The vintage

2020

The year the world stayed home

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The 2020 vintage, rated

The year the world stayed home

In 2026 a bottle from 2020 marks a 6th birthday or anniversary

The vintage

Excellent · 4/5

Picked in the middle of a pandemic, often by skeleton crews. Bordeaux 2020 is very good and rich, strongest on the Right Bank and in Pessac-Léognan. Burgundy was early and hot, with excellent whites and ripe reds. The Rhône and Tuscany are very good, Piedmont good. Champagne is good, Germany very good.

What we would buy, and why

For a sixth birthday, 2020 is a year with a story built in, and the wines are good enough to carry it: a Pomerol or Saint-Émilion 2020, or a white Burgundy 2020 to open sooner. A Brunello 2020 is a fine Tuscan choice.

2020 in the world

Covid-19 spread across the world and most countries locked down in the spring. In May a SpaceX capsule carried astronauts to orbit, the first crewed launch from American soil in nine years.

Best bets for 2020

  • Right Bank Bordeaux 2020 - rich and very good
  • White Burgundy 2020 - excellent, ripe
  • Brunello di Montalcino 2020 - very good
  • Southern Rhône 2020 - generous

How we grade a bottle

Fill level, label, capsule and cork, then provenance. Every bottle is checked by hand by people who have handled thousands of old bottles, and we write down the flaws as well as the good news. What the fill levels mean · How to choose a birth-year wine

Real people, not a chatbot

Ask a person about this year

The people who answer are the same people who check and pack the bottles. Ask for photographs, a condition report or advice on a year and you get a straight answer from the ANNO team, Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 18:00 CET.