Thrice Is Nice: Bordeaux 2020 in Bottle

BY NEAL MARTIN | FEBRUARY 09, 2023

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

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

I am not foolish enough to pronounce COVID done and dusted. But, looking back in the rear-view mirror at those two years of lockdown, doesn’t it seem surreal? Jogging down the A3 dual-carriageway without seeing a single vehicle, all I could hear was birdsong. It felt like I had unwittingly walked into a science fiction flick. Then there was fathoming how to entertain the bored kids, nothing to do except drive out for a coffee, a polystyrene cup gingerly passed through a window by a gloved hand at a nearby café. Pallets beamed down onto my driveway and were laboriously heaved to my lock-up-cum-tasting room. The timeline of events becomes jumbled, but if memory serves, my first sighting of the 2020 vintage marked the second year I was denied the chance to taste en primeur in Bordeaux. Vaccines meant that, thankfully, a third never transpired.

Despite the ignominious surroundings of my tasting, it was clear that 2020 was the final part of a Bordeaux triumvirate. The hot summer meant that stylistically the wines bore semblances to the decadence of 2018 and 2019. Stylistically, they seemed more aligned with the latter, demonstrating more tension and terroir expression than the former. In my mind, amongst the three, the 2020s were in a silver medal position and threatened gold depending on château, so expectations were high when broaching the vintage in bottle. I was intrigued to discover how vines and winemakers adapt to such growing seasons, dealing with fruit with higher sugar and alcohol levels, the so-called “new normal”.

The Growing Season

I detailed 2020 in my primeur report published two years ago. But it is worth repeating, just for context, in this marginally shortened version.

The 2020 growing season began with an unseasonably warm winter that saw the highest temperatures for a century and one-third of the average frost. After the previous dry summer, vineyard managers welcomed the high rainfall, twice the average during November, December and March, with some châteaux reporting a year’s precipitation in six months. Between these, a series of storm-laden low-pressure systems swept across the region during January and February. Most of a somewhat uneven bud break took place in the middle of March, and the end of that month saw a dive in temperatures, down to -12°C in some locales with snow on 30 March. Thankfully, frost damage was limited to prone spots. April was warm and rainy, conditions that encouraged rapid shoot growth. May was more like summer in terms of temperature due to hot spells at the beginning and the end of the month, 16 days above 25°C, the fourth hottest in 75 years. Humidity and warmth provided perfect conditions for mildew, and vineyard managers had to be vigilant and reactive, seizing every dry window to spray and protect their vines. Below-average temperatures from 10 to 15 May coincided with another rainy spell. Flowering was early in mid- to late-May with little coulure. By now, winemakers knew that they were heading towards an early harvest.

June began cool and overcast, delaying vine growth, while persistent rain increased mildew pressure; some estates suffered considerable losses with some millerandage.

In the final week in June, the weather changed again, followed by nearly two months of warm and extremely dry conditions. Several estates reported not a single drop falling during the 54-day dry period. Hydric stress was initially contained by the preceding months of rain, and minor stress was noticed on young vines on free-draining gravel and sandy soils. Clayey soils in Saint-Estèphe and the Right Bank advantaged those châteaux in their superior moisture-retaining capacity. Uneven véraison slowed down maturity in the most stressed plots so that by early August, winemakers became concerned as vines began to suffer during a heat wave in the second week of that month, when night temperatures remained above 20°C, giving the vines no time to rest. This heat triggered convectional storms between 9 and 14 August, alleviating the hydric stress. However, rainfall varied, highest in the northern Médoc and lowest on the Right Bank, exaggerating unevenness between appellations and terroirs depending on grape varieties and vine age.

The storm clouds dispersed, and clement, warm and dry conditions prevailed through to harvest, concentrating the berries and sugar levels. Temperatures were slightly cooler than average, and the chilly nights, 12°C-14°C, enabled berries to retain acidity that ultimately imparted freshness to the wines. The first two weeks in September were warm and sunny, accelerating sugar accumulation.

Picking of the dry whites began on 14 August with the earliest-ripening Sauvignon Blanc, although the heart of the vendange was over the final ten days in August, seemingly now the norm. The Merlot came in from around 10 September under warm and dry conditions, predicating a propitious vintage in Merlot-dominated blends, especially on the Right Bank. Some vineyards were picked in the morning because of the heat, keeping both fruit and workers fresh, with some châteaux now investing in increasingly useful cool rooms. Often there is a pause between the Merlot harvest and the later-ripening Cabernets, but several estates continued straight on as the Cabernets were phenolically ripe. This proved crucial. The weather turned inclement around mid-September with sporadic light rain showers. This is where the true quality of the 2020 growing season becomes a little opaque because the effect of this rainfall was euphemistically brushed off as inconsequential by many winemakers. Too light to dilute the grapes, if anything, it merely warded off shriveling and nudged them towards full ripeness. But conditions worsened, collateral damage courtesy of Storm Alex, which prompted some winemakers to panic, with the more risk-averse expediting the picking of the later-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon. Most harvests were done and dusted either by the end of September or early October.

The 2020 Cos d’Estournel comes with a special glass-engraved bottle, though its “rival” Montrose may take the honor as the wine of the vintage. A Montrose for the ages.