With over 200 St. Emilion wines tasted, we divided our report on the appellation into 4 articles for easier reading and perusal. Pt 1 contains the vintage summary and producer quotes about the 2020 Saint Emilion vintage.
Because St. Emilion is such a massive appellation, you find a diverse array of terroirs and vignerons covering a wide range of wine styles, and levels of quality. Perforce, 2020 St. Emilion is not homogenous. But, there are several extraordinary wines at all price levels that merit exploration. And even more exciting, a few estates made the best wine they have ever produced in 2020!
Perhaps most importantly, 2020 Bordeaux was the first modern vintage shaped by a pandemic. 2020 St. Emilion will be remembered as a vintage shaped the weather and of course, dealing with Covid 19.
Helene Garcin Leveque Chateau Barde Haut recalls those extraordinary circumstances. “The covid crisis made me realize how lucky I am to leave in such an extraordinary environment. I believe I am blessed to own fantastic terroirs such as Poesia, Barde-Haut, and Clos LEglise. The 2020 vintage allowed us to produce wines with incredible concentration, and velvety textures that I love.2020 St. Emilion is a vintage I will not forget, along with its difficulties due to the covid situation.
2020 St. Emilion got off to a difficult start with not only Covid, but, a growing season initially marked by excessive warmth and humidity, which for some vignerons developed conditions that brought about attacks of mildew. Growers were forced to brace for two nights of brutal, cold, frost conditions in March before the summer drought, which provided no rain from June 20 to August 17.
Jean-Christophe Meyrou Chateau Tour Saint Christophe recalls how the drought affected their vineyards. “2020 showed us that the typicity of terroir does impact a lot the character and quality of our wine. It is important that we continue taking climate change into consideration. It looks like hot and very dry summers seem to become our new normality. Fortunately, a large part of our terroir is composed of limestone and blue clay. That kind of terroir suffers less than very drained areas.”
2020 St. Emilion is at its best in the vineyards with deep clay and limestone as those estates were able to retain enough water to maintain and nourish the vines during the hot, dry summer months. Those estates were able to produce beautiful wines with deep color, and compelling aromatics, as well as silky textures and freshness as Edouard Moueix, recalls.
Chateau Belair-Monange – Edouard Moueix “2020 Saint Emilion is a wonderful vintage that manages to combine perfect ripeness along with freshness and even more importantly, the vintage is able to balance tradition and modernity.”
Continuing with the new normal of summer drought conditions, Stephen von Neipperg added that it took more than water-retentive soils to make a good 2020 St. Emilion, you also needed to follow good farming practices.
Stephan Von Neipperg of Canon La Gaffeliere remembers the 2020 Saint Emilion growing season, “At the beginning of the year the weather conditions were difficult with a lot of rain! The middle of June brought conditions corresponding to a good, dry, quite hot summer. Some terroirs suffered from the drought. But the good farming people with the better terroirs were able to make outstanding concerted wines with great freshness and harmony!
With the continuing hot dry conditions, it is important to remember that the success of the vintage in part, is due to the perfectly timed rains that occurred from August 9 to August 14, coming just after veraison, which unblocked the vines as Jean-Luc Thunevin of Valandraud remembers.
Jean-Luc Thunevin”The much needed August rains and drought conditions helped produce small Merlot berries with thick skins, and good sugar levels along with seeds and skins that were ripe, allowing producers to make exceptional wine.”
The 2020 Saint Emilion harvest began with the young Merlot vines in the first half of September in some vineyards, which is quite precocious for the appellation. In fact, helping create ideal conditions for a great Right Bank vintage was that harvesting Merlot was taking place at a rapid pace under picture-perfect conditions with warm, dry, sunny, days and cool nights. The freshness that comes with the cool night allowed for what will eventually be seen as a modern version of classic wine. The Cabernet Franc was also harvested in sublime conditions by the end of September.
These conditions allowed some chateaux to produce the best wines in the history of their estate!
Julien Barthe Chateau Beau-Sejour Becot “What is unique this year in 2020 for us is the quality of our tannins. I can safely say that since we took over the vineyard in the ’60s, this is the first time that we have had such a high level of quality of tannins that allowed us to create distinguished, velvet-textured, silky wines with purity and finesse.”
2020 Saint Emilion wines vary in style quite a bit. But at their best, the top wines display a depth of color. The wines are intensely aromatic with strong floral characteristics. The wines are rich, full-bodied, deep, concentrated, and opulent. They are silky, flamboyant, and attention-seeking. All of that is not due solely to what happened in the vineyards. Some of that was made possible by the harvest date and of course, choices made in the cellars.
As you know, most of Saint Emilion is planted to Merlot and Cabernet Franc. While Merlot is the dominant variety in the appellation, for the vineyard with Cabernet Franc, especially old vine Cabernet Franc, 2020 St. Emilion proved to be a stunning vintage.
Stephanie de Bouard Chateau Angelus discussed the quality of both grape varieties. “While the finest Merlot was first judged to have a slight advantage over the rest; as always, after a few weeks of barrel aging, we were amazed by the Cabernet Franc, which displayed a density and flesh on a par with any of the greatest vintages we have had at the estate.”
As you can imagine, it was not only when to pick that mattered, with 2020 Bordeaux, it was of equal importance as to how the wines were handled in the cellars during the alcoholic and malolactic fermentations that mattered.
Frederic Faye Chateau Figeac says a light touch was needed during the vinification process. “In the winery, we had to be gentle during the extractions. The ripeness was so good with such concentrated bunches that we did more of an infusion than extraction. We didn’t do any delestage or pigeages. We preferred slow pumping overs along with cooler temperatures for the fermentation.”
As I mentioned earlier, with so many wines to cover, 2020 Saint Emilion is divided into 4 separate articles. This article, Pt 1 covers wines A-C. For the rest of 2020 Saint Emilion, please read:
2020 St. Emilion, PT 2 Wines D-K
2020 St. Emilion, PT 3 Wines L-N
2020 St. Emilion, PT 4 Wines P-Z
To read reports on the 2020 Bordeaux vintage in every appellation, as well as a 2020 Bordeaux vintage summary and analysis, please see The 2020 Bordeaux Complete Guide
The following 2020 Saint Emilion wines constituting Part 1, wines A-C were all tasted in my home office in non-blind conditions.
2020 Adaugusta – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Medium-bodied, bright, fresh, and floral with a core of sweet, ripe, red pit fruits, and a chalky finish. Forward, soft, and already approachable, this easy-to-drink charmer should be fun to taste on release. This could be the best vintage of Adaugusta ever produced. Drink from 2023-2035. 90 Pts
2020 Angelus – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Everything that makes Chateau Angelus great is here in spades! The wine is almost opaque in color. In the glass, the perfume pops with its essence of black, dark red, and blue fruit, smoke, licorice, flowers, espresso, chocolate, and an array of spices. The wine is full-bodied, intense, silky, vibrant, and concentrated with multiple layers of perfectly ripe, sweet, cashmere-textured fruits. The wine builds, expands, and intensifies on your palate. The fruit offers purity, and lift in the seamless finish that lingers for nearly 60 seconds. Give this some time in the cellar, and it will probably hit triple digits. It is that good! Drink from 2026-2060. 99 Pts
2020 Angelus Carillon d’ Angélus – St. Émilion Grand Cru – A superb wine that is so good, it is difficult to believe it is a second wine! Here, you find a lush, opulent, silky wine loaded with black cherries, licorice, plums, espresso, flowers, and a touch of chocolate. The fruits are sweet, fresh, and vibrant, providing a finish that is energetic, as well as luscious. You can enjoy this on release, or let it age for additional nuances while waiting for its big sister to age, and develop. Drink from 2023-2037. 94 Pts
2020 Angelus No 3 – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Medium-bodied, soft, polished, ripe, round, and fruity, this is already offering pleasure, and will continue delivering its fresh, fruity, earthy profile for a decade or so. This is great to order in a bistro or café as it needs no decanting. Drink from 2023-2032. 91 Pts
2020 Arcole – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Soft, forward, medium-bodied, uncomplicated, easy-drinking, cherry-filled charmer for early-drinking pleasure. Drink from 2023-2030. 88 Pts
2020 Ausone – St. Émilion Grand Cru – The captivates your focus with its showy display of flowers, crushed rocks, black, red, and blue fruit, espresso, and thyme. It takes a bit of coaxing, and patience, but there is an incredible level of depth, purity, refinement, and vibrancy at play here on the palate as the wine gently coats your palate with its layers of salt-infused, black, and dark red fruits. The deep seamless finish crosses the 60-second mark and keeps on going as it continues showing off its essence of minerals of fresh berries. This could be the longest-lived wine of the vintage. Drink from 2030-2075. 100 Pts
2020 Ausone Chapelle d’Ausone – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Flowers, leafy herbs, mint, espresso, cherries, plums, and a hint of blueberries come alive in the aromatic profile. But, the best is yet to come with its array of minerals, rocks, stones, and salt-tinted red, and black fruits that cross your palate with length, lift, precision, purity, and soft, smooth textures. It is difficult to believe that this is their second wine. Drink from 2025-2040. 94 Pts
2020 Badette – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Flowers, chocolate, espresso, licorice, smoke, blackberries, and plum notes shoot from the glass. The wine is rich, lush, full-bodied, and opulent, with layers of non-stop fruits in the long finish. This is not only an estate to keep your eye on as they are on a roll, but this is clearly the best vintage they have produced yet. Drink from 2023-2042. 94 Pts
2020 Balestard La Tonnelle – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Much better in the bottle than I expected, the wine pops with its display of sweet, ripe, plums, savory herbs, crushed stone, licorice, and smoke. It is even better on the palate with its lush textures, and multiple layers of sweet, ripe fruits, along with its accents of chocolate, spice, salt, and espresso. The luscious finish seals the deal! Drink from 2023-2045. 93 Pts
2020 Barde Haut – St. Émilion Grand Cru – The solid depth of color lets you know there is a lot going on here, and the striking perfume, with its display of dried flowers, black, red, and blue fruit, espresso, cocoa, licorice, and spices agrees. On the palate, the wine is rich, ripe, silky, and pure, leaving you with waves of plums, cherries, blue fruits, chocolate, espresso, and crushed stones in the lingering finish. Drink from 2025-2050. 95 Pts
2020 Beau Sejour Becot – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Beau-Sejour Becot is on a hot streak, and 2020 shows why. Opening with a wealth of flowers before you get to all the red, black, and blue fruits, thyme, spice box, espresso beans, cocoa, and licorice in the bouquet. The palate is even better with its multiple layers of crushed stones, sensuous fruits, velvet-tannins, and long, expansive, lifted finish, with its hint of salt in the endnote. As I penned after tasting a barrel sample, this is a new level of quality at Beau-Sejour Becot that embraces less volume, but more intensity, and purity in the fruit. With their new cellars about to come into use, you are looking at a new level of Beau-Sejour Becot! Drink from 2025-2055. 97 Pts
2020 Beausejour Duffau Lagarrosse – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Power, finesse, length, purity, and complexity is all over the place here. In the nose, with its elements of dried flowers, espresso, plums, cherries, licorice, spice, cocoa, herbs, and crushed rocks. As good as that is, on the palate, the wine flows over your palate with its waves of vibrant, plums, cherries, black raspberries, blue fruits, salty tannins, and purity. The lively, vibrant, long finish that doesn’t know when to quit. That is a good thing because you want to enjoy it again, and again. Drink from 2026-2055. 97 Pts
2020 Belair Monange – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Spell-binding in every sense of the word, you can sense this is special from the initial sniff with its showy bouquet of white, and purple flowers, black, red, and blue fruits, crushed rocks, espresso, and licorice. On the palate, the wine is concentrated, and intense, finishing with a majestic combination of black plums, black cherries, chocolate, sea salt, and velvet-laced tannins. The final end note appears close to the 60-second mark. This will age and effortlessly evolve for the next 3 decades with ease. Drink from 2027-2060. 98 Pts
2020 Bellefont-Belcier – St. Émilion Grand Cru – The oceanic influences are what you initially find before moving on to all the flowers, smoke, and red fruits The wine is fresh, vibrant, elegant, and refined. The red fruits show purity with a salty edge on the palate. There is length, and precision here that builds, and lingers. Drink from 2025-2050. 95 Pts
2020 Bellevue St. Émilion Grand Cru – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Supple, sensuous, and fresh, there is a vibrancy and purity to the fruits that makes you want to pay attention. Full-bodied, rich, and generous, the wine feels as good as it tastes as it feels. The fruits linger and expand on your palate through to the finish. This is in contention for the best vintage of Chateau Bellevue I have ever tasted. It is so good now, it is impossible to resist. But, it is only going to get better with age. The wine is produced from 100% old vine Merlot. Drink from 2025-2050. 95 Pts
2020 Bellevue-Mondotte – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Produced from 100% old vine Merlot, the black, and purple color alone tells you this is going to offer a deep, tasting experience. The wine is intense, full-bodied, deep, long, and opulent, providing seamless layers of chocolate-covered blackberries, black cherries, plums, and espresso. Yet, with all this depth of flavor, everything is balanced, harmonious, long, and hedonistic. The finish offers to lift, purity, and velvet-textured tannins that coat your palate stains your teeth, and doesn’t relinquish their hold on you for more than 50 seconds, leaving you with waves of rich plums, and black cherries with tones of crushed rocks, and stones in the endnote. However, it is not easy to find as only 350 cases, give or take were produced. Drink from 2027-2055. 97 Pts
2020 Berliquet – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Medium-bodied, elegant, refined, and with a strong, floral essence, you also discover sweet, fresh, cherries, licorice, plums, and hints of chocolate mint on the nose, and palate, which is all topped off with its silky, vibrant, red pit fruit, and mineral-edged finish. Drink from 2024-2045. 93 Pts
2020 Boutisse – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Even better in the bottle than it was in the barrel, the wine exudes smoke, licorice, cocoa, plums, and cherries in the nose. On the palate, the wine is lush, soft, and silky with layers of lusciously-textured plums that linger. It is easy to see why they were recently reclassified as a Grand Cru Classe. Drink from 2024-2042. 93 Pts
2020 Cadet Bon – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Layers of lusciously-textured, round, supple, ripe, fresh red fruits hit your palate, and stay there, which is a good thing, as you want as much of those sweet fruits with their chocolate, and licorice accents as you can get. Drink from 2023-2040. 92 Pts
2020 Candale – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Over the past few years, de Candale has been improving, and 2020 continues that trend. Medium-bodied, soft, silky, and vibrant, the elegant, supple-texture wine leaves you with a sweet layer of black cherries with a touch of spice in the endnote. Drink from 2023-2038. 91 Pts
2020 Canon – St. Émilion Grand Cru – A stunning textural experience with its silky, velvet-drenched profiled. Aromatically, you find flowers, black, red, and blue fruits, licorice, and crushed rocks in the perfume. On the palate, the wine is all about its polished silk profile, which is the perfect backdrop for all of its layers of sensuous fruits, freshness, and purity, finishing with a touch of salt on the back end. The seamless finish delivers length going on for over 50 seconds. Drink from 2025-2060. 98 Pts
2020 Canon Croix Canon – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Dried flowers, black raspberries, kirsch, licorice, citrus rind, and spice create the gorgeous nose. On the palate, the medium-bodied wine is even better with its showy display of fresh, silky, red plums, cherries, and supple-textured, elegant finish, with just a hint of salty rocks that comes in at the very end of the finish. Drink from 2023-2037. 92 Pts
2020 Canon La Gaffeliere – St. Émilion Grand Cru – In contention as one of the top vintages produced here, the wine is strong on its floral characteristics. Once past the opening bouquet of white flowers, and dried roses you find plums, black cherries, black raspberries, mint, and cigar wrapper nuances. The palate provides a lush, opulent, as well as vibrant, energetic backdrop for its wealth of deep red fruits, and oceanic influences. The finish has a touch of salty chalk that adds complexity to its wealth of silky, ripe, red fruits. Drink from 2025-2050. 96 Pts
2020 Cap de Mourlin – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Silky, fresh, lifted, and chalky, the wine offers a polished, sensuous palate replete with layers of chocolate-coated cherries, licorice, and espresso with a cherry edge in the finish. Drink from 2023-2038. 93 Pts
2020 Capet-Guillier – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Opening with a strong floral note, the wine picks up steam with nuances of licorice, spice box, and red berries. On the palate, the wine is medium-bodied, sweet, silky, and fresh as it focuses you on its core of ripe, cherries, red plums, strawberries, citrus, and peppery end note. Drink from 2023-2040. 92 Pts
2020 Carteau Cotes-Daugay – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Medium-bodied, soft, fresh, and polished with a core of sweet, black plums, cherries, spice, and a hint of chocolate, and espresso, the wine will be easy to enjoy on release. Drink from 2023-2036. 90 Pts
2020 Chante Alouette – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Medium-bodied, crisp, chewy, savory-edged, red berry-filled wine with a nice hint of cocoa that climbs on the backend in the finish. Drink from 2023-2036. 89 Pts
2020 Chauvin – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Smoky red fruits, tobacco leaf, flowers, and red fruits combine to produce the attention-seeking perfume. On the palate, the wine is fresh, soft, and vibrant with silky tannins and a gorgeous sweetness to the fruit in the medium-bodied finish. This could be the best vintage of Chateau Chauvin I have ever tasted! Drink from 2023-2040. 92 Pts
2020 Cheval Blanc – St. Émilion Grand Cru – The bouquet of white, red, and purple flowers is made even better with the addition of Indian spices, red with black fruits, and truffles. However, as good as the nose is, it is on the palate, with its seemingly countless layers of cashmere textured fruits, refined, silky tannins, lift, and energy that steals the show. The wine gently caresses your palate seamlessly for over 60 seconds. This is a monumental Cheval Blanc that will age for decades, yet, it is sexy, and you will be able to enjoy it young. Drink from 2027-2065. 99 Pts
2020 Cheval Blanc Le Petit Cheval – St. Émilion Grand Cru – It is easy to think of this as a mini Cheval Blanc due to its gorgeous display of flowers, sweet cherries, spices, and tobacco wrappers in the perfume. The wine offers the perfect blend of freshness, silky-refined textures, and purity in the supple fruits on the palate that keep on with you all way through to the finish. There was a time when second wines were simply second wines. That is clearly not the case as this is a solid example of a baby Cheval Blanc. You can enjoy this on release, and for the following 2 decades after that. Drink from 2023-2040. 94 Pts
2020 Cheval Blanc Le Petit Cheval Bordeaux Blanc – Bordeaux – Bright, yellow, and orange citrus with touches of pears and green apples along with a tint of honey that comes through on the nose and palate. This is already delicious and it should continue offering pleasure for up to a decade. Drink from 2023-2032. 93 Pts
2020 Clos Dubreuil – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Deeply colored, the nose still shows its oaky side before you move to all of its other nuances, flowers, cherries, chocolate, spice, and licorice. Full-bodied, lush, polished, and opulent, there is depth of flavor, and concentration that leaves you with layers of ripe, plush, dark fruits, and chocolate. Drink from 2024-2045. 94 Pts
2020 Clos Dubreuil Anna – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Medium-bodied, early-drinking, soft, and fruity with a cocoa, licorice, and back cherry character that comes through in the finish. This is perfect for near-term drinking while waiting for the Grand Vin to develop. Drink from 2023-2030. 88 Pts
2020 Clos Fourtet – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Scoring at the top of my range from my barrel scores, this is a majestic vintage for Clos Fourtet. With stunning levels of concentration, intensity, purity, and sensuality, the wine paints your palate with layer after layer of black, and red fruits. The velvet-drenched finish seals the deal with its seamless, mineral-driven finish that builds, lingers, and expands. Drink from 2026-2060. 98 Pts
2020 Clos Les Grandes Versannes – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Medium-bodied, cherry blossom-filled, bright, sweet, and juicy wine that exudes its chewy, red fruit character with ease. Drink from 2023-2037. 89 Pts
2020 Clos Romanile – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Floral in nature, you also find espresso, licorice, smoke, and plums. Medium-bodied, supple, and fruity with creamy textures, and loads of cherries in the finish. Drink from 2023-2037. 91 Pts
2020 Clos Saint Julien – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Flowers, salt, peppery red fruits, and leafy herbs form the core of this wine. There is a strong sense of minerality, chocolate, and mint that rides along with the vibrant, chewy, salty, red fruits on the mid-palate, and in the long, crushed-rock-infused finish. Drink from 2025-2050. 94 Pts
2020 Clos Saint Vincent – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Floral in nature, the wine is better on the nose, with its red fruit, and flower aromatics than on the palate, which while it starts off soft, and fruity, it finishes with a lot of oak in the finish. A few years in the bottle might help. Drink from 2024-2032. 89 Pts
2020 Clos St. Martin – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Texturally, this is one of the sexiest wines in all of Bordeaux. The levels of opulence, sensuality, and silk are almost off the hook, and they make the perfect backdrop for the layers of blackberries, black plums, licorice, chocolate, black cherries, espresso, and spice. Long, rich, balanced, fresh, and hedonistic, this is going to offer pleasure for the following 2 decades. Drink from 2024-2047. 97 Pts
2020 Clos de Sarpe – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Quite floral in nature, the wine picks up steam with the addition of oceanic nuances, licorice, smoke, and red fruits. On the palate, there is length, purity, and vibrancy to the red fruits that linger. The salty energy in the finish from all of its stony minerality really stands out, adding a lot of complexity, and character to the wealth of fruit on the palate, and in the finish. Drink from 2025-2050. 94 Pts
2020 Clos de la Cure – St. Émilion Grand Cru – With a strong, savory, minty edge to the nose before you get to the medium-bodied, fresh, fruity, easy-going red cherry, dusty finish. Drink from 2023-2032. 88 Pts
2020 Clos des Jacobins – St. Émilion Grand Cru – The attention-seeking nose gets you with its display of flowers, cherries, Allspice, licorice, and espresso. On the palate, the fruits are ripe, dark, sweet, and polished. The medium-bodied, soft-textured finish, with all of its silky tannins, vibrance, ripe fruits, and a touch of crushed stones is already hitting all the right marks. Drink from 2024-2040. 93 Pts
2020 Clos des Prince – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Waxy red pit fruits, black cherries, licorice, and cocoa nuances shine through in the perfume. On the palate, the wine is soft, fresh, polished, and vibrant, with a nice sweetness to the fruits, along with a hint of oak on the backend. Drink from 2023-2035. 91 Pts
2020 Clos-de-lOratoire – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Savory red fruits, citrus, dried flowers, and tobacco leaf nuances form the core of this elegant, fresh, medium-bodied wine. There is vibrancy, cut, and freshness to the fruits with a blend of orange peel, kirsch, and savory herbs in the finish. This will be delicious on release and should age for close to 2 decades. Drink from 2023-2038. 92 Pts
2020 Corbin-Michotte – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Medium-bodied, light, bright, and tight wine with an oaky, savory edge to the fruit in the nose, and in the drying finish. Drink from 2023-2034. 85 Pts
2020 Cote de Baleau – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Elegant, floral, and fresh on the nose, the wine is silky, vibrant, and refined on the palate, serving up its layers of ripe, cherries, and plums with ease. I am sure fans of Cote de Baleau are going to love it as much as I did. One of the best values from Saint Emilion, enjoy this on release or give this just a few years in the cellar. Drink from 2023-2035. 92 Pts
2020 Couspaude – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Espresso, flowers, licorice, mint, tobacco wrapper, chocolate, and ripe cherries are in the nose, and in the round lush, sweet, forward palate. You can enjoy this on release. Drink from 2023-2035. 90 Pts
2020 Couvent des Jacobins – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Smoke, oak, espresso, and chocolate-covered plums are at the core of this wine. Supple in texture, with layers of silky, fresh, sweet black cherries, and chocolate, this is going to be delicious on release, and it has the stuff to age as well. This is easily the finest vintage of Couvent des Jacobins produced yet. Drink from 2023-2042. 93 Pts
2020 Couvent des Jacobins Calicem – St. Émilion Grand Cru – There is a wealth of fruit here as you find black, red, and blue fruits meshed with smoke, cocoa, licorice, crushed rocks, and flowers in the nose. On the palate, the wine is opulent, vibrant, long, and deep. There is flesh, and freshness in the finish that carries through to the hedonistic endnote. Drink from 2024-2045. 95 Pts
2020 Croix de Labrie – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Deeply colored, almost opaque in color, the wine opens with a blast of chocolate, black cherry liqueur, blueberries, licorice, espresso, and licorice. But as good as the nose is, the palate is the star of the show. Corpulent, lush, and polished, the wine coats your palate, yet, it manages to retain lift, balance, and freshness, finishing with layers of opulent, perfectly ripe fruits that linger. You can enjoy this young, or age it for more complexity, Drink from 2024-2045. 96 Pts
2020 Croix de Labrie Chapelle de Labrie – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Licorice, espresso, and cocoa-covered cherries are evident in the perfume. On the palate, the wine is lush, supple, and polished with layers of black cherries, blackberries, plums, and chocolate in the polished, and already approachable finish. Drink from 2023-2037. 92 Pts
2020 Croix de Labrie Stella Solare – Bordeaux – Lush, rich, and loaded with flowers, white peach, orange and yellow citrus, and almonds on the nose, as well as on the oily, creamy palate. The wine finishes with sweet, juicy, yellow citrus along with a hint of mango. Drink from 2023-2028. 91 Pts
2020 Croque Michotte – St. Émilion Grand Cru – Medium-bodied, crisp, fresh, tart, chewy red plums, and bright cherries with a chalky edge to the finish, and a hint of cocoa in the backend. Drink from 2023-2032. 87 Pts
With over 200 tasting notes for 2020 Saint Emilion, we split our coverage of this appellation into 4 articles. For the other 3 articles:
2020 St. Emilion, PT 2 Wines D-K
2020 St. Emilion, PT 3 Wines L-N
2020 St. Emilion, PT 4 Wines P-Z
After 2020 Saint Emilion is finished, we will wrap everything up with the final reviews from the Left Bank with 2020 Pauillac, 2020 Margaux, 2020 St. Julien, 2020 St. Estephe and 2020 Sauternes.
