2020 Bordeaux En Primeur: Almost Back to Normal

BY ANTONIO GALLONI | JUNE 01, 2021

Left Bank: Saint-Estèphe | Pauillac | Saint-Julien | Margaux | Pessac-Léognan and Graves | Left Bank Satellites | Sauternes

Right Bank: Pomerol | Saint-Émilion | Right Bank Satellites

Two thousand-twenty was a year of ups and downs. A number of challenges during the growing season kept vineyard managers and winemakers on their toes, just as the world grappled with the most serious health crisis in living memory. Now that the 2020s are being released en primeur, the Bordelais refer to the vintage as the third in a ‘trilogy’ that includes 2018 and 2019, but it’s not always easy to separate the marketing buzz from reality. How did the wines turn out?

In tasting, the 2020s impress for a combination of energy and vibrancy that is hugely appealing, for reasons I explain in more detail below.

Pessac-Léognan is the most successful appellation as a whole, most likely because the timing and amount of summer rains worked very well with where vineyards were in their ripening cycles. Of course, Pessac-Léognan is really two appellations, but for this purpose I will consider them together. Yes, the top names are magnificent, but there’s more to it than that. I was especially struck by the quality of both the second wines at top properties as well as by wines from a number of more modest châteaux. It is that depth that leads me to believe that Pessac-Léognan did exceptionally well in 2020.

Looking farther afield, readers will find many fabulous wines on both the Left and Right Banks, but on a château-by-château basis. Especially on the Left Bank, many wines feel super-classic, with mid-weight structures and low-ish alcohol levels that have not been seen in a number of years. Based on what I have tasted so far, I don’t see the consistency of 2019 or possibly even 2018, and yet the best 2020s are incredibly exciting. These may very well be wines that only truly blossom with many years in bottle.

Saskia de Rothschild and Technical Eric Kohler share their views on 2020 at Lafite-Rothschild. Don’t get me wrong, but I will be quite happy when Zoom tastings are a thing of the past.

The 2020 Growing Season – An Overview

Two thousand twenty saw its fair share of challenges in the field. I won’t go into a full recap of the weather during 2020, as Neal Martin did an exceptional job in his article Vingt-Vingt Vins: Bordeaux 2020 in conveying all the specifics of the year in tremendous detail. Instead, I will focus on key events throughout the year.

Rainfall during the end of 2019 and early 2020 was far above historical averages. Warm weather in early 2020 triggered an early start to the vegetative cycle that would be a theme for the entire season. After a spell of colder temperatures in March, warm weather returned in April and May, both among the warmest on record. Abundant rain and elevated temperatures created the conditions for widespread outbreaks of mildew. “We had almost 100mm of rain in just a few days, around May 10,” Mouton-Rothschild Technical Director Jean-Emmanuel Danjoy relayed. “That created two challenges: dealing with the risk of mildew, and just being able to get into the vineyards to work. Ultimately, our growing season from bud-break to harvest was a bit longer than usual, 185 days as opposed to 178.”

“Mildew was far less dangerous in 2020 than it was in 2018," Lafite-Rothschild Technical Director Eric Kohler explained. “In 2020, mildew pressure started before flowering, in 2018 it peaked during flowering and lasted longer. Overall, timing of heat events was also more beneficial in 2020.” That feeling seems to be backed up by fact, as very few estates reported heavy crop losses due to mildew, unlike 2018. This is especially remarkable, as COVD-19 created all sort of logistical challenges in organizing work crews, especially with essentially no notice as key weather events unfolded. Many estates relied on skeleton staffs to do critical spraying. Surely the very recent experiences of 2018 also provided quite a bit of learning that was applied in 2020. 

"We now have 2/3rds of the estate certified biodynamic," Oliver Bernard told me at Domaine de Chevalier. "Curiously, yields were higher in our biodynamic vineyards than in our conventionally farmed sites. Flowering was two weeks ahead of schedule, but we had good weather in June. Yields were 38 hectoliters per hectare, and would have been higher if not for some dehydration in the Cabernets later in the year.”

 I was curious about the differences between mildew on the Left Bank versus the Right Bank. According to Nicolas Auderbert, who oversees Rauzan-Ségla in Margaux and Canon in Saint-Émilion (and now Berliquet as well) “the outbreak of mildew was pretty similar in both Margaux and Saint-Émilion, but for us, it was harder to manage at Rauzan because we have a patchwork of vineyards spread out across the appellation and vineyard age is quite variable. At Canon, on the other hand, we are essentially dealing with one large parcel, and more homogenous vine situation.” 

Flowering was early, once again presaging a precocious harvest. June and July turned exceptionally warm and dry, with elevated temperatures and essentially no rain for 54-55 days between mid-June and mid-August. This was the first of three critical periods that began to define the harvest, as stress events always separate great terroirs and old vines from less favored sites and younger vineyards that have not developed the root systems to deal with severe heat, drought and rain and therefore experience heat stress leading to blocked ripening.