Expert’s Choice: Rioja 2021

The Civil Rights bill passes in the US and the Olympics are held in Tokyo; Italy wins Eurovision and the Australian men’s cricket team takes home the Ashes in the English summer, again: 1964.

In 2001, the world is reeling from the September 11 attacks, the iconic French film Amélie is released, and Shaggy’s It Wasn’t Me is the UK’s bestselling single (not a great year for music!).

These were years of political upheaval and diverse cultural events, and two of the greatest vintages ever produced in Rioja.

Scroll down for notes and scores of 18 brilliant wines from the celebrated Rioja 2021 vintage

Julio Sáenz, the head winemaker at La Rioja Alta, explains: ‘For the generation before mine, the vintage that everyone talked about was 1964; for my generation, the great vintage was 2001.’

And now? ‘2021! The younger generation in Rioja are very excited by this vintage and many people believe that it could rival those two great years.’

While the young 2021s have been and gone, wines from this vintage that require longer maturation are only just beginning to appear in the market. These include wines from some of the top vineyard sites and the region’s best-known producers.

Favourable conditions

If we divide Rioja vintages in a simplistic way into Mediterranean and Atlantic years, 2021 falls firmly into the latter category.

Rain in early September offset some of the drought conditions experienced earlier in the year. Warm days, cool nights, a slow growing season: near perfect conditions to produce perfectly balanced grapes.

Despite the excellent results of the vintage, the Rioja region’s consejo officially classified 2021 only as ‘Very good’, rather than its top rating ‘Excellent’.

This is most likely due to an episode of hail in June, which caused some damage, thereby lowering yields in some parts of the region

And the wines?

Quite simply, stunning! Vicente Dalmau Cebrián-Sagarriga, owner of Marqués de Murrieta, loves the ‘incredible’ 2021 tannins. ‘You have the elegance of 2020 and the muscle of 2019,’ he enthuses.

The result? ‘The wines have a wonderful potential to age in bottle but also offer a silkiness and immediate appeal while young.’

I’m hesitant to use the word ‘textbook’ – does it imply something too crafted?

Let’s say that 2021 certainly showcases all the best elements of the Rioja region: structure and intensity; beauty and poise.

The outstanding wines of this vintage offer so much pleasure right now due to those wonderful, ripe tannins and a varietal purity that delivers a panoply of Rioja’s herbal, floral and fruit character.

But with such impressive muscle and elegant acidity, this is a vintage that will reward patience. For those content to delay gratification, or with an eye for investment, 2021 is built for the long haul and demands cellaring.

The selection that follows

With these 18 recommendations, I have tried to offer a wide range of wine styles and grape varieties from Rioja.

Wines come from right across the region, and from both very well-known and up-and-coming producers, and from others. The scores are necessarily very high because, well, the wines are very good!

In some cases, the 2021 vintage is already in the market, but for others we need to wait a few more months (which explains why we were not able to taste most of these wines for inclusion in our recent-release report).

It will be worth the wait.

See notes and scores for 18 fabulous 2021 Riojas

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