2020, Journal of a Precocious Vintage

High levels of precipitation (700 mm of cumulated rainfall) during this period allowed our soils to replenish themselves. This unusual amount of rainfall, somewhat even excessive at times, required our teams to work the soils earlier and with even greater precision than usual.

This abundant rainfall was accompanied by relatively warm temperatures that spurred early development in the vineyard. The first buds appeared around March 17, ten days ahead of schedule. Warm weather was followed by cooler temperatures that slowed the development of the vine, resulting in heterogenous bud break overall. Our vineyard teams worked the soils with great care in late February, rather than in mid-March, as is more usual, to help them to warm up and limit the heterogenous nature of bud break.

Rains returned to Cos d’Estournel in April, but temperatures remained warm, and the vintage continued to develop in a precocious fashion, generating mild concern about the health of the vines and the quality of flowering.

In mid-May, beautifully dry, hot weather resulted in extremely rapid, homogenous flowering throughout, especially on the estate’s oldest plots of Merlot, where the first blossoms appeared as early as May 21. This precocious flowering would lead to a particularly high number of seeds per grape berry reminiscent of the 2005 vintage.

After some rainfall, the vineyard experienced dry weather starting mid-June, with only 5 mm of rainfall in over 55 days. These arid conditions limited the amount of water available to the vine, a crucial step in the ripening process, and was accompanied by relatively cool temperatures through mid-July.

Given these conditions and the vine’s precocious development, we decided to proceed with meticulous leaf thinning on the vineyard’s eastern-facing plots earlier than usual, on June 15, to foster phenolic maturity in our grapes. Warm temperatures triggered veraison ahead of schedule, as grapes began taking on warmer hues starting July 15.

Rain began falling on August 12 in a timely fashion and in sufficient quantity (60 mm) to boost the ripening process on the estate’s gravelly soils but not excessively enough to negatively impact our clay soils. As rainfall increased and temperatures remained warm, there were some concerns over the following ten days about the health of the vine.

But the propitious location of Cos d’Estournel blessed us with constant ventilation, and our leaf thinning efforts, the ongoing attention of our teams, and the Indian summer that would last from August 29 through harvest, ultimately created optimal conditions for ripening.

We chose to begin harvesting early, given the precocious development of the vintage and very warm temperatures in September. We began picking the grapes for our white wines on August 31 and the grapes for our red wines on September 10. This decision, which capitalized on our understanding of our terroirs and the early development of the vintage, proved valuable, for early harvest allowed us to maintain an energy, tension and exceptional level of concentration in our grapes, with the harvest coming to a close before rains returned on September 24.

The 2020 Merlot offer extraordinary sweetness, freshness and vibrant energy generated by tannins in the seeds that strike a wonderful balance against a low alcohol content. It is quite rare that we are able to preserve balanced, fresh aromas and tannins of this kind alongside the gentle acidity that is typical of warm-weather vintages. The 2020 Cabernet grapes were very small in size thanks to optimal levels of water stress throughout the ripening process, and they are incredibly powerful and full-bodied, with a great deal of character, resulting in wines full of great promise.