Rhône 2021 en primeur: full vintage report and top-scoring wines

Rhône 2021 en primeur vintage rating:

Northern Rhône: 2.5/5

Consistently excellent white wines, but reds very mixed due to severe frost and a mild, rainy season. Some are weak and green, others very good in a fresh and structured style.

Southern Rhône: 2/5

Fresh, bright, intense white wines throughout the region. A hard frost reduced yields and produced a fragile harvest for reds. Quality is mixed; many wines lack ripeness, but there are some very good wines in a lean, fresh style with relatively low alcohols.

‘It’s an exceptional year for white wine in both the southern and northern Rhône. I tasted many red wines that were thin and green this year…But in the darkness, there are glimmers of light’

How do you define a bad vintage? If you’re a grower, you might say it’s a year of poor weather, disease and pests. Low yields too, even if quality is acceptable, means producers will be out of pocket. Wine lovers aren’t quite so concerned about conditions or quantity, however – it’s the quality in the bottle that matters most to us.

From anyone’s point of view therefore, 2021 will not go down as a good vintage. ‘It’s the year you never wish for,’ said Jean Gonon of Domaine Gonon, with a degree of sangfroid, ‘but it happens.’

Rhône 2021 red wine of the vintage:

Château de Beaucastel, Hommage à Jacques Perrin, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Rhône 2021 white wine of the vintage:

Domaine de Beaurenard, Boisrenard, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Scroll down for Matt Walls’ top-scoring Rhône 2021 wines

It was a growing season beset with difficulties, but they can all be traced back to one day. On the night of the 7 April, temperatures dropped to -7 ̊ C. ‘Even my father never saw a frost this bad,’ said Pierre Rostaing of Domaine Rostaing in Côte-Rôtie, when the last serious frost episode was in 1938. Walking his vineyards the following day, the fresh green shoots were withered black. ‘It was immediately obvious, they looked like they’d been burned.’ He lost 50% of his crop.

All appellations were hit to some extent, but some worse than others. In the southern Rhône, Jacky Bernard, president of the Vacqueyras appellation, said that at least 80% of the appellation was hit by frost, ‘possibly even more.’ He and others witnessed a strange phenomenon throughout the region: some plots were decimated but others alongside were barely touched. Nonetheless, even vines not directly hit by frost seemed stunned by the intense cold.

See all 400 Rhône 2021 tasting notes and scores

For the vines that eventually recovered, it meant a late start to the season, and a struggle to ripen – I tasted many red wines that were thin and green this year. Persistent rain in the northern Rhône contributed to a sense of lightness and dilution. And we haven’t even touched on the rot, disease and hail.

So far so bleak. But in the darkness, there are glimmers of light. Late-budding varieties dodged the cold snap. Certain parcels that were frosted carried lower yields – which helped them reach full ripeness. Against the odds, there is a smattering of excellent wines.

For those who made a success of the vintage – and there were more than I expected – the style is one that many will find appealing. It’s a lean, fresh, structured vintage with refreshingly low alcohol – a counterweight to recent years, such as 2018 and 2019, that might have been too rich and opulent for some tastes.

There is one major strong point of the 2021 vintage: it’s an exceptional year for white wine in both the southern and northern Rhône, one of great freshness, precision and longevity. From Condrieu to Châteauneuf-du-Pape, this is an unmissable vintage for whites.

There have been other recent vintages, such as 2008 and 2014, whose reds weren’t particularly heralded on release. But today you can pull out certain wines from those tricky vintages that are delightfully fresh, balanced and drinkable. They are the exceptions in those difficult years. What I aim to do in this report is to point you to the wines that – by dint of viticultural proficiency, superlative terroir, or simple luck – will prove the exceptions in 2021.

Rhône 2021 score tables:

All top Rhône 2021 score table

Top-scoring southern Rhône 2021 score table

Top-scoring northern Rhône 2021 score table

Top-scoring 2021 red wines

Top-scoring 2021 white wines

See also:

Northern Rhône 2021 full report and top-scoring wines

Plus individual appellation analysis on:

Côte-Rôtie and Condrieu | St-Joseph | Cornas and St-Péray | Hermitage | Crozes-Hermitage

See also:

Southern Rhône 2021 full report and top-scoring wines

Plus individual appellation analysis on:

Châteauneuf-du-Pape | Gigondas, Vacqueyras and Beaumes de Venise | Rasteau, Cairanne and Vinsobres | Lirac and Tavel

Key Rhône producers in 2021:

Top 10 northern Rhône producers

• Domaine A&E Verset
• Domaine Clape
• Domaine du Tunnel
• Domaine François Merlin
• Domaine Garon
• Domaine JL Chave
• Domaine JP Jamet
• Domaine Marc Sorrel
• Domaine Niero
• M Chapoutier

Top 10 southern Rhône producers

• Château de Beaucastel
• Château de Montfaucon
• Clos de Caveau
• Clos des Papes
• Domaine Benedetti
• Domaine de Cristia, Chapelle Saint Théodoric
• Domaine de la Janasse
• Domaine des Bosquets
• Domaine Gramenon
• Domaine Raymond Usseglio

Top-scoring Rhône 2021 wines:

The wines below all scored 96 points or above, and are listed white then red in score order.

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Rhône 2020 En Primeur: full vintage report and top-scoring wines