have more '14s than any other vintage in Bdx, with '16 as the only other vintage that even comes close.
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So far, from my tastings i could not describe 2021 better than it’s a vintage that make you smile, not tired. It won’t let you indifferent. And some properties are actually very proud of the final results . I will love drinking 2021 in the future I’m sure. Not like the 2014 for me, as i never find the good window of drinking it. Or not like 2017 that i find a bit too short when drinking alone. Really some great pick and I can’t wait for the various journalists reports. More than the blend this year, i will look at the soils and harvest date carefully.
I am beginning to think that we should stop lumping together the two vintages 2015 and 2016. While I think 2016 is undoubtedly a great year, and possibly the best of the new century, the 2015 is not really anywhere close. For me, the 2014s are already more interesting, and 2015 would be in the middle of the post 2000 wines.
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I don’t know who this “WE” is, but I can assure you that’s not my view. I think 2015, while a bit behind 2016 is IMO, extraordinary. Especially in Pomerol, but all over BDX on both banks .
Agree that 2016 is miles ahead of 2015. But the peaks the best 2015s achieve (Margaux, Cheval, Haut Brion, and a few others) are so much higher than what the best 2014s achieve.
Panos weighs in (doesn’t seem to be a paywall): https://cluboenologique.com/story/2021-bordeaux-en-primeur/
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I think a 2014 versus 2015 Pomerol blind tasting would be fascinating. For me, 2014 is incredibly successful in Pomerol and the wines are much more interesting than the bigger but far less precise wines I have tasted from the ‘15 vintage. It may well come down to style rather than quality. But then, Jeff, we so seldom agree anyway.
Thank you, Glen, for posting, and also to Panos for his work! ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Pulling some quotes from Panos’s article: (my apologies if doing this is inappropriate)
Many wines I have tasted have a barely ripe plum aspect to the palate.
This actually sounds appealing to me, assuming this feature isn’t married to green, bitter tannins.
The red wines fall into three broad categories. Firstly, estates playing it too safe by not extracting too much under-ripe tannin, ending up with lacklustre wines of little character or mid-palate. Secondly, estates not as careful in their grape selections and ending up with astringent tannins accentuated by high acidity. Third, the best performers, where risks were taken to harvest later, obtaining much-needed ripeness, and taking painstaking care to extract the best possible tannins to make very good (and, on occasion, excellent) wine. As Olivier Berrouet of Pétrus, in Pomerol, said: ‘This vintage required careful piloting.’
So, sounds like:
- weak and watery
- green/bitter/tannic
- “good” wines, borne of an incredible amount of painstaking work.
Almost all estates chaptalized
Hmmmm. Interesting.
Savvy buyers should look to the northern Médoc and Saint-Estèphe in particular, as well as the dry white Bordeaux of 2021.
In the context of the entire article, even the best reds sound like a bit of a stretch, given anticipated pricing. I might sample a couple whites, but 2021 is sounding like a vintage I’ll be skipping nearly entirely.
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Except maybe St. Estephe, where it sounds like decent wines were made. Calon-Segur at 13% alcohol sounds potentially appealing!
Almost all estates chaptalized
Hmmmm. Interesting.
Yeah… it makes me quite curious to know how much chaptalization went on in classic years like 2001 and 2014.
I see similarities to 1978s. A Summer, producers anticipating a really poor harvest, but sunshine coming in October rescued the vintage, and there are some good wines.
Doesn’t sound as if 2021 reached quite the same level of ripeness, so fewer bright spots.
The best 2021s got a lot riper than the 1978s, I assure you!
Don’t be too hasty to judge the vintage.
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Chaptalization was endemic in Bordeaux until recently. Even vintages such as 1990 and 1982 were systematically chaptalized. When it is done judiciously, and is used to balance a wine rather than compensate for a lack of physiological maturity, it is a good thing, much like dosage in Champagne.
This is really a travesty of the vintage. It’s a much more complicated picture than that, and there are some very interesting wines to be found.
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If there was chaptalization in ‘14 I’d love to know about it!