My overall impression after tasting over 300 wines from across all appellations of Bordeaux is that it is generally an excellent vintage for red wines. The 2020 red wines have as much depth and concentration as the previous two vintages, 2018 and 2019, but tastes lighter, less denser on the palate. For example, the four first growths I tasted – Mouton, Lafite, Margaux and Haut-Brion were outstanding in their sculpted expression of their own individual terroirs. Anyone who really wants to understand the character and terroir of Lafite for example, should really seek out the 2020 vintage. What I loved about Margaux in this vintage is the sculpted, precise, detailed expression despite the immense concentration of flavors. Haut-Brion was incredibly layered and complex while Mouton was expressive and deep with amazing freshness.

Drouhin Beaune 1er Clos des Mouches – the 100th year anniversary. We tasted the 2018 vintage with Veronique Drouhin " “The year started with an early bud- break at the start of April and we already had the flowers in early May. A year that was dry and ‘luminous’ in the summer then veraison already started in mid-July. Aug 30 to September 08 was the actual harvesting window in our Clos des Mouches – some 25% of whole clusters used for the red. Whites bottled after the reds in this vintage – which isn’t always the case but it’s our tasting that will determine.”

Château Mouton-Rothschild 2020 / Ruby. Fruit driven, cassis, anise, some spices nose, blackberries, intensely scented, almost transparent yet such depth. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, dark fruits, smooth and detailed, layered, anise, liquorice, deep, long. Superb freshness to it. Such energy. Pauillac is not the place that shines the most in 2020, but this one does. 97-99

Guigal La Landonne 2017/ Usually my favourite is La Landonne and no exception this time – despite the charm and flair of La Mouline, this has so much stuffing with incredible layers of inky dark fruit, powerful and incredibly persistent, I suppose it´s more politically correct to like depth, complexity and elegance than lushness, generosity and opulence, as much as I like both, the 2017 Landonne belonging in the former category has it all! I don´t like to score when not blind tasting but… a bloody perfect wine!

In the Spring of the year 2000, guided by a shared passion for the region, Danièle Vialard and Eric Hosteins travelled the legendary terroir of Aniane in the Hérault department, in the south of France, with a plan that was nothing short of a major challenge. The Saint Dominique Estate is a vineyard stretching across 14 hectares, located in a choice position. It is also bounded by the flagships of local viticulture: the Mas Daumas-Gassac, the Domaine de la Grange des Pères and the Château Capion. The terroir consists of limestone and sandstone gravel from the Miocene (tertiary period). The vineyards are mainly placed on hillsides and are planted with a high average density of 6,000 vines per hectare. The grape varieties are 31% Syrah, 15% Merlot, 28% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Carignan, 6%
Petit Verdot and 5% Mourvèdre. The grapes are carefully sorted in the vineyard and on arrival at the vats. All stems are removed when the grapes are placed in the concrete vats which are thermo-regulated by gravity. The wine making process is traditional with as much maceration time as possible during fermentation. The ageing takes place for 12 months in 500-litre French oak barrels, of which 50% are new and 50% have been used once. 

Château Climens 1921 / Crème bulée, molasses but still quite dominant acidity. Apple pectin, vanilla and plum compote. Long, elegant finish. 19 points

Some of the best wines tasted 2019-2021

Penfolds Bin 144 Yattarna 2018 / Launched in 1998 with the 1995 vintage, Yattarna is the result of one of the most comprehensive, focused and highly publicised wine development projects ever conducted in Australia. The aspiration and independence of mind across generations of Penfolds winemakers inspired the ambition to create a white wine that would set the standard for ultra-fine Australian Chardonnay, a sortof 'White Grange'. They aim to source and select only the very best Chardonnay fruit from cool-climate regions, in this case Tasmania, Tumbarumba, Adelaide Hills. The name Yattarna is drawn from local indigenous language, meaning ‘little by little, gradually’. Acidity 7.3 g/l, pH 3.12. Aged for eight months in French oak barriques (60% new). All three regions enjoyed a relatively wet winter and spring, setting the vines up with healthy soil moisture profiles for the ensuing growing season. Tasmania experienced clear and generally warm conditions from January onwards, with no extreme heat spells leading into harvest. The temperature breached 35 °C only once in January, resulting in optimal conditions for ripening. Tumbarumba had plentiful rainfall right up to December, when a dry spell set in. In February, temperatures were generally cool allowing for slow, consistent ripening. The Adelaide Hills fruit set was slightly above average. The region experienced a warm finish to the growing season, but well-developed canopies shielded the fruit from adversity and ensured the berries ripened evenly. Harvest was an orderly affair across the three regions. 

Fine, complex, really rather burgundian nose and great crystalline fruit and grip without austerity. The acidity level is really quite high compared with many other Chardonnays. Pretty smart. You would be very happy with this if labelled Puligny-Montrachet actually. Good stuff and it should have a long life but could be broached already.

The Único released in 2021, 10 years after the harvest, is the 2011 Único, selected from 40 of their 210 hectares of vineyards. 2011 is a concentrated and ripe vintage, and they selected 95% Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon that were cooled in a cold room for 24 hours before being sorted; the bunches and grapes macerated at 9 to 10 degrees Celsius for three to four days, and then it was inoculated with a pied de cuve to ferment with pumping overs. Malolactic was in stainless steel, and the wine was put through a long aging, 10 years between oak and bottle, using new and used French and American oak barrels and 20,000-liter oak vats. For Vega Sicilia, 2011 was a fresher year than 2010, not the common idea about those vintages in Ribera del Duero. The wine has a developed nose with some notes of ripe black fruit, meat and underbrush, somewhat herbal and perfumed. There is something about the nose of the Únicos that I cannot quite describe but is quite distinct, and it's in this vintage and also in the Reserva Especial. 88,288 bottles, 3,505 magnums, 318 double magnums, 60 Imperial and 3 Salmanazar were produced. The wine was bottled in June 2017.

Vega Sicilia is also increasing their capacity to age wines in 40,000-liter oak vats to decrease the impact of the oak in the wines. Their 210 hectares of vineyards produce more than enough grapes to produce between 250,000 and 300,000 bottles.

Barolo DOCG Rocche di Castiglione 2017 / From one of the most important cru in Castiglione Falletto, a superb interpretation made by Vietti. From vines aged nearly 50 years, one month of maceration on the skins, followed by thirty months in large casks. Fragrances of small black fruits, blackberry and blueberry, mentholated touches, black pepper. The mouth is taut, dense with tasty tannins. Mentholated trace in the aftertaste. 100 points

Meerlust Rubicon 2017 / Pure Cabernet expression, with leafy spice interest from Cab F and Merlot. Super balance and purity here, with volume that unfolds with time in the glass. Very promising for future Rubicon. 95/100

Peay 2012 Pinot Noir Pomarium Sonoma Coast / Nick Peay said, “Our style is somewhere between Burgundy and California. The major difference is that we’re not on limestone. The second big factor is that it’s cold here in July and August, but it’s warm in Burgundy.” (Frankly, Burgundy’s warmth and chill factors vacillate a lot, even in mid- to late-summer.) As such, Peay doesn’t use whole cluster; the “jalapeño” of stems isn’t a character he, his brother and his sister-in-law like. This pale and crisp but dense and muscular wine delivers black plum skin, blackberries, licorice and forest floor.