St-Julien 2020 in bottle: overview plus top-scoring wines

Stylistically St-Julien managed to produce classic, rich, opulent and fresh wines in 2020.

The average yield for St-Julien was 34.2hl/ha. In 2018 it was 42.6hl/ha, and in 2019 45.5hl/ha with a 10-year-average of 41.8hl/ha. Estates with vines nearer the Gironde faired better in terms of quantity than those further inland.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the top St-Julien 2020 in-bottle wines

Due to extreme weather conditions consistency was varied across the appellation with some clear standouts from the clay-gravel soils that managed to balance richness with structure and freshness. An extremely wet and warm spring initiated an early start to the season with a correspondingly early harvest. May saw record-breaking temperatures – the fourth highest month in eight decades – with a peak of 30 degrees centigrade. Flowering happened 10 days earlier than usual with hot, dry and drought conditions from July onwards.

Estates with clay and limestone soils were able to hold water and moisture nourishing the vines better than those on gravel soils that saw their growth stopped at one point. Much-needed rain fell in the middle of August reigniting growth, less than in St-Estephe and Pauillac but more than Margaux, although it did vary in intensity even within the appellation.

Dry and warm days and cool nights saw good conditions for harvest (among the earliest for some estates in more than two decades) with grapes able to retain freshness and acidity.

Despite lockdowns and the heath crisis leaving lingering memories in the minds of vignerons in 2020, the vintage was a particularly memorable Sara Lecompte-Cuvelier of Château Léoville Poyferré, 2ème Grand Cru Classé with her family estate celebrating a decade of ownership.

‘We are proud of our 2020. It was a challenging vintage that needed so much care and attention to detail. It is a great vintage in St-Julien combining the charm of 2019 with the depth of 2018,’ she said.

Bruno Borie owner of Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, 2ème Grand Cru Classé, St-Julien, also celebrated in 2020 with its 300 year anniversary and also notes the challenges faced by winemakers today. ‘You used to be able to take a holiday in August but the key today is to have a sufficiently large and educated team to understand the new issues and practises within the vineyard and be able to implement them quickly and efficiently’.

The estate saw the creation of a new technical team in 2016, headed by Emmanuel Bonneau, coupled with the addition of an R&D/Quality Department in 2019 headed by Cécile Dupuis. Ducru-Beaucaillou 2020 shows the work in the vineyards and personalised vinifications have paid off, keeping the signature style with greater purity, precision and depth.

Top 4 St-Julien 2020 wines:

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, (2ème Cru Classé), 99 points

Château Gruaud-Larose, (2ème Cru Classé), 98 points

Château Léoville-Las Cases, (2ème Cru Classé), 97 points

Château Léoville Poyferré, (2ème Grand Cru Classé), 96 points

SCORE TABLE: top-scoring 349 wines with 92 points or above

Individual appellation analysis and top-scoring wines

St-Estèphe 2020| Margaux 2020 | Pauillac 2020 | Pessac & Graves 2020 | St-Emilion 2020 | Pomerol 2020 | 

See all Bordeaux 2020 in-bottle wines in score order

See tasting notes and scores for the top St-Julien 2020 in-bottle wines

The following wines all scored 90 points or above. 

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