After a disappointing 2021 Southwold, 2015 Ten Years On brought hope of some delicious, varied and approachable wines at a range of prices to reignite some love for Bordeaux from the tasting group. We were 19 in total, including writers Neal Martin, Lisa Perrotti-Brown and Jancis Robinson; 10 of us are Masters of Wine. We tasted just under 120 wines blind in a marathon day of reds, with two sweet flights to finish.
2021 Bordeaux has had a rough start. It was never going to be easy to follow 2018, 2019 and 2020 when everyone knew the weather was not going to allow for another highly rated vintage. Though everyone was glad to be back in Bordeaux for en primeur (after two Covid years where we tasted the wines at home in less than ideal conditions), it was clear from the outset that the wines were a step down on the last three years. This was compounded by the release prices, which did not reduce anywhere near enough to warrant buying the wines from barrel – many wines were released at 50% more than the 2019 releases, which were clearly much better.
