Vingt-Vingt Vins: Bordeaux 2020

BY NEAL MARTIN | MAY 27, 2021

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

Bored. The Bordeaux estate manager is so bored. Instead of ironing the red carpet ready to receive the adoring masses who will anoint his 2020 “the greatest wine ever produced until spring 2022,” he sits at his desk twiddling his thumbs and looks out his window at the car-park of Tesla golf buggies supposed to ferry tasters five meters between entrance and tasting room. The corridor is barely passable thanks to the stack of unused hand-embroidered tasting booklets. Nobody will read JK Rowling’s magical prose (favorite line “Potter waved his magical wand over the vintage”) and nobody will see Spencer Tunick’s tableau vivant of the entire winemaking team posing in their birthday suits around the freezing cold winery, even the 82-year-old cellarmaster who only popped in to see how the harvest was going. The sole visitors to the château were an elderly couple who took a wrong turn. The manager’s invitation for a private tour and a dinner was declined; they had to get to the supermarket to buy dog food.

Like a score below 99 points, COVID-19 was initially a novelty. The estate manager took it on the chin, rolled up his sleeves and reluctantly dispatched samples to his PR-approved critics, though due to a typo an entire pallet was dumped during Easter prayers outside a Methodist church in Leigh-on-Sea. The harem of pretty girls trained to greet/flirt/bat eyelids at tasters upon arrival were sent back to the agency and instead, virtual Zoom tastings were hastily organized. Inexplicably, the elderly “dog food” couple materialized during several tastings, their bloody hounds barking in the background.

But in the end, to the estate manager’s surprise, courtiers reported healthy sales of 2019, partly because of quality and partly because entire populations had bugger-all to do but booze their way through lockdown. (Marketing worded that differently.) Marketing had also promised that COVID-19 would be over by last summer, but annoyingly, people keep dying, and so the manager convenes his team to discuss their strategy for the 2020 vintage.

“We were told that approval of a vaccine was less likely than a revision of the 1855 classification,” he begins. “Now we have so many vaccines that the INAO are considering a classification based on protection rates. I have a cunning plan.” He pulls away a velvet cloth to reveal a bottle whose label depicts a syringe. “This special cuvée is 99% Merlot and 1% vaccine. Vaccination intégrale. Everyone is scared of needles. This way, you can enjoy your wine and protect yourself from a deadly virus. It has already received 100 points from wine critics and the World Health Organization.”

Silence ensues.

“Erm… Is that legal?” pipes up head of marketing.

“You think we need some Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend?”

“No. I mean mixing pharmaceuticals with alcohol.”

“Apparently it does less harm than natural wine.”

“Point taken.”

“Most excitingly,” the estate manager continues, wind in his sails, “Elon Muscat has promised to send a case of 2020 into space to examine whether lack of gravity affects prices. Does TCA exist in space? Do MWs lose their superhuman powers? If you send wine into a black hole, does it taste better on the other side?”

Blank stares. He rambles incoherently, clearly suffering signs of lockdown madness.

“Instead of these cosmological conundrums,” interjects his assistant, “can you just tell us whether 2020 is any good? Marketing needs an idea of how much euphemism they should reserve.”

“Well, I’m probably biased, so let’s wait for Neal Martin’s report and see what he has to say. Given last year’s score, he’s someone I’d happily blast into space…”

The Growing Season

Let us remind ourselves of the five prerequisites set out by the late Professor Denis Dubourdieu for great Bordeaux red wines, courtesy of the University of Bordeaux:

1) and 2) Relatively quick and even flowering and fruit-set during weather that is sufficiently warm and dry to ensure good pollination and predispose toward even ripening.

3) The gradual onset of water stress thanks to a warm, dry month of July in order to slow down and then put a definitive stop to vine growth no later than véraison (color change).

4) Completely ripe grapes thanks to optimum photosynthesis in the leaves up until the harvest, without any noteworthy resumption of vegetative growth.

5) Fine (relatively dry and medium-warm) weather during the harvest, making it possible to pick the grapes in each plot at optimum ripeness without running the risk of dilution, rot, or loss of fruity aromas.

I hope the much-missed professor will not mind, but I will add a sixth: Cool nights leading up to harvest in order to maintain acidity. This is becoming increasingly vital to counterbalance higher sugar levels and maintain freshness.

Keep all these factors in mind as you read on and throughout this report.

The 2020 growing season began with an unseasonably warm winter, one 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 the months of November, December and March, some châteaux reporting a year’s worth in six months. Between these, a series of storm-laden low-pressure systems swept across the region during January and February. Warm temperatures peaked at 23.1°C in Mérignac and rainfall, some 58% above average, igniting an early start to the vines’ growth cycle some three weeks earlier than usual, one of the earliest on record. A majority of a somewhat uneven bud break took place in the middle of March. The end of that month saw a dive in temperatures, down to –12°C in some locales, with snow on March 30. Thankfully, frost damage was minimal and limited to prone spots.

April warmed up nicely to become the third warmest in half a century, behind 2007 and 2011. Coupled with rainstorms from mid-April resulting in 34% more precipitation than average, these conditions encouraged rapid shoot growth. The heaviest rain fell in Saint-Émilion, some 31mm on April 17, as well as localized hail in Saint-Émilion and parts of Castillon. May was more like summer in terms of temperature due to hot spells at the beginning and the end of the month; there were 16 days above 25°C, the fourth hottest May in 75 years.

This combination of wet and warmth provided perfect conditions for mildew, and vineyard managers had to be both vigilant and reactive, seizing every dry window to spray and protect their vines. Below-average temperatures May 10–15 coincided with another rainy spell, over 100mm falling in Listrac. This environment led to continued rapid vine growth and predicated early flowering that took place in mid- to late May rather than early June, with little coulure. Mi-fleuraison was May 26 compared to June 3 and 4 in 2018 and 2019. By now, winemakers knew that they were heading toward an early harvest.

June began cool and overcast, seeing 148 fewer sunshine hours than normal, which retarded vine growth – put the brakes on, so to speak. Persistent rain increased mildew pressure, provoking painful memories of 2018, some estates suffering considerable losses with some millerandage. Consequently, the second condition for an ideal red wine vintage, the absence of rainfall after fruit set, was not entirely fulfilled.

However, from the final week of June, the weather changed again and there followed nearly two months of warm and extremely dry conditions. Overall, the Gironde received an average of just 10mm of rain in July, some estates recording less than 5mm while several stated that not a single drop fell during the 54-day dry period. Hydric stress was initially contained by the preceding months of rain, with only minor stress noticeable on young vines located on free-draining gravel and sandy soils. (Here is where clayey soils, up in Saint-Estèphe and, of course, on the Right Bank, were beneficial because of their moisture-retaining capacity.) The water deficit still led to uneven véraison that slowed down in the most stressed plots, even if mi-véraison on August 1 was six days earlier than average. By early August, winemakers became more concerned as vines began to suffer during a heat wave in the second week of the month, when night temperatures remained above 20°C, giving the vines no time to rest.

This heat triggered convectional storms between August 9 and 14, a crucial factor in the 2020 growing season. These alleviated the hydric stress, though the compacted, sometimes concrete-hard clay soils meant that the rain could wash straight off the vineyard instead of penetrating the soil. The amount of rainfall varied per appellation, essentially highest in the northern Médoc, Saint-Estèphe (110mm and over), 80–90 mm in Saint-Julien, 60mm in Margaux, around 50mm in Pessac-Léognan and then down to 20–30mm on the Right Bank in Saint-Émilion and Pomerol. This exaggerated the unevenness of the vintage between appellations and terroirs, depending on grape varieties and vine age. It is a compromise with respect to one of the prerequisites of a great vintage, as set out by Prof. Dubourdieu – that is to say, gradual water stress and dryness not inhibiting vine growth after véraison. It also swelled the Merlot and Petit Verdot berries more than the Cabernet Sauvignon, predicating a greater proportion of this variety in some blends.

The storm clouds dispersed, and clement, warm and dry conditions prevailed through to harvest, concentrating the berries and sugar levels. In fact, temperatures were slightly cooler than average and the cool nights, 12–14°C, enabled berries to retain acidity that ultimately imparts freshness in the wines. The first two weeks of September were warm and sunny, which accelerated sugar accumulation.

Fruit entering the winery at Canon, which made one of the standout Saint-Émilions this year.

Sauternes: Life Ain’t Easy

In Sauternes, yields were nibbled away throughout the year, by localized frost damage at the end of March; coulure and millerandage during early flowering; high mildew pressure during the warm conditions in early summer; the flooding of the Ciron River in May, combined with a hail storm on May 9 that scythed through the northwest part of Barsac and decimated some estates, such as Climens; and finally, desiccated berries caused by the summer drought. That drought commenced on June 19 and built into a heat wave that caused rapid sugar accumulation in the berries. This dry spell came to an abrupt end on August 11–13, when heavy rain swept across the region, some 36mm falling in a single hour on August 12. This precipitation was slightly higher in Barsac than in Sauternes. The downpour both restarted the vegetative cycle in some blocked vines and reduced acidities via dilution. This can spell disaster for Sauternes, but thankfully during August and September, acidity levels recovered thanks to the cool nights.

The harvest in Sauternes was even more complicated than usual due to the capricious weather, providing brief windows whereby there was sufficient botrytis formation combined with dry, warm conditions. Essentially, picking crews had to be on their toes, ready to unsheathe their secateurs at short notice. Add COVID-19 into the mix and the need to keep social distancing, and I have no doubt that there were a few sleepless nights.

Botrytis formation began slightly earlier in Barsac because of the somewhat higher rainfall in August. Hot and dry conditions in the first half of September continued to accumulate sugar levels, though there was insufficient moisture for botrytis. This coincided with perfect conditions to commence the first tries through the vineyard, mainly aromatic passerillé berries and the odd botrytized grape. Picking stopped during a rainy spell on September 18–26. There was then a three-day window for a small wave through the vineyard, though Sauternes’ man on the ground, Bill Blatch, reported that both Yquem and Doisy-Védrines picked the heart of their blends at this time. Then from September 30 to October 6 there was a month’s rainfall within a week, panicking some estates into thinking another 2012 was on the cards, and prompting some of them to pick whatever they could. Most top-performing estates elected to wait and used a dry spell from October 7, combined with drying northerly winds, to bring home a second trie that formed the main part of many estates’ 2020. Most harvests were completed by October 20. De Fargues actually began picking at this juncture and a few estates were picking into November, although a negligible quantity ended up in the Grand Vins.

For the reasons stated earlier, yields in Sauternes were minuscule, often 3–6hl/ha, and only slightly higher in Barsac, where you could reach double figures. Some unlucky sods like Sigalas-Rabaud had no crop at all. Who would be a winemaker in Sauternes? Frost in 2017, mildew in 2018, acid rot in 2019 and hail/rain in 2020, then frost in 2021: that makes five consecutive years when the beleaguered Sauternais have probably felt they pulled the short straw.

The Harvest

Picking of the dry whites began from August 14 with the earliest-ripening Sauvignon Blanc, although the heart of the vendange was over the final 10 days of August, seemingly now the norm. The Merlot was harvested from around September 10 under warm and dry conditions, predicating a propitious vintage in Merlot-dominated blends, especially on the Right Bank. Some crops were picked in the morning because of the heat, keeping both fruit and workers cool, some châteaux now investing in increasingly useful cool rooms. Often there is a pause between the picking of Merlot and the later-ripening Cabernets, but several estates continued straight on at the phenolically ripe Cabernets. 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 toward full ripeness. But the conditions worsened (collateral damage courtesy of Storm Alex), which prompted some winemakers to panic, the more risk-averse expediting the picking of the later-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon. Most harvests were done and dusted by end of September or early October.

COVID-19

An added complexity in 2020 was keeping picking teams safe and socially distanced. Harvesting was straightforward, since workers are naturally distanced in the open air. The challenge lay in ferrying them from their accommodation to the vineyard and protecting them in the winery, as well as during well-earned harvest lunches. Philippe-Sereys de Rothschild at Mouton-Rothschild told me that they limited the numbers on buses and issued pickers with packed lunches. “The harvest lunches are something that I missed. It is part of the harvest, but that’s just the way it is. But the result is that we did not have a single case of COVID-19.” Similarly, Philippe Bascaules at Château Margaux doubled the number of buses and organized lunches in large, open-sided tents with designated places to sit to discourage people from walking around. Speaking to several owners, there were often only one or two positive cases, which were immediately acted upon, and as far as I am aware, there was no cluster outbreak that prevented harvest from continuing.

Winemaking

There is not too much to comment on here, either because I have said it all before, or because you will find minutiae within the appellation reports, which are worth reading if you want insight into some of these wines. A few years ago, no château would be seen dead without a fleet of optical sorting machines, but in the last few years, dry summers have led to healthy grapes that oblige relatively little sorting. Of course, harvest managers had to be wary of keeping their “eyes” safe on the sorting line, though at least this process can be carried out in the open air. Skins were thick and wines coloured easily, the must turning black with a single pump-over. With berries high in phenols, gentler extractions were passim. Infusion is the watchword, not extraction, accompanied by exhortations about “wetting the cap” or just “moving the juice under the cap.” The 2020 vintage generally witnessed shorter cuvaisons (20–25 days instead of 30–35 days) at lower temperatures.

Perhaps this is the first vintage where I have noticed a belated introduction of alternative vessels in which to age wine, not just the clay amphorae that I am still convinced add more to the aesthetics of a winery than the wine itself. More interesting is the slipping in of demi-muids and, finally, oak foudres at addresses such as Château Angélus and Nénin. This could be because of more extensive plantings on the Right Bank of Cabernet Franc, which is more sensitive to new oak.

The first of many pallets to arrive, mid-snow flurry. Fortunately, nearly all shipments arrived promptly, apart from those from Eric Boissenot. I hope UK customs enjoyed the wines and await their reviews. I hope to finally taste them next month.

How Were The Wines Tasted?

Like last year. Well, not exactly. Traipsing hundreds of bottles through the ex-council house is grounds for divorce, so wines were rerouted to my storage facility, where they were assessed. It is like tasting in a dingy prison cell, but apart from the odd occasion when a neighbor practiced their drumming, it was silent with perfect temperature, and nothing else to focus upon save for the wine in question. All wines were tasted within 4–5 days of being taken from barrel, in the same stemware. As usual, many were tasted multiple times, with some back-ups requested direct from the property. Some châteaux did not send samples because it is not their policy – more or less the same names as last year. A couple of shipments were delayed because of customs, and these notes will be added in June, together with wines I plan to taste in Bordeaux.

The 2020 Vintage: The Verdict

The headline is that 2020 is an excellent vintage.

We are accustomed to the Bordelais cranking out the hyperbole to the point where even they have begun taking their own words with a large pinch of salt. But the truth is that generally the 2020 does form the third in a trilogy of great vintages after 2018 and 2019.

Two-thousand twenty is better than 2018 but doesn’t quite reach 2019’s peaks.

The 2018s are bold, opulent and the most hedonistic. Nicolas Audebert at Rauzan-Ségla/Canon described the vintage as a “heavy ball.” The 2019s are more elegant and purer, the most complete, harmonious and precise, the closest to what winemakers perceive as an ideal. Consensus is forming that 2019 may turn out the best. At first glance, 2020 does not match 2019, though the difference is marginal. It is easy to generalize. There are instances where 2020 will surpass 2018 and 2019. Proof will be once all are in bottle and judged side by side.

Characteristics of the 2020 Vintage…

1) Generally, the best wines exhibit pure, mainly black and often blue fruit aromas. A common scent is iris flower, which Edouard Moueix attributes to old Merlot vines.

2) Slightly firmer tannins (IPT levels are quite high) and fewer creamy textures. This must be taken in context because despite more backbone, tannins are unequivocally much finer than a decade ago. I also feel that unlike the 2019s, the 2020s should be afforded several years in bottle, which is reflected in my drinking windows. Though Bordeaux is far more approachable than even a decade ago, I believe the best 2020s will merit long-term cellaring.

3) Lower alcohol on the Left Bank than 2018 and 2019, sometimes by more than a degree, at around 13.0°–14.0°, higher on the Right Bank, regularly reaching 15.0° and over. I heard instances of 16.0° but no names were mentioned.

4) Lower alcohol often reveals more salinity and greater expression of individual terroirs. Whether that is because the fruit was picked earlier or harvests extended into the inclement rainy weather at the end of September, depends on the property.

5) Due to the cool nights in August and early September, many of these wines have excellent acidity levels that engender fresh wines with ample tension.

6) The 2020 vintage was one of the lowest-yielding vintages in the last decade alongside 2013 and 2017, due to a triple whammy of mildew, drought and some shriveled berries at harvest. According to Gavin Quinney’s annual report, Saint-Julien suffered most, with 82% of the 10-year average, median yields being around 34.3hl/ha. Most Left Bank appellations were around 10% below average, though slightly better in Saint-Émilion, where figures were 94% of the 10-year average. Pomerol bucked the trend with an increase of 5.5% over the 10-year average, though that figure is skewed by drastically low yields in previous years.

7) It was an inconsistent vintage away from the top of the hierarchy. The last three vintages have benefited the great terroirs, which in 2020 are those with clay or limestone soils and modern wineries equipped with the latest technology and the manpower to be vigilant and reactive in the vineyard during the wet early season. Expand your purview beyond the 200-odd wines offered en primeur to the vast ocean of Cru Bourgeois and Petit Château, and it is clear that the long stretches of rain followed by drought negatively affected lesser terroirs and punished those who cut corners. There were days when I had to taste many frogs to find a princess. A wrong choice and you can be easily disappointed. The good news is that there is still a raft of excellent wines punching above their weight outside the famous appellations, representing outstanding value.

Consultant/winemaker Stéphane Derenoncourt opined: “There is a big difference between the Left and Right Bank in 2020. You had to look for the concentration on the Left Bank and you had to look for the elegance on the Right Bank because you could make a big wine.”

The pivotal feature of the vintage was those mid-August rains that prevented hydric stress on the best terroirs and took the heat out of potential excessive concentration. Throw into the equation the various levels of rainfall per appellation and pedological factors, especially the percentage of water-retaining clay vis-à-vis free-draining gravel, vine age and attendant spatial root system, and you can see that like every vintage, you have to treat each wine as its own entity and unique set of interrelated factors. Don’t fall into the trap of believing that it’s a Right Bank or Merlot vintage – 2020 is far more nuanced and complicated than that. The fact is that great terroirs were able to obtain phenolic ripeness in their Cabernets by September instead of October, and I concur with some winemakers who hailed their Cabernet fruit as some of the best they had ever seen.

The Cos d’Estournel façade.

Saint-Estèphe

Various factors come into play when examining the northern appellation of Saint-Estèphe. Firstly, its more clayey soils (around half the surface area) give it a theoretical advantage over Pauillac and Saint-Julien in terms of retaining water during a lengthy dry period. On the other hand, it received the most rainfall in mid-August, in excess of 100mm, which could have been problematic had it not been followed by another dry period. In the end, this welcome rainfall allowed revivified vines to continue their growth cycle and reaccumulate any potential loss in concentration.

Like last year, my conversation with Cos d’Estournel proprietor Michel Reybier and head winemaker Dominique Arangoïts was the first of many conducted throughout my tastings. “We had 750mm of rain between October and March,” Arangoïts explained. “Then in February temperatures rose to over 20°C, which caused the early bud break on March 17 and [ultimately] the precocity of the vine. That precocity is something that we watched throughout the season. Then May was warm and rainy, 60mm falling on May 10, so this was a risky time in terms of mildew, but fortunately there was a dry and hot spell May 21–25 when flowering took place. Like in 2005, we found that there were more seeds in the Merlot berries. June was cool, just 16°C on June 11, but then from June 18 to August 12 we had 55 days with just 5mm of rain. On August 7, temperatures reached 37.2°C. By that time the vines were beginning to suffer and some started blocking maturation as they closed their stomata. Fortunately, we had 60mm of rain August 12–14 and then the beginning of September was hot. Choosing the date of harvest was not easy. We started with the old Merlot (80–90 years old) on gravel soils on September 10 until September 20, commencing the Cabernet Sauvignon on September 19 and finishing on September 24, just before the rains. It was imperative to pick the Cabernet Sauvignon in dry conditions. It was also hot during picking, reaching 34.7°C on September 14. The whites were harvested earlier, from August 31 to September 10.”

“Since 2017 we have lowered the temperature during extraction, although this year, because of the blockage in July/August, alcohol was lower, just under 13.5° for the Grand Vin [compared to over 14.5° in 2018 and 2019], around the same as in 2016. So, we were not so worried about the extraction this year. Higher than usual pH at 3.90, 0.15 higher than normal, and lower acidity gives the wine its sweetness. The blending was done in December. The Grand Vin is raised in 55% new oak, the Pagodes de Cos in 30% new oak. I don’t know yet, but my feeling is that we might do a slightly shorter élevage than previous year.”

“What makes 2020 special is that it is a year when both gravel and clay soils performed well. Also, the alcohol levels from the Merlot are now not as high as they were 15–20 years ago, while the Cabernet Sauvignon has increased from 12.5–13.0° to 13.5–14.0°. This convergence of alcohol levels between the two varieties makes them easier to blend.”

Chez Lafon-Rochet, Basile Tesseron told me that he feels his 2020 is on a different level than the 2018 and 2019. “It was one of our earlier vintages, comparable to 2003. Saint-Estèphe tends to thrive in early growing seasons. We benefit from around half the appellation having clay soils. The only parts that suffered stress were west-facing gravel soils. There was around 100mm of rain in mid-August. You know, my grandmother always said that there would be storms around August 15, it was expected. The rain replenished the water reserves and prevented any hydric stress. Then it was dry and warm up to picking and so the quantity of juice became more concentrated. We harvested September 15–30 and cropped at 36hl/ha. The skins were thick but fragile and so we conducted a slow pump-over, three times for just 10 minutes per day, just wetting the cap. In the end we had 13.5° alcohol.”

Jewel in The Crown: Phélan-Ségur. Kudos to the team at Phélan-Ségur, who really pulled the stops out in 2020.

Hidden Gem: Château de Pez. Look out for this Saint-Estèphe, under the watchful eye of Nicolas Glumineau of Pichon-Lalande.

Pauillac

Pauillac tends to be disadvantaged during periods of drought compared to Saint-Estèphe due to its deep gravel-rich soils. As such, the August rains were a godsend to the vines that otherwise would have started to suffer stress and blockage. In most cases, the harvest was completed by September 25, when the rains returned, with some late-picked Cabernet Sauvignon coming in by the end of that month.

I tasted the sextet of samples from Baron Philippe de Rothschild with Philippe de Rothschild and head winemaker Jean-Emmanuel Danjoy, who has stepped into the shoes of Philippe Dhalluin at Mouton-Rothschild. “The budding was early, around 10 days ahead of normal on March 25,” Danjoy explained when I asked about the 2020 growing season. “Then there was a cold spell and on March 30 we even had snow [Philippe de Rothschild rued the fact that this was the same day he had decided to spend a day in the vineyard]. Afterward, the season was about 1.0°C above average yet there was never any excess heat, just 23 days when it was over 35°C. We had no stress or sunburn. In terms of rainfall, we had 100mm that fell on May 13–14 but because it all fell at once, it didn’t really penetrate the soil. Then there was a long dry spell, so that in July there was only 8mm of rain, and that gave a little stress to the young vines. Then we had 115mm of precipitation in August that was sufficient to smooth out the véraison – it was a case of getting the rain at the right moment. We started the harvest with the young Merlot in Mouton-Rothschild on September 7, September 14 for the young Cabernet and September 19 for the older vines, finishing on September 24. There was some rain on September 23 and 24 [when the final pickings at Clerc Milon and d’Armailhac took place] but they did not affect the crop. Overall, we had a longer growing season than in recent years. The extraction went well – we had confidence in the tannins so we performed a little more, for example, conducting seven racks and returns instead of the normal five. The barrel maturation will be the usual 18 months in 100% new oak.”

The resulting 2020 Mouton Rothschild is cool and classic in style. That is partly because of the 13.1° alcohol, lower than in 2018 and 2019 (some parcels came in fully ripe at 12.8°, according to Danjoy.) The barrel maturation will add some depth and weight, but at this stage, this is elegant and open, certainly a vintage marked by freshness, with wonderful mineralité and raciness defining the finish. Perhaps it made me think of some of the classic Mouton-Rothschild of the 1950s. I was also impressed by the Le Petit Mouton, which has a slightly higher level of Cabernet Sauvignon compared to recent vintages, partly caused by the lower bud fertility at one cluster per shoot instead of the average of around 1.3, plus the smaller berry size. I also want to draw readers’ attention to the superb Château d’Armailhac, one of the best I have tasted at this stage; again, much more classic and almost reserved in style compared to vintages of 15–20 years ago, classier and perhaps bearing more resemblance to the Mouton-Rothschild as the years go by.

The range from the Cazes family posing on my newly laid garden path. If my builders happen to be reading this, I would be grateful if you could finish the patio before the 2020s are bottled. Thank you.

Jean-Charles Cazes was ensconced in his office at Lynch-Bages’s new winery, which is finally complete after four years (about the same length of time my garden patio is taking). “The site covered 10,000 square meters and in a couple of places required excavation to 10 meters,” he told me. “The reception area is large and versatile. It can accommodate three sorting lines, which enables us to go fast when necessary. We use Cuvons to transfer the wine by gravity in the 80 vats of four different sizes to vinify the vineyard that is split into 200 parcels. Each vat has a tank elevator that we use for délestage and is equipped with a special pump that has no vacuum to conduct a very gentle and controlled remontage.”

I asked Cazes about the growing season. He told me that they suffered some hydric stress during the dry period in the summer, though it was not like 2003 and the 100mm of rain in August boosted the vines, benefitting the Merlot in particular, hence it represents a higher proportion of the blend in the Grand Vin. He cropped the Lynch-Bages at 33hl/ha from September 14, whereas the Haut-Batailley was cropped at 41hl/ha. Picking commenced on the same day (though the two estates are treated as separate entities). Cazes also pointed at the lower alcohol level, 13.4° instead of the 14.1° last year, which he described as “a more enjoyable place to be.” Interestingly, he remarked that the Lynch-Bages had a “Saint-Julien” side to it and believes that the 2020 will be approachable but with propensity to age.

Meanwhile at Lafite-Rothschild, I spoke to Saskia de Rothschild, who had shimmied over from L’Évangile, and head winemaker Eric Kohler. “It was a strange and difficult beginning,” Kohler told me. “It was a complex growing season with early flowering on May 18, the earliest since 2011. The month of May was very hot but then in June it turned rainy, which caused some mildew. It wasn’t easy. Then the weather changed on June 20, when it became dry and hot. This lasted until August 10. We had 120mm of very useful rain August 12–15 . Afterward, the nights were cold, which gave the 2020s their freshness. The lignification was perfect and it limited the accumulation of sugar. With regard to the vinification, we did a cuvaison of 23–25 days. The alcohol is just 12.8° in 2020 and I see this as the third in a trio of classic vintages.”

Nicolas Glumineau was on hand to discuss the impressive 2020 Pichon-Comtesse de Lalande, and decry those who were going around claiming the vintage to be a “Merlot year.”

“We had such a humid spring with almost consistent temperatures that mildew pressure was both intense and very long. So it was a lot of work in the vineyard, spraying copper and sulfur whenever there was a dry window. We had to be very reactive. The summer was both dry and warm, which is unusual because you often get one or the other [for example, 2003 was hot but rainy]. The question that we began to ask ourselves was: What kind of wine shall we make? This is because we knew that would be such a concentration of juice. Then we were spoiled when we had 84mm of rain on August 12 and 13, which refreshed the vines that had started to struggle. The rain was especially good for the Cabernet as they could finish their photosynthesis and phenolic ripeness.”

“We started the harvest on September 9 and finished October 1. We knew that it was going to rain on September 24 and 25, the Thursday and Friday of that week. So, should we expedite the picking? But we decided to wait and came back into the vineyard the following Monday. The tannins were so different as the skins were pretty thick. They were softer and finer afterward.”

“The 2020 shows a lot of freshness due to the cool nights and also the fact that between October 2019 and April 2020, we had 800mm of rain, what we normally have in 12 months, and so our subsoils were like a sponge. It meant that in 2020 the vines suffered less than the previous year. In terms of winemaking, we could immediately taste that the juice was very concentrated. After one or two days it was black. The IPT index is very high so in some tanks we practiced fewer pump-overs, some Merlot just one volume per day. The Grand Vin came in at 13.6°, which is slightly less than 2019. There is no Petit Verdot in the blend because in recent years it tends to dominate the aromas, so it is all blended into the Réserve. I think the 2020 is a mix of 2019 for its vibrancy, energy and vertical expression and 2016 in terms of sharpness and immovable tannic structure. It is closer to 2019 than 2018.”

Jewel in The Crown: Lafite-Rothschild. Simply for being nothing else but Lafite-Rothschild.

Hidden Gem: Château Grand-Puy Ducasse. Fed up of lying in the shadow of Grand-Puy Lacoste, this estate is beginning to show its true potential.

Saint-Julien

“The growing season was challenging, rainy during winter and spring – in six months, a year’s worth of rain,” Pierre Graffeuille told me from Léoville–Las Cases. “This made it challenging in terms of mildew. At the end of June, we moved to a hot and dry summer with no heat wave, so it was more dry than warm. The vines were not really affected by the drought due to the winter rain. But terroir was a key element: the proximity of the river, percentage of clay in the soil, the vine age [50 years at Léoville–Las Cases]. The fruit became concentrated because of the drought but we kept the freshness because we harvested early, starting on September 10, finishing on September 30. The fruit was ripe but not overripe for Merlot. Cabernet Sauvignon is analytically similar to 2019, albeit fresher than the previous two years. There is less Merlot than other vintages as we lost some when we added it to the blend, so much of this went into the Le Petit Lion. We decided to extract more gently, more so than last year, as the yields were 20% lower and we reduced the remontage by 30% and temperatures to around 23–24°C instead of 26–27°C, keeping the duration of maceration around the same. The tannins are fine [an IPT of 79]; the risk was to avoid overextraction. The blends were not complicated to do. Pressed wine is around 5.5%, whereas usually it is over 6% as it already had natural concentration. The wine is aged in 75% new oak including 10% in amphorae, which we have been trialing for a couple of years.”

“I was very excited about Vingt-Vingt,” Damien Sartorius, 10th generation of the Barton family, explained from Léoville/Langoa-Barton. “Then we had snow on March 30, which was strange and portended frost. A week later came the storms that forced us to do the first spray. Other than this, it was fairly relaxed with one person per plot. The summer was dry but not hot. We had to use dry ice in the vines as it was hot during harvest and we have wooden vats [harder to regulate in temperature compared to stainless steel]. Volumes are tiny – the berries were small and fewer per stem. We started the picking around September 15–16. The malic acid was fairly low, the pH quite high, so we were afraid of lacking balance, but the tartaric acid was good. The alcohol is moderate at around 13.5°. I like the wine because there is not this cooked effect that you have in 2009 and 2018. There was more finesse, although not up to the level of 2019. But maybe there is more power. The Grand Vin is matured in 70% new oak.”

"But from June 18 to August 11, only 2.8 mm of rainfall and 21 days over 30°C… a record since we got the weather station in 1996. Fortunately, nights were cool. Our terroir (as usual) has preserved freshness. The pH is 3.57, which allows us to envision this wine aging serenely, 13.5% vol and IPT=77. An early vintage, all the physiological stages from budburst to harvest were in advance (one of the earliest harvests ever, in sixth place over the last 40 years). Size of berries was very small (in the top five ever), with thick skins and two seeds per grape on average compared to the usual one per grape … meaning high phenolic potential but more careful vinification to avoid extracting too many tannins.”

At Lagrange, director-general Matthieu Bordes told me: “We had a four-day break between [the picking of] Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon to achieve the maturity of tannins, flavors and aromas. The ratio between skins and juice in the vat was impressive. Usually, there is one-third skins to two-thirds juice. This year it was close to 50/50. I have never seen that over the last 25 years! The final yield is the lowest ever: 26hl/ha–34hl/ha for Merlot and 22hl/ha for Cabernet. To make the best Lagrange possible we decided to make only 38% of Grand Vin and 62% of Les Fiefs, which comes from an average vine age of 30 years.”

Jewel in The Crown: Léoville Barton – choose Las Cases for longevity or Poyferré for opulence, but this Barton has everything you wish from an estate with a spring in its step.

Hidden Gem: Château La Bridane – what you might call a “useful” Saint-Julien for mid-term drinking.

Margaux

The appellation of Margaux is one of the success stories of 2020. Given its expanse and heterogeneous terroirs, it tends to be inconsistent, but this year when Margaux hits the sweet spot, it is very sweet indeed.

Why?

Partly it is because like Pessac-Léognan, it received less rainfall in August, around 60mm compared to occasionally double that amount. It was optimal to keep the vines ticking over until harvest. Secondly, there is a higher proportion of Merlot compared to Saint-Julien and Pauillac, meaning that they could avoid the late September rains more easily than more Cabernet-dominated châteaux. The result is a cluster of beautifully balanced Margaux with trademark floral aromatics, silky textures and sensual, almost lacy finishes.

One intriguing aspect that came to light in speaking to Edouard Miailhe, proprietor of Siran and current president of the Syndicat de Margaux, is that while the appellation had smaller yields compared to elsewhere, they held up well on the Labarde plateau, which covers Giscours, Dauzac and Siran, among others. He had no idea why yields were less affected – but they were.

I spoke to Philippe Bascaules at Château Margaux via Zoom. “There was a hot and humid spring,” he told me from the tasting room, “so this meant there was an early flowering, May 20–25, around 10 to 15 days early. Then we had mildew pressure that was only slightly less than in 2018, so we used organic treatments, copper and sulfur, to mitigate the damage. There was a period of intense drought from June 20 to August 10 when there wasn’t a drop of rain, which caused some stress to the young vines. Finally, we had a lot of rain on August 13, some 80mm. I think this changed the vintage insofar as it decreased final alcohol levels and increased the phenolics through the thicker skins. From the end of August through most of September the weather was beautiful, which increased the concentration, but did not cause any dehydration. We began the picking on September 10 through to September 30, the main team harvesting from September 21. Toward the end of the month, it turned cold and there was a little rain, though it did not affect the fruit. Yields were lower because there had been 20–30% fewer bunches, probably due to being more in 2019 [the vines tend to address the balance from year to year].”

The 2020 Château Margaux is a classically styled wine, as I commented to Bascaules, delivering a “coolness” that I think suits this First Growth and that was less evident in the previous two vintages. Alcohol is at 13.5°, less than in 2018 (14.2°) and 2019 (14.0°) - Bascaules himself opined that the optimal degree is 13–14.0°. One factor that influences their 2020 reds is that unlike the previous two years, there were no shriveled berries, which can impart a different flavour profile, slightly sweeter and occasionally with a more exotic fruit profile. Remember that last year some parcels of Merlot achieved such high alcohol levels that they were deselected. That is not the case this year and the Merlot lends another dimension in terms of very attractive red fruit and complexity. Bascaules said that there are commonalities between 2018 and 2019 in terms of concentration and silkiness, respectively, though he alluded to 2010 and even perhaps the 1986, albeit a much later harvest than that year. For myself, 2020 Château Margaux is their best vintage since 2016 and may even surpass it, while 2020 Pavillon Rouge de Margaux, representing 31% of production, is both refined and shares that same coolness as the Grand Vin.

Henri Lurton, proprietor of Château Brane-Cantenac.

I also spoke to Henri Lurton (pictured) who oversaw a marvelous 2020 at Brane-Cantenac, one of the finest that I have tasted out of barrel. Since the 2019 vintage, Lurton has focused the Grand Vin on the 30-hectare Terrace IV plateau, much like Pichon-Baron has done in recent years. Lurton is also harnessing the potential of their redesigned winery, replete with wooden vats with a transparent stave so that you can see what is happening inside. Lurton also mentioned what is called the R’Pulse technique, which replaces pumping the juice into the vat and enhances the submersion and breaking up of the cap. There is also more emphasis on using the pressed wine, which this year contributes 13% of the final blend. Quite simply, this is the finest Brane-Cantenac that I have tasted from barrel, one without any trace of the greenness that takes time to be assimilated. It’s just pure class.

Nicolas Audebert broke off from a day out with his family to speak to me about his two charges, Rauzan-Ségla and Canon in Saint-Émilion (or three if we now include Château Berliquet.) Interestingly, when I asked him to choose between them, he said that the Canon has the upper hand this year due to the limestone soils, a view that I completely agree with. That is also because Rauzan-Ségla is a mosaic of variegated soil types that was more challenging to manage during the rainy period, especially as the vines have been treated organically since 2018. This is why yields were lower in Margaux, Rauzan-Ségla cropped at 30hl/ha compared to 42hl/ha at Canon.

Jewel in The Crown: Brane-Cantenac – Château Margaux might be the obvious choice, but I picked this just because it may well be the best vintage that I have tasted from barrel.

Hidden Gem: Château Marojallia

Pessac-Léognan

Commencing with the whites, the 2020 vintage is very good, but I would not term it great. It may sound provocative, but I find many overrated dry whites during primeur because the palate has been marinating in reds all day, so even an ordinary white comes as a relief. The true litmus test is in bottle. It has become almost customary for the harvest not only to begin in August, but to be finished that month. Therein lies the problem. The grapes are denied the requisite hang time to develop genuine complexity. It is no fault of the winemakers – they are just picking when the fruit is ripe and leaving them on the vine would deny them acidity and freshness. It is an ineluctable trade-off. Tasting through many dry whites, the success stories are easy to spot: La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc, Smith Haut-Lafitte Blanc, Domaine de Chevalier Blanc and my personal favourite, an excellent Latour-Martillac Blanc. These seemed to possess greater nerve and sophistication than much of the rest, all perfectly pleasant but not the kind of wines that leave me riveted to the spot.

For the reds it is a different matter entirely. Pessac-Léognan is one of the success stories of 2020. There are two underlying factors, pointed out by both Jean-Jacques Bonnie at Malartic-Lagravière and Véronique Sanders at Haut-Bailly. Firstly, they were blessed with optimal rainfall in August, at around 50–55mm, which was not too much and not too little. Secondly, many of the estates were able to complete the harvest before the September rains that swept across the region from September 25. The Cabernet Sauvignon galloped toward phenolic ripeness just in time. Many estates were able to continue the harvest, picking the Cabernet as soon as they had finished the Merlot.

Jean-Philippe Delmas, upstairs in the turret at Haut-Brion. Copyright Johan Berglund.

Jean-Philippe Delmas at Haut-Brion and La Mission Haut-Brion told me: “We had to fight against mildew and it wasn’t easy, though in the end we didn’t lose too much. In the summer, we didn’t have a drop of rain between mid-June and mid-August. That’s the first time that’s happened here since 1949. I think the trap in 2020 was not to apply a recipe, so for example, for the first time we chose not to de-leaf to protect the vines from the sun, on both sides on the Right Bank at Quintus and on the north or east side in Pessac. We had 31mm of rain in August. The harvest for the whites started and finished in August and the day after, we began with the young Merlot. We then stopped for 10 days because the Merlot had suffered during the drought and needed more time, but once we started, we did not stop the picking between Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. In fact, we started the younger Cabernet Sauvignon before the last Merlot vines. We finished around September 28 or 29. We did a shorter maceration at lower temperatures for two weeks. Personally, I like the Haut-Brion this year. It’s like… fireworks, with so much energy. I also like the Haut-Brion Blanc because the Sauvignon Blanc was a miracle, which is why we used almost all of it in the Grand Vin.”

I joined co-proprietor Florence Cathiard and head winemaker Fabien Teitgen to discuss their 2020s at Smith Haut-Lafitte. The château is a hive of ideas and innovation at the moment. Their vineyards have been converted to biodynamics, yet they are experimenting with other organic practices, to varying degrees of success. For example, a couple of years ago I reported that they were researching the benefits of a kind of algae to use in the vineyard, though they are hitherto not fully convinced by the results. On the other hand, use of chamomile and Achillea millefolium [yarrow] preparations has been successful at mitigating heat stress. Also, in 2020 and in this year, they are using what they described as a “UV booster” early in the growing season that increases polyphenols, the idea being to thicken the skins and render the berries more resistant to mildew. (I joked to Cathiard that it sounds like something her family’s cosmetic company Clarins might use. In fact, the principle is quite similar.)

“It was a rainy, quite warm winter,” Teitgen explained. “By March 8, the vines were growing. Fortunately, there was no frost. On May 10 there was strong wind and rain, and mildew pressure continued up until mid-June. However, the flowering was good as there was a two-week window when the weather was better. It then became dry and sunny, just 3mm of rain in July and 35mm in August. We found that the clay soils retained moisture [preventing hydric stress and blockage]. Véraison took place two weeks earlier than normal and was not drawn out. The cooler night temperatures, 12–14°C, meant that we kept the acidity. We knew that the grapes would ripen early and we started picking on September 9. The forecast was for rain in the middle of that month, but it came at the end when most of the harvest had been completed, so it made little difference, just softened the tannins. We were careful during extraction, conducting a soft infusion and in this vintage, adding no pressed wine. Of the last three vintages, I find 2020 the most seductive, the analytical figures close to 2018.”

Down at Malartic-Lagravière, I spoke with proprietor Jean-Jacques Bonnie. There have been many changes at this address in recent years, one of the most noticeable being the change of the name of the second wine to Le Comte de Malartic, together with an embossed bottle and redesigned label. This blend also contains the fruit that went into Gazin-Roquencourt, which was nipped in the bud, literally, in 2017 after the frosts. “For the last decade, we have been encouraging the roots to penetrate deeper into the soil to tap the limestone bedrock,” Bonnie told me. “Before, we found that the vines produced bigger bunches and ripeness could be uneven. Now we obtain smaller bunches and berries, and more uniform ripeness, which means that we have to do less green harvesting. Analytically, we can see the difference in acidity. For example, the 2005 has a pH of 3.75, whereas in 2015 it was 3.45. This gain in acidity gives us more flexibility with regard to picking dates because it allows us to retain freshness, plus it also means we have reduced the length of cuvaison. We also changed our approach to the pressed wine. We create the blend for the red based on the free-run juice. Then we classify the pressed wine and choose the barrels that show the finest tannins. In 2020, there is 12% vin de presse, all from the Cabernet Sauvignon. With regard to the white, we are looking for pressed wine that has a kind of bitterness, pressing at the lowest pressures and rotating the cylinder between pressings to disturb the bunches inside and maintaining a gentle pressing.”

The 2020 vintage was titled “The Year of Reinvention” at Haut-Bailly, their state-of-the-art winery having been completed. “We were supposed to finish in spring 2020,” Véronique Sanders rued, “but it was only finished in September. So we were not able to vinify the 2020 in the new cellar and had to use the old one. But the 2020 was blended and is being kept in the new barrel cellar, which is 10 meters underground. It has a fantastic stable ambient temperature that was great for the 2020 since it has a higher pH.” Broaching the subject of the growing season, Sanders told me: “Bud break was three weeks early, on March 17. On March 26 and 27, there was a risk of frost for the fifth year in a row, which is why we invested in a wind machine [to circulate the cold air]. Then from May 1 to 11 we had two months’ worth of rain in 10 days, but the first miracle was that the weather improved during an even flowering. Then we had 54 days of dry conditions, véraison early on July 17. But we did not suffer any hydric stress and the vines remained green, especially on the more clayey parcels. August was a key factor. Whereas in some areas of Bordeaux they had over 100mm of rain, here we had 54mm, which was just right and average compared to previous growing seasons. There was a bit of rain before September 9, the beginning of harvest, that helped soften the skins on the Merlot. One important decision was to continue the picking so that there was no break between the Merlot and the Cabernet Sauvignon, since the latter was already ripe. This meant we could finish on September 24, a day later at Le Pape. Then the rains came on September 25 and throughout October, so we were lucky that just like in 1998, we were able to have all the Cabernet harvested.”

I asked Sanders how she views the three most recent vintages. “It is a trilogy,” she replied. “The 2020 has the density of 2018, which had a smaller yield, but the yields in 2020 are lower than in 2019. I think it is a marriage between 2018 and 2019.”

Jewel in The Crown: Château La Mission Haut-Brion – so, Jean-Philippe Delmas confessed a penchant for Haut-Brion this year, but what does he know?

Hidden Gem: Château Latour-Martillac Blanc – while not a memorable year for the whites, I found this dry white Pessac-Léognan a cut above.

Véronique Sanders, director at Haut-Bailly.

Saint-Émilion

Where do you begin in this appellation? Such is the diversity of terroirs and exposures, winemaking techniques and philosophies that it is difficult to pin down exactly what represents a Saint-Émilion in 2020. That is not necessarily a bad thing. It would be boring if all the wines were identical. Instead, consumers have the choice of sumptuous pure Merlot blends, more structured wines with ever-increasing percentages of Cabernet Franc, wines from limestone soils that seem to have that extra edge and mineralité, easygoing and early-drinking wines from flatter, sandier soils and, let’s be honest, wines completely ballsed up by picking too early or too late, over-extracted or over-oaked. Certainly, in Saint-Émilion, alcohol levels are high, many tipping the scales at 14.5° and over, and 15.5° not uncommon, which is fine if you are a professional taster assessing a sample, but not if you want to drink more than a couple of glasses. Some winemakers claimed that some wines reached 16.5° alcohol but declined to name names.

I will not play the same old record – everyone knows that the appellation has moved in a new direction in recent years. Clearly in 2020, the best Saint-Émilions stand as some of the snow-capped peaks of the vintage and that is even without tasting Ausone or Cheval Blanc, where I plan to visit in the near future.

I am looking forward to visiting Château Figeac and their brand-spanking-new winery. Last time, when head winemaker Frédéric Faye took me to the site, it was basically just a massive hole. Two-thousand twenty was a precocious vintage that saw the growth cycle consistently two or three weeks ahead of normal. During the 54-day period of drought, the vines received just 6.5mm of rainfall, necessitating minimal de-leafing, light plowing and customized green harvesting of each parcel. Picking occurred between September 4 and October 1, and proportions are similar to recent vintages, an almost tripartite blend of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (does anyone recall the howls of protest when Michel Rolland was announced as a consultant, convinced that Figeac would become pure Merlot?) Alcohol levels are just shy of 14.0°. It is a magnificent and seductive Figeac whose terroir enabled them to overcome any challenges that the growing season put in its way. It seems to extract the best of what Left Bank and Right Bank Bordeaux has to offer in one irresistible package and this 2020 will be hard to resist.

The reinvention of Troplong-Mondot has been well documented, not just in terms of a revolution in the style of wine, but also a top-to-tail rebuilding of the château. “All the work is now finished,” estate director Aymeric de Gironde told me with some relief. “We finished a few weeks ago, after the pandemic delayed everything by six or seven months. The 2020 was vinified in the old winery but it is aging in the new cellar. Filling the first barrel was quite moving after four years of going to work in Wellington boots. The new winery has 42 tanks instead of 20, double-jacket vats. One of the most important things we built is a cool room, which I think will be more and more important with warmer conditions during earlier harvests. In 2020 we started picking on September 4. We had to stop at 11 o’clock in the morning as it got too warm, which added around three days to the harvest, finishing on September 30. We didn’t have any problem with water reserves, so it was practically a normal harvest, both the clay and limestone [soils] doing their work.”

De Gironde also told me that the measly 3mm of rain in August pushed the vines to dig deeper, resulting in plots displaying marked differences. “Each tank had a strong identity. Troplong Mondot has diversity in the vineyard and that is what builds a complex wine. I think we added a layer of depth in 2020 and more silkiness in the tannins. The 2020 has a similar analysis to the 2018 but the feeling is different. In 2018 we needed the aging to obtain the depth, and 2019 was more about purity and brightness, while 2020 does not need aging to convey that depth.”

Hubert de Boüard and Stéphanie de Boüard-Rivoal spoke from what looked like their cozy loft hideaway at Château Angélus. She spoke of the challenges tackling the rain in the early part of the season with their vines undergoing organic conversion, necessitating constant sorties into the vines whenever it was dry in order to spray copper. On this subject, they have introduced a new spectrophotometer that accurately measures the amount of copper residue on the leaves so that they can apply only what is necessary. “The second part of the season was marked by drought and the difference between the parcels could be seen clearly, the clay/limestone soils performing best,” she continued. “We had high temperatures but no heat wave, so leaves remained green. There was no hydric stress or grillure thanks to the soil. It was an early harvest, September 15 to 25 , the Cabernet Franc picked September 27–29 just before the heavy October rains. In 2020 we had a lower-than-usual pH of 3.65. The skins were very thick so you had to be prudent and moderate the extraction, and we just have 2% pressed wine in the blend. For Angélus we now have four 30hl foudres used to age around half of the Cabernet Franc. This limits the impact of the wood so that there is nothing hiding the fruit. The tannins have also become more refined. The DNA of Angélus is the 50- to 80-year-old Cabernet Franc.”

The big news perhaps does not pertain to the Grand Vin, excellent as that is, but rather the Carillon de Angélus and the No. 3 de Angélus. Tasting these wines several days earlier, I noticed a far superior Carillon than previous vintages. “The Carillon is now no longer our second wine, but a separate wine from specific plots like Clos du Marquis or Les Forts de Latour,” Stéphanie explained. “We have constructed a separate cellar to vinify the Carillon and No. 3, gravity-fed with inverted troconic vats.”

Frédéric Faye at Figeac admitted that his vineyard manager was very stressed throughout the growing season because of the extreme conditions. “Containing the mildew was difficult. Ensuring that we had a fresh and balanced wine at the end was also a challenge. We did a lot of green harvesting for the young vines, some of which didn’t even have bunches. But the old vines worked really well as they have a deeper root system. Plowing was important, to aerate the soil for every plot, irrespective of orientation. The seeds were already brown at the beginning of September with concentrated tannins. We harvested over five weeks and during this period I am always thinking about the final blend. We started with the younger Merlot vines to obtain fresh aromas – they would have become jammy if we had waited. We had a little rain in September, helping ripen the Cabernet Franc. In the cellar we had to make a gentle extraction because there was so much ripeness. I want the wine to be opulent with the tension and elegance from the Cabernet Franc and the graphite edge from the Cabernet Sauvignon.” The 2020 Figeac is a brilliant wine, perhaps benefiting from the installation of smaller vats in the temporary winery (2021 will inaugurate the new permanent winery).

Jewel in The Crown: Château Canon – a gem from a Saint-Émilion that took full advantage of its limestone soil. Also, I must mention La Gaffelière.

Hidden Gem: Château La Voûte – crisp, minerally, marine-tinged Right Bank full of freshness.

Pomerol

Pomerol has been on a roll in recent years. In bygone times, once you moved beyond the gravel plateau toward relatively sandier soils, you often saw a drop in quality. These days, more and more producers are turning out less rustic, short-term wines and are paying more attention in the winery. In tandem with this evolution, the most illustrious names have taken viticulture and vinification techniques to new levels, while several are adapting their field blend to mitigate against global warming. The planting of Cabernet Franc that began 12–15 years ago continues unabated, encouraged by improvements in nursery clones and massal selection programs. Now we are witnessing the next logical step with a few rows of Cabernet Sauvignon being planted at La Conseillante and L’Évangile. You could argue that Vieux-Château-Certan was ahead of the game in that respect.

The vista over Pomerol towards the church in the namesake village.

With regard to the 2020 growing season, as I explained in my report with respect to the 2019s, terroir underpins success, more specifically the efficiency of the soil at managing prolonged wet and dry conditions, to keep those vines at that liminal point of being stressed, but not tip it over the edge so that the stomata shut and the vegetative cycle stops. In 2020, the most revered vineyards yielded some of the vintage’s potentially greatest wines, although I did find some of the alcohol levels, which occasionally reached 15.5°, somewhat obtrusive, compromising precision and terroir expression. Apropos of 2020, Saint-Émilion was advantaged by its limestone soils, which could impart more natural acidity, something that became clear when juxtaposing wines. At the same time, the lack of rain in August, sometimes 25–30mm compared to 55mm in Graves and 100mm in the northern Médoc, meant that hydric stress was a problem, blocked maturity leading to some green flavors, that odd sweet and sour tincture that beset its lesser terroir. Again, this plays into the hands of those vineyards with the right mixture of clay and gravel that could moderate water supply more efficiently.

Like last year, I did not taste what you might call the “Big Three” – Lafleur, Petrus and Le Pin – since samples were not sent, and this slightly skews my overall impression, despite the number of wines tasted from the appellation. Readers should note that I will be ringing their doorbells in the near future.

Edouard Moueix oversaw potentially one of the wines of the vintage: the towering and uncompromising yet compelling Trotanoy. “The crucial element in 2020 was the capacity of the soil to retain water,” he explained after a long exchange about vaccinations. “We had a very wet winter, warm with only one day below 0°C. So the soils were gorged with water. There was a fast bud break and the environment was warm. When the rain returned, there was a lot of mildew pressure, even more than in 2018. The key was to use the [dry] windows to protect the vines. Nowadays you have to do 20 to 24 treatments because they are easily washed away. You had to seize every window.”

“The summer benefited the clay and limestone soils, where the vines never showed stress or blockage. Rain in the second week of August was more beneficial in Pomerol than Saint-Émilion because here we could see that the clay had begun to crack. It is a vintage for older vines because the deep roots could obtain moisture and see them through long periods of dryness. The [leaf] canopy was magnificent. We left an extra cluster on the vine to control the concentration and alcohol level, which is around 14.5°. We also left some leaves to protect bunches from the sun and did a light green harvest. Then we de-leafed all the parcels on September 1 to expose bunches to the sun and also to make it easier for pickers to reach. We did not want them facing each other during the harvest."

“We did a quick trial harvest on September 10. However, we were not happy with the maturity [of the grapes]. Then we had four days of gorgeous weather when it reached 37°C, and this changed the level of maturity. We picked very quickly September 14–22, early in the morning so that the fruit was not too hot. The must was black after the first remontage, so we wanted to limit the extraction and contact with the seeds, moving the juice around under the cap rather than filtering it through it. We also drained the tanks a little earlier, after 18–20 days. We added very little vin de presse this year as you had seeds in the cap that were not perfectly ripe.”

Over Zoom, I spoke to co-proprietor Augustin Belloy of Gallerie Lafayette, winemaker Diana Berrouet-Garcia and consultant Stéphane Derenoncourt, at Petit-Village, where they were joined by Vincent Priou, who incidentally oversaw a fabulous Beauregard. Before going into the minutiae of the 2020, I was interested to hear Derenoncourt describe the 2020 as the “first vintage of a new long-term project.” Readers might be aware of my lukewarm reviews of Petit Village, the weakest card in AXA Millésimes’s otherwise strong portfolio. Derenoncourt affirmed my suspicions when he candidly told me that the vine plantings were not up to scratch, some parcels plagued by viruses that had infected new vines, and also not allowing the land to lie fallow for the requisite period. As a result, Petit Village rarely achieved its full potential, often compromised by some dryness and greenness. With its new owners, winemakers and consultants in place, this is definitely the opening of a new chapter.

Berrouet-Garcia told me: “We had very small berries and the gravel soils meant the temperatures in the vineyard was hot during the day, and so we harvested very quickly, picking the Merlot from 9 to 15 September. The yield was just 27hl/ha. I was concerned in July because of the dryness when we had only 2mm of rain, and then 30mm in August. We decided to take out the young vines and focus on the older blocks in order to maintain maximum freshness. During the harvest we had three weeks of very good weather, which allowed us to pick with a lot of precision in terms of timing. The skins were very thick because of concentration of the berries in the sun. The blend of 60% Merlot, 32% Cabernet Franc and 8% Cabernet Sauvignon which is the highest percentage ever in Petit Village. Previously we always had a minimum of 70% Merlot in the blend.

Vieux Château Certain is one of the stars of 2020, but don’t overlook the Guillot-Clauzel, overseen by Guillaume Thienpont.

“We now make a strict selection in the oldest vineyards during the harvest,” Derenoncourt explained, “because some of the old plots have a lot of viruses, plus we parsed out the younger vines, which means that there is around half the normal production. In 2020 we have eight hectares in production, and going forward we will have new parcels that are half Merlot and half Cabernet Franc from a sélection massale during the Ginestet era, so that percentage of Cabernet will remain around 40% of the blend. We will also plant half a hectare of Cabernet Sauvignon. This year, we used a cooling room for the first time to store the fruit for one night after picking, so we did some pre-ferment maceration and did quite a short maceration as the alcohol was high, around 22–23 days with some pigeage at the beginning to liberate the juice, followed by a soft remontage that stopped before the end of the alcoholic fermentation. We did all the malolactic in barrel so that we could keep the different parcels separate [previously, around 50% of the malolactic was done in vat.] This gives the wines more roundness. We also have two small amphorae and demi-muids, which we find is good for the Cabernet. The wine is matured in 50% new oak, a level that has decreased since 2016. The final alcohol is 14.5°, which is a little lower than 2018 and 2019, which was more toward 15.0°.”

At Château l’Eglise-Clinet, I spoke with the much-missed Denis Durantou’s daughters, Constance and Noëmie. The year will always be marked by the untimely passing of their father, but life goes on and the vines never have time to mourn.

“It was such an early vintage, we realize that now, the first green buds appearing in the vineyard in February when we were still pruning,” Noëmie Durantou told me. “It was quite challenging due to the rain in spring and there was mildew pressure, but then it became dry and there was no rain at all during the summer. We could see some stress in the vines but somehow, they regained vigor later in the season, like when you go running and you run the last couple of kilometers the quickest. [Toward harvest,] we found that the skins were very thick, so we didn’t wait for the malic acid to be destroyed by the heat. We started picking on September 9 at l’Eglise-Clinet and finished around September 15. The Cabernet Franc was uniformly ripe – it was an amazing year for the variety – so it was harvested just after the Merlot on September 16. We were super careful with the temperature during fermentation, keeping the tanks at 18°C for 20 hours, even though I was worried that the ferment might not start. The caps were thick, so we did not leave the juice under the cap for more than 10 days after the fermentation began, tasting the juice under the cap every day like my father did, to make sure there were no bad tannins. Dad always said he doesn’t want all the berries, just the best that the berries can give. We were also careful with the pumping over. The pressed wines were high quality and we raised them separately, keeping them for the end of the barrel maturation.”

I will not comment too much on the wines, as I hope my tasting notes say it all. “I didn’t want to disappoint Dad,” Noëmie told me before saying good-bye. She has nothing to worry about there.

One property to keep an eye on is Nénin, of course, owned by the Delon family of Léoville–Las Cases. Pierre Graffeuille explained that in 2020, the Grand Vin comes exclusively from the eight hectares on the gravel plateau in front of Trotanoy, so that it represents just one-third of the production. In the winery, they have introduced some 20hl and 25hl Stockinger foudres and also around 15% aged in clay amphorae. “We started picking on September 7,” he told me. “The blend is two-thirds Merlot and one-third Cabernet Franc. The Merlot was very good but the Cabernet Franc was a big surprise in 2020."

Conseillante Marielle Cazaux, estate manager of La Conseillante.

At La Conseillante, estate manager Marielle Cazaux (pictured) prefaced our conversation by saying that there was no need to go over the growing season since I must have heard it a hundred times (true) and spoke more about the human side of the vintage.

“For me, in 2020, with the lockdown situation, it was a hard time for everybody. We found a way to work hard in the vineyard with everybody lending a hand, including children and people in the office. It made the team closer. When you want to make good wine, you need a great team to do the best for the terroir. Finally, this vintage was not easy, but it wasn’t difficult because of the help. Learning from our experience of previous vintages, to limit stress we undertake a green harvest a little earlier for the young vines. Having a clayey vineyard also helps, retaining the water and keeping berries juicy and fresh with a good balance of phenols. There was some rain on September 21–23, so I waited until after the rain to pick the Cabernet Franc, which is very expressive this year. In 2020, it is the same winemaking as usual, picking in the morning from 7 o’clock to 11 o’clock to protect grapes from the heat.”

Ronan Laborde spoke to me from Clinet. As acting president of the Union de Grand Cru, he had a busy few weeks organizing samples to be delivered around the world, but I wanted to focus on his own estate.

“It was so sunny in April that people’s faces had tans like it was August,” he began. “The leaves were growing fast. May was fine, the flowering taking place under great weather conditions. June was cool and a bit rainy, which explains the small decrease in production, around 10%. We were not badly hit by the mildew or the extremely dry conditions. At Clinet, in two and a half months, there was just 32mm over four or five days, mostly heavy showers, so the water ran off. The temperatures were hot during the day but cooler during the night compared to 2003. What surprised us was that there was no blockage at the end of August. We didn’t find any shriveling on the skins like we did in 2009. Some people began to pick early, around September 9–10, but we waited longer, not to get more maturity, but to obtain the perfect harmony between the seeds, juice and skins, the latter being last to reach maturity. We found some honey flavors in the fruit, which is something I have never seen before. We didn’t extract too much. We were surprised by the alcohol, 15.0°, a record at Clinet, but it was harmonious due to the good pH levels. This was one of the most surprising vintages in terms of style when you look at the growing season.”

Jewel in The Crown: Trotanoy – candidate for wine of the vintage, perhaps the one sample where I came closest to considering a potential perfect score.

Hidden Gem: Château Le Chemin – one of François Despagne’s estates that produced a very commendable 2020.

Sauternes

To be brutally honest, nobody was anticipating a “vintage of the century” in Sauternes. Let’s cut to the chase – the priority for many winemakers in this appellation can be summed up in a single word: survival.

The succession of vine-destroying, morale-sapping frosts and challenging growing seasons has made the most testing job in Bordeaux even more of trial, Mother Nature deciding to eviscerate hopes at a mere whim. Add into the mix an apathetic audience that long ago decided that drinking Sauternes is just not their thing, and it is ironic that despite all this, Sauternes has had the best decade ever in terms of quality.

I did not have huge expectations, but generally I found these 2020 sweet wines to be pure, well balanced and approachable, and though unlikely to merit serious long-term cellaring due to lack of complexity and tension, they will provide agreeable short- to mid-term drinking. There are also a couple of welcome surprises, such as Cantegril and Partarrieu, that punched well above their weight in reputation and are likely to represent outstanding value. Regular top performers such as Coutet and Suduiraut all deliver, although I might be tempted by the superb Doisy-Daëne if I had to choose just one Sauternes.

Jewel in The Crown: Château Doisy-Daëne

Hidden Gem: Château Partarrieu

Left Bank/Right Bank Satellites

I tasted a vast number of smaller properties on both the Left and Right banks. As I have said, there are clearly châteaux that found it difficult to cope with either the wet conditions early in the season or the dry period in summer, or simply made errors in the winery. In 2020, I was particularly pleased with some of the wines coming from Fronsac and Lalande de Pomerol, the latter an appellation tired of being in the shadow of its titular neighbor and beginning to deliver wallet-friendly alternatives. Nothing gives me more joy than finding small gems that will be worth seeking out once in bottle, and I list them below, six from each Bank.

Branas Grand Poujeaux (Moulis-en-Médoc)

Clos Manou (Médoc)

Haut-Condissas (Médoc)

Lestage Simon (Haut-Médoc)

Reignac (Bordeaux Supérieur)

Saransot-Dupré (Listrac)

Bernon Bécot (Puisseguin St. Émilion)

Dalem (Fronsac)

La Chenade (Lalande de Pomerol)

Les Trois Croix (Fronsac)

Sergant (Lalande de Pomerol)

Veyry (Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux)

Final Thoughts

The 2020 vintage completes the trilogy of vintages that people might logically compare to 1988, 1989 and 1990. But winemaking and the Bordeaux landscape have changed radically since then. The only feature these trios have in common is that each vintage has its own individuality. Twenty-twenty is a complex vintage that tempts commentators toward generalizations, but it is more nuanced. You must appraise each wine on its own merits because of underlying interrelated factors per estate, per parcel of vines. It is not a vintage that delivers a small armada of 100-point contenders. I give out perfect scores if I am convinced the wine is a bona fide legend, not to promote myself or my report. The 2020 vintage does not have the peaks that I found in the nascent 2019s and just once in 2018, though there are still some serious wines that I need to taste - so you never know. It is certainly not an infallible vintage. There are wines that indicate the vineyard was unable to jump the hurdles set by Mother Nature with increasing regularity: warm winters, early bud break, wet weather until June, then extended dry periods until a relatively early harvest. This template has led to a bifurcation between the haves and have-nots that was already widening in terms of investment and prices. The elite have never had it so good. The rest must try to keep up, and thankfully there are many that do. But it does skew perception when it is only the elite sold at en primeur, and I hope that broadening the scope to 800-plus notes offer readers a more realistic perspective.

Twenty-twenty was born in a tumultuous world. Let’s pray that these wines will be enjoyed when we can return to sharing them together.

(Thank you to the lads at my delivery depot, whose help in receiving deliveries was indispensable.)

© 2021, 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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