31/10/2020
Southern Rhône Preliminary 2020 Vintage Report: Spring holds the key to the potential yield (amount of wine produced per acre) for any grower and this year, Spring was very positive for most growers.
Climate change appears to be giving us milder and shorter winters and 2020 continued this trend. As humans retreated into their homes during lock-down, the vines leapt into life by budding early. The danger is that the unseasonal warm weather comes to an abrupt end with a cold snap and overnight frosts kills the early emerging shoots that carry the grape flowers buds. This was a problem in a few areas, particularly in Lirac but fortunately this was not widespread in the Southern Rhône.
The next key moment is flowering in late May / early June where inclement weather during flowering can kill the flowers and thus reduce the number of grapes on each bunch, a phenomenon known as coulure. Grenache (75% of the Southern Rhônevineyards) is particularly sensitive to coulure which regularly gives us low yields, but 2020 was kind to the growers, giving packed bunches of grapes to pick in September.
There was plenty of rain in the spring (thankfully not during flowering) but this was almost always followed by Mistral which dried the vineyard so that the vines did not get the full benefit of the rain that fell. That said, as always, the Mistral drove away the humidity and thus kept fungal diseases at bay.
Spring was followed by another dry summer resulting in small grape berries, which will ultimately give us pleasingly concentrated wines. There was some concern amongst the growers that the lack of water in the soil was beginning to "block the vine" (slow the grape ripening), but a couple of days of rain at the start of the harvest allayed those fears and also allowed the grapes to absorb a little more juice.
It is still too early to tell but this year's weather patterns and latest feedback from the growers in the cellars suggests that the year 2020 will be another fine vintage in the Southern Rhône. Small, concentrated berries will give reds with good tannin levels which should help their age-ability. In 2030, we will hopefully be able to delight in a 2020 Gigondas, with the pandemic just a distant (bad) memory.
