Winery Rémy FerbrasChâteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge

How’s the weather been this year? Awful. ‘La nature m’écoeure’, one of my wine-growing friends posted on Facebook on 8 April, having been out to look at the frost-crippled shoots on his vines that morning: ‘Nature disgusts me’. It takes a lot to make a wine-grower feel that. He wasn’t alone. Jeremiads echo around the northern hemisphere as 2021 closes. It’s been the year of all the miseries. None suffered more horribly than the growers of Germany’s Ahr valley, where floodwaters caused by the fou ...

Southern Rhône 2021 overall vintage rating: 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. ‘In this chaotic, unpredictable and atypical vintage, buying by appellation, or even producer, isn’t a reliable strategy.’ Southern Rhône 2021 red wine of the vintage Château de Beaucastel, Hom ...

Châteauneuf-du-Pape wasn’t hit as hard as some appellations, thanks in part to its proximity to the Rhône river, and its openness to the mistral wind. Nevertheless, volumes are down by around 20%. In some ways this feels like an old-fashioned vintage; measured alcohol, good acidity, strict tannins, and – when sufficiently ripe – this can make for an enjoyably fresh and balanced style. Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the top Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2021 wines {"content":&quo ...