For extra skilled Barolo fanatics, the trio of 2019, 2020 and 2021 intently resembles the three turn-of-the-century vintages – 1999, 2000 and 2001 – of their austerity, roundness, and completeness, respectively. “The 2020 is like 2000,” stated Bruna Giacosa, proprietor of the legendary vineyard bearing her household’s title. “The 2021 is much like 2001, whereas 2019 is corresponding to 1999.”
Nevertheless, to grasp how the 2020 Barolos got here to be, one should piece collectively many elements of a fancy puzzle. The primary secret’s the rising season: the 12 months was a scorching one, and really near what the area witnessed in 2003 and 2017 when it comes to common temperatures, but there was ample water in the course of the summer season. Based on a 2020 harvest report by Alessandro Masnaghetti on his on-line platform, Barolo360: “Apart from the primary 4 months of the 12 months, water has by no means been missing, and in reality, a number of humidity-related points have arisen, as evidenced by the widespread assaults of downy mildew.”
Most notably, rain fell in the course of the harvest, dividing it between those that harvested earlier and those that harvested later. “We had two days of rain originally of October,” confirmed Federica Boffa, proprietor of the Pio Cesare property. Some sources recorded 90 millimeters of rain on Oct. 2 and three.
