Louis Latour Agencies

Vintage 2020: A Year to Remember - Chile and New Zealand

29 April 2020

Viu Manent, Colchagua Valley

With a little less than two weeks until the end of the harvest Patricio Celedon, Viu Manent’s Chief Winemaker, described the vintage as unforgettable, thanks to the early ripening of the grapes and additional need to harvest quickly due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The 2020 season began with moderate winter temperatures and low precipitation and was in fact a year of drought. This meant that snow did not accumulate in the Andes which traditionally guarantees the necessary water for crops grown across the Colchagua Valley. Irrigation was started early to replenish the vines after the winter drought. At one point Patricio feared that the Tinguiririca River (a principal tributary in Colchagua) would dry up completely but its source, the Universidad Glacier located on the Tinguiririca Volcano, prevented this.

Due to the threat of drought, the quantity of annual cover crops planted was reduced. This ensured that there was more water available for irrigation. Early spring was cooler than average with a few frost events affecting parts of the valley. As spring continued temperatures returned to normal levels but as summer arrived the weather turned and was hot and dry. This accelerated grape development and forced Patricio’s team to gather the grapes more quickly. It is also one factor in the incredible health of the grapes this season.

To compensate for January and February’s high temperatures the white grapes were picked earlier than normal. The high temperatures had increased the accumulation of sugars in the grapes, consequently increasing the potential alcohol of the finished wines. Compared with 2019 Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc were harvested two weeks earlier. Picking early paid-off and the whites, especially those from the coastal zones of Litueche in Colchagua and Las Dichas in Casablanca, have freshness, good aromatic expression, balance and are within the expected quality range.

For the reds Patricio waited longer. Even though sugar levels were high, he waited for the tannins, skins and seeds to ripen more before harvesting. The majority of wines are now well underway in the cellar but we will need to wait a bit longer to see the final result. For now they are showing lots of colour and good concentration.

In 2020 Patricio believes that agricultural management was the key to success. This is something Viu Manent have been refining over the last few years with the help of American winemaking consultant Paul Hobbs. Additionally, the availability of water for irrigation was very important. They were able to use it to keep the vines active until the end of the season. These factors were vital to the quality of grapes harvested.

To sum up, the harvest had no damaging climatic events, but a lot of pressure, especially psychological, due to the state of events worldwide. This allowed the different production teams to shine, including the agricultural and cellar workers, giving their best in order to fi­nish this harvest together.

Smith & Sheth and Pyramid Valley Wines - Hawkes Bay, North Canterbury and Central Otago

We were fortunate to receive a video update from Steve Smith MW about this year’s vintage reflecting on the special situation of managing the harvest in lockdown. To listen please visit our You Tube channel.

Earlier in the season we heard from Caleb Dennis, Smith & Sheth’s viticulturist who reported "We have pulled in our 2020 Hawkes Bay Chardonnay, which is fermenting well at this time, and the Albarino is looking to come in next week – it’s all looking great! The weather outlook for Hawkes Bay is settled and rain free for the reminder of the harvest period, so we’ll look forward to pulling reds in a few weeks time."

The harvest was also well underway at Pyramid Valley where they had picked Pinot Noir from the Omihi Clays in Waipara which will eventually make its way into Pyramid Valley’s Appellation Series. In fact the quality looks great across the board which should make for some really exciting wines from the 2020 vintage.