Bordeaux 2020 at Two Years: St Emilion Grand Cru Classé
Hot on the heels of my report on the Premier Grand Cru Classé wines of St Emilion in the 2020 vintage, we come now to the corresponding Grand Cru Classé wines. While we should perhaps look to the former wines for ultra-high quality and impeccable consistency (well, that’s what the sticker prices say to me), I think it is only realistic to expect rather more variability here. In style, certainly, and also in quality.
There is no issue with ripeness in 2020, and happily the majority of wines reported on here also show some degree of freshness in keeping with the style of the vintage. For every two or three deliciously succulent, ripe, fresh and savoury wines, however, there is a fourth which broods malevolently with layers of pigment, extract, sur-mature flavours and high alcohols. While there has been a shift away from this style, which was most in vogue about the same time The Vengaboys were topping the charts with We’re Going to Ibiza and Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, it is still not hard to come across wines made in this image in this appellation. In fact, I still find myself tripping over them with some regularity. Some leopards just can’t change their spots.
Happily a cohort of châteaux have produced 2020s which excite the palate rather than smothering it. In this introduction I will take a look at a top trio of wines, as well as a shortlist of alternative options which offer almost as much interest and pleasure. So all aboard the Vengabus for this whistle-stop tour of another 38 wines from St Emilion in the 2020 vintage.
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