Walls: My top 10 Rhône wines of 2021

Of all the columns I’ve written this year, this one should have been the easiest to write: open my tasting notes file, sort by year 2021, sort by score, select the top ten highest scoring wines, copy and paste. Go to the pub.

But it’s not that simple. Some wines are technically perfect and undeniably excellent, wines I respect greatly that deserve their high scores – but on a personal level, they leave me a little cold.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Matt Walls’ top 10 Rhône wines of 2021

There are others, however, that – despite their flaws, eccentricities or peculiarities – have made an indelible mark, a vivid memory that raises a smile.

Clearly these are the wines that mattered most to me this year, so that’s why they feature on this list.

Far from being a quick piece to rattle off at the end of the year, I luxuriated in recalling each wine as I looked over my notes.

It’s a task, like tidying old photographs, that always takes much longer than it strictly needs to.

How a wine makes its mark

What makes a wine plant a seed in my mind when I taste it, growing into such a vivid memory?

Firstly, it can never be boring. Some wines can be balanced, concentrated and taste of where they come from – yet have little to say.

A genuine fine wine is one we want to talk about and return to, whether it has perfect balance or not. Often a wine makes an impression when it surprises us, or when it reveals something new.

For me, it was the unexpected harmony of a 10-year-old Condrieu, and several wines that transcended their difficult vintages.

These are wines that open doors and suggest new pathways of exploration. What all the wines on this list have in common is that they are not just wines of place; they are more than that.

They are confident enough in themselves to be more than just classic examples of their style. It is this strength of character that makes them so exceptional and so memorable.

Much of this is down to the winemaker. The mantra that ‘wine is made in the vineyard’ gets louder each year. But wine doesn’t make itself, it will always bear the fingerprints of a winemaker, whether they like it or not.

Standing out from the crowd

I’ve been lucky enough to taste some exceptional Cornas this year from some of the the best-known estates in the appellation – but the one that lodged itself most deeply in my mind was Philippe Pacalet’s.

He’s not from Cornas, or even the Rhône – and he doesn’t own the vineyards. But this wine is an original vision of Cornas, one of such beguiling scent and refinement that it made a deep impression.

Similarly, the Châteauneuf-du-Papes of iconoclast Mounir Saouma are so atypical but so brilliant that they cast the region in a new light.

If you don’t know Château des Tours, which features in this list, then the name of its sister estate might be more familiar – Château Rayas. All the wines of owner Emmanuel Reynaud have such a strong house style that they are unmistakable, no matter the appellation. Sometimes, nothing else will do.

This Vacqueyras was a wine that was far from perfect, but one with great charisma and personality.

And sometimes that’s more important.

See tasting notes and scores for Matt Walls’ top 10 Rhône wines of 2021:

Related content:

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

Walls: 10 exciting estates to know in Cornas

Walls’ hidden gems: Moulin de la Gardette, Gigondas

Aged Condrieu – how it develops plus 40 wines tasted