Bordeaux 2020: Saving the Best for Last

BY ANTONIO GALLONI | FEBRUARY 23, 2023

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

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

Two thousand-twenty is an incredibly exciting vintage for Bordeaux. After having tasted more than 800 wines for this report, my conclusion is that 2020 is by far the most consistent of the three vintages in Bordeaux’s so-called trilogy spanning 2018 through 2020. It is a year brimming with phenomenal wines at all levels, from the big names down to bottles the average consumer can still afford to purchase by the case.

On many an evening during the trip for this report I was quite simply astonished when I reflected on what I had tasted throughout the day. Some of that was surprising because 2020 has always been a unique vintage that began its life during a very strange time in the history of the world. The critical summer ripening period and the harvest took place at the height of the COVID-19 lockdown. There were none of the typical on-the-ground reports from visitors watching events unfold. In speaking with many producers, I got the impression they rather enjoyed the calm of a harvest without distractions, even with the challenges of having to manage crews during the pandemic. By the time spring came around, it was clear that en primeur tastings would once again have to be remote. The Bordeaux machine turned on the gears quickly. With the experience of the previous year, samples were dutifully shipped to all corners of the world. A few reference-point châteaux did not send samples, which created several blind spots for those of us tasting the wines from home, meaning the vast majority of reviewers. For all of these reasons, I was not expecting to see such a high level of quality across the board, but in the end, 2020 has turned out to be an exceptional vintage.

The very modest entrance at Petrus, Pomerol.

The 2020 Growing Season & Wines

Readers who want to revisit the details of the growing season will find plenty of information in my article 2020 Bordeaux En Primeur: Almost Back to Normal and Neal Martin’s articles Vingt-Vingt Vins: Bordeaux 2020 and Thrice Is Nice: Bordeaux 2020 in Bottle. In short, 2020 was another warm and very dry year for Bordeaux, but without the excesses of the previous vintages (most notably the heat of 2018), generally well-timed episodes of rain and no significant shock events, except isolated hail. There was some rain in early summer, but mildew was much more modest than in 2018. 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. Rain arrived around August 9, more in the northern Médoc, less to the south and over in the Right Bank. A number of estates on the Left Bank reported dehydration on the vine for Cabernet Sauvignon because of intense drying winds, which in turn led to smaller berries and lower juice yields. Most notably, cool evenings during the last phase of ripening seems to have helped the wines preserve a measure of freshness.