2020 Bordeaux Vintage

The season opened mild and wet, with a lot of rain in November and December and again in the spring. Five of the six months from December to May ran around 2 C above the 30-year average, March being the exception. Budbreak came in mid-March, and the soils had to ward off late March frosts. Much of the rain came as thunderstorms in May, June and August, often at night; the storms of 9 and 10 May averaged 70 mm in 24 hours, and some areas were hit by hail. Downy mildew pressure was considerable, rather like 2018, and some vineyards lost a fair amount of volume to it. Flowering was early, mostly in the second half of May between rainy spells, and most estates enjoyed good flowering and fruit set. The first half of June was cooler than usual, then late June through September ran from warm to hot. From 18 June to 11 August there were 54 days of drought. Storms from 11 to 16 August brought the Medoc around 100 mm, while the right bank saw about a third of that; Saint-Emilion and Pomerol had just 45 mm in total from 19 June to 18 September. After the last weekend of August came 20 more days with no rain at all, and hot days in the low to mid 30s C in the middle week of September concentrated the fruit and potentially cut the amount of juice. Overall, more rain fell from March to September than in any other year of the previous decade or so, and yet it was also a year of drought. Harvest was about a fortnight early. The first dry white picking came just after 15 August, and Merlot from early September on the earliest plots, spreading more broadly around 20 September before Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, with picking wrapped up in the first week of October. Cabernet Sauvignon was mostly picked from 21 September, and the vast majority of red grapes were in during September, just before heavy rain in October. Yields were down: overall Bordeaux production was around 10 per cent below 2019 and 2018, making 2020 one of the three lowest-yielding vintages of the decade alongside 2013 and 2017.

Decanter reported one of the earliest harvest starts in recent memory, rivalling 2003, with white grapes in Pessac-Leognan among the first in. Jacques Lurton, president of Vignobles Andre Lurton, told Decanter: "In 2003 we started on 18 August, and this year it was the 19th." The group's vineyards were running around two weeks ahead of schedule, and on the whites, he said, "We don't have an acidity problem this year." Despite the hot summer, dry whites kept excellent natural acidity. On the reds, no rot was seen at all, and a few Cabernets, notably later-ripening Cabernet Franc in Saint-Emilion, were left until early October. For the sweet whites, botrytis arrived late, around mid-September, and drought reduced yields, giving notably smaller volumes.

• Dry whites and roses: picking began shortly after mid-August, with Sauvignon Gris and Sauvignon Blanc first on the earliest terroirs
• Reds: Merlot from early September on the earliest plots, Cabernet Sauvignon mostly from 21 September
• Sweet whites: botrytis arrived late, around mid-September, and drought cut volumes
• Quinney called the harvest early, prolonged, warm and dry

Three factors cut the crop: mildew in a long, wet spring, drought in the hot, dry summer, and the mid-September heatwave that concentrated the berries. On French Customs and CIVB figures, the southern Medoc (Margaux and Saint-Julien) and the appellations south of Bordeaux (Pessac-Leognan and Sauternes/Barsac) suffered most, where the summer drought was typically most intense. On the left bank, only the northern Medoc, Pauillac and above all Saint-Estephe, came close to normal yields. Pomerol fared better on the right bank because its earlier ripening left it less exposed to the September heat. Within appellations the spread was wide: Saint-Julien averaged 34.3 hl/ha, while Beychevelle, near the Gironde, reached 45 hl/ha.

• Hardest hit: Margaux, Saint-Julien, Pessac-Leognan and Sauternes/Barsac
• Closest to normal on the left bank: Pauillac and above all Saint-Estephe
• Pomerol fared better thanks to earlier ripening
• Saint-Julien averaged 34.3 hl/ha; Beychevelle reached 45 hl/ha

Bordeaux.com describes the reds as balanced and harmonious with fine tannins, the whites as fresh, precise and balanced, and gives an ageing potential of 15 to 25 years. The reds are approachable in their youth yet structured for the long term. Colin Hay of The Drinks Business reported that the chateaux placed the vintage at least on a par with 2019 and somewhere above 2018, and called Quinney's verdict of "potentially outstanding" entirely reasonable, while expecting the vintage to be uneven. Before tasting, Hay picked terroirs with excellent drainage and the capacity to cope with water stress as best placed: the Pomerol plateau, the Saint-Emilion plateau and its Pomerol border, the better Pauillac sites and the Saint-Julien strip along the river.

Like 2019, the 2020 en primeur campaign was set to be highly unusual. The Union des Grands Crus planned to show its 131 members' wines in 10 international cities in late April, with most international critics expected to receive samples by courier. Colin Hay argued that prices would need to stay similar to 2019 or fall further, with the 2018s already undercut by the 2019s and to a significant extent unsold.

• Another unusual campaign, with most international critics expected to taste couriered samples