{"id":7685,"date":"2023-01-28T10:49:15","date_gmt":"2023-01-28T02:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/?p=7685"},"modified":"2023-02-13T16:36:10","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T08:36:10","slug":"an-initial-look-at-2020-bordeaux-another-excellent-vintage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/p\/7685.html","title":{"rendered":"An Initial Look at 2020 Bordeaux\u2014Another Excellent Vintage"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Union des Grands Crus put on their annual travelling show beginning as it always does in New York. It was a grey, drizzly cold day in New York as it often is in January. Participants lined up well before the doors opened at 1:25 pm. This event seemed even more crowded than last year\u2019s tasting of the 2019s. Fortunately, the Cipriani hall is massive and is able to accommodate hundreds of tasters effortlessly. New Yorkers are used to crowds and crowded conditions. To judge by the persistent buzz in the room, tasters were happy. Bordeaux is after all the very bed rock of the world of wine. However, even for the many of us who \u201cstrayed\u201d into the many different wine producing regions of the world over the last few decades or so, there is nothing quite like the stability and consistency of Bordeaux wines. The 2020 is the third in a series of ripe, rich wines which seem more the norm than the exception, beginning in 2015. This is not to say that the wines from these vintages taste smell all the same. The 2018s are the most opulent, the 2019s the gentlest and the 2020s quite possible the best balanced of this admirable trio. The 2020 growing season experienced a wet winter and early fruit set which doubtless protected the vines during the hot dry summer. The early flowering meant that the vintage was able to start around mid-August for the dry white wines, with the Merlot harvest beginning around mid-September. Cabernet Sauvignon began about a week later, and the harvest was quickly completed. Quantity was down about 10% from 2019. Merlot did particularly well in 2020 which means that it was a potentially outstanding vintage for the right bank wines. Frankly the vignerons<\/em> are so selective these days that any substandard fruit is eliminated. I did not find there to be any discernible weakness in the left bank Medocs compared with their right bank counterparts. Best news? The wines tasted quite different from one another. Each Ch\u00e2teau produced a wine with its own personality. One had only to taste L\u00e9oville Barton side by side with L\u00e9oville Poyferr\u00e9, neighbors after all, to experience this first hand. Or Canon and Clos Fourtet. Location uber alles<\/em>!<\/p>\n

Brief comments on my favorite wines<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

St. Est\u00e8phe<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ch\u00e2teau Ph\u00e9lan S\u00e9gur 2020 St.Est\u00e8phe\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 92<\/strong><\/p>\n

A perennial over-performer. Dark, chewy, very St. Est\u00e8phe. Will need a few years.<\/p>\n

Margaux<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite initial concerns about the influence of the drought summer months in this commune the wines appear to have turned out very well.<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e2teau Brane-Cantenac 2020 Margaux\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 95<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was brilliant. Electric vitality and freshness. Nuanced and well balanced with lovely fruit and lingering terroir accents<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e2teau Rauzan-S\u00e9gla 2020 Margaux\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 93+<\/strong><\/p>\n

A dark, brooding wine with lots of tannin and flavor. This will be a slow evolver. I am sure it will be a star of the vintage in a decade.<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e2teau Siran 2020 Margaux\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 93<\/strong><\/p>\n

Always one of the best Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnnel. Easily Fifth Grand Cru in quality. Highly perfumed, delicate with caressing mouth feel. For Burgundy lovers a perfect Bordeaux.<\/p>\n

Pauillac\u00a0 <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ch\u00e2teau Pichon Baron 2020 Pauillac\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 94+<\/strong><\/p>\n

A massive dense wine in 2020 less easy to taste young than the 2019. A muscular powerful effort. A serious ager. I am sure it will be 95-96 points in a decade.<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e2teau Batailley 2020 Pauillac\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 93<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A fifth Growth that has finally begun to perform like a wine worthy of its classification. Spicely, and energetic with excellent interplay of terroir and acidity. A lovely wine which should taste well throughout its life.<\/p>\n

St Julien<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Many fine wines including Leoville Poyferre, Gruaud Larose, Talbot and especially this one:<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e2teau L\u00e9oville Barton 2020 St.Julien\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 97<\/strong><\/p>\n

Among the most classical wine made in Bordeaux, this takes us back the way Bordeaux was made and tasted 40-60 years ago. Beautiful clarity in the wine\u2019s expression and structure. The wine talks a detailed, expressive yet restrained language. Grand Vin as Clive Coates used to say.<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e2teau Branaire Ducru 2020 St.Julien\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 93<\/strong><\/p>\n

A deservedly popular wine: Sweet, fragrant, harmonious a real palate pleaser.<\/p>\n

Pomerol<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Big Guns never appear at this tasting. The secondary wines like Beauregard, La Point and Rouget have improved greatly in the last 5-7 years.\u00a0 Here was one stand out:<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e2teau Gazin 2020 Pomerol\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 94<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This exciting wine has been performing brilliantly since the early 2000s. Spice, tobacco, a range of red fruits and uplifting acidity. Not a blockbuster but really satisfying.<\/p>\n

St. Emilion<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

The 2020 seems to be a very successful vintage for these Merlot based wines. Clos Fourtet, Canon, Larcis Ducasse and Cannon La Gaffeliere were each in its own way particularly good.<\/p>\n

Clos Fourtet 2020 St.Emilion\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 95<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A real beauty. The most graceful, fluid and perfumed of all the right bank wines. Caresses the palate.<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e2teau Canon 2020<\/strong> St.Emilion\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 95<\/strong><\/p>\n

A serious, complex deeply scented wine, the stylistic opposite of the gracious Clos Fourtet. A great wine in the making which begs for bottle aging.<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e2teau Canon La Gaffeliere<\/strong> 2020<\/strong> St.Emilion\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 94<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the outliers on the right bank. More Cab than Merlot. Powerful, earthy imposing wine with fragrant, smoky overtones. Always seem blunt when young. Need 5-10 years in the bottle.<\/p>\n

P\u00e9ssac-Leognan<\/strong><\/p>\n

The reds are difficult to taste after the Haut Medocs. Next year I will begin, not end with these wines. The brightness and lift of the Haut-Medocs is less apparent here. The gravelly terroir imparts dark tones to the wines. The exception and by far the best of this large group was the:<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e2teau Smith Haut Lafitte<\/strong> 2020 <\/strong>\u00a0P\u00e9ssac-Leognan 96<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The brilliant fruit and freshness synthesized with the gravelly undertones to make for one of the great wines of the vintage. If the wine were an Haut Medoc it would be a super-second on a par with Leoville Las Cases, Montrose, etc.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following brief article by Robert Millman offers a brief snapshot at how the 2020 Bordeaux vintage is shaping up. We will be following it up by more in-depth, detailed reports by Ian D\u2019Agata in the months ahead.
\nby Robert Millman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":7691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-region-report","pmpro-has-access"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7685"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7810,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7685\/revisions\/7810"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}