1920 Clarets

BY NEAL MARTIN | AUGUST 22, 2022Each year I attend
a dinner at Domaine de Chevalier hosted by Olivier Bernard. It’s been held for
many years, long before I joined the table. The theme is always the numerical
vintage, for example in 2022, all the vintages ended in two. You can work out
the theme for other years. It is run along the lines of La Paulée whereby
guests contribute their own bottles. There is no rule specifying that they must
be Bordeaux, which spices things up a bit. Furthermore, all bottles are served
blind. Since nobody has an inkling what others have brought, you must keep your
wits about you while the cross-table discussion gets lively. It’s a fun evening,
yet one that involves a lot of work because it’s a unique opportunity to assess
aged wines blind.Tasting notes for
most of the wines on this evening are folded into a “Century of Twos” article.
However, in this occasion, four bottles came from the 1920 vintage. So, why
where they allowed to break the numerical rule?







These had been
dropped off at the château before COVID struck, kept for safekeeping until such
soirées could resume. They provided a fascinating glimpse into a vintage
that after 102 years is rarely seen or discussed. The twenties was one of the
most fecund decades of the century in terms of great vintages, yet once you
take off those rose-tinted spectacles, it was actually more up and down. The
1920 season was beset by uneven flowering. The summer was rather overcast and
cool with a prevailing north-easterly keeping a lid of temperatures. This
stymied maturity levels that were finally rescued by a warmer dry September. It
was a fairly late harvest from around 22 September. The resulting berries were
thick-skinned with little juice inside, though subsequent showers fattened them
up a little. The 1920 clarets were infamously slow to come around: bad news for
oenophiles of the Jazz Age, good news for idiots like me who like drinking
ancient, time-defying claret.&nbsp;<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1660926643343-bordeaux+1920+bottles_copy.jpg">The following four
wines were all served blind, their vintage only revealed after much discussion.
They were served in the order written.The 1920
Domaine de Chevalier came from a magnum direct from their cellar. Mature in
colour with modest bricking on the rim, the core appears clear. The bouquet is
divine with fleshy, ripe strawberry and terracotta aromas, quite pure and
surprisingly generous. The palate is medium-bodied with a fleshy entry, very
harmonious with a fine bead of acidity. There is something tender about this
Graves, almost effortlessly classy with a persistent finish that leaves traces
of cedar on the finish. Wonderful. 93/Drink 2022-2032. The 1920
Clos-Fourtet had my alarm bells ringing due to its turbidity. Lo and
behold, the nose is riddled with excessive volatility, the palate stocky yet
bereft of freshness. This turned out to be the only one of four wines from this
vintage that was not representative.







The 1920 Gruaud
Larose is a wine that I have encountered once before. This Saint-Julien was
enjoying a purple patch in the twenties with a succession of outstanding wines,
this being one of them. It has light bricking on the rim but a darker core than
the Domaine de Chevalier. The bouquet is graceful and pure, wonderful
delineation with a touch of menthol that infuses the remnant of black fruit.
There is real presence here after a century. The palate has exquisite balance
with a perfect line of acidity, cedar-tinged red fruit and quite fleshy towards
the finish that probably took most of the 21st century to soften.
This is bridled with a sense of completeness – a quite brilliant wine. 96/Drink
2022-2040. The 1920 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande represents
the oldest vintage that I have tasted from this Pauillac Deuxième Cru. Clear in
colour with slight bricking on the rim, it has an exquisite, cerebral bouquet
with vestiges of black fruit, mahogany bureau, wilted rose petals and a subtle
marine influence. The palate is medium-bodied with a fine bead of acidity,
pliant tannins yet real substance that seems undiminished by the passing
decades. The finish is surfeit with clarity and salinity, completing an
enthralling Pauillac that will still give pleasure. 96/Drink 2022-2040.© 2022, Vinous. No portion of this article may be copied, shared or re-distributed without prior consent from Vinous. Doing so is not only a violation of our copyright, but also threatens the survival of independent wine criticism.

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