Champagne, the harvest 2020, the earliest ever, is coming to an end. “And it is splendid”

After a troubled 2020 on the markets marked by the pandemic (with estimated losses of 1.7 billion euros in sales at the end of the year), and also made of internal tensions between the various souls of a chain articulated between winemakers, small producers and large maisons who have struggled hard to find an agreement on yields, Champagne smiles at the harvest thanks to the quality of grapes brought to the cellar. At least, this is the message of Comitè Champagne, with a dripping harvest, the 2020 vintage, which is the earliest in history for the territory, which began on August 17. And that, in no uncertain terms, is called “splendid. In fact, 2020 completes an exceptional trilogy: as in 2018 and 2019, climatic conditions offered a harvest of the highest quality, the first of the conditions for producing great wines”, explains Comitè.
“The beginning of the year was particularly rainy, with the wettest February ever recorded. The heat and drought began in mid-March and the vine began to sprout 16 days earlier than the 10-year average; an advantage that will not be lost, also recording exceptionally fast ripening dynamics in the week before the harvest”. Again, “while last year’s record-breaking temperature (42.9°C) was broken, this year was the driest month of July in history. Due to the drought, the grapes are below average for weight, but in excellent condition. The musts are well balanced, fruity, have a nice freshness and a great aromatic expression; the alcohol content is between 10 and 10.5% degrees. The year 2020 is obviously unique for the health security measures related to the Covid-19 epidemic that had to be put in place for the approximately 120,000 seasonal workers recruited in the vineyards and pressing centers”. In the precocity of the harvest, the quantity was also affected. “Given the maximum yield limited to 8,000 kg of grapes per hectare, the harvest was carried out, on an individual basis, a little faster than usual, but it was spread over a normal period of about three weeks, given the heterogeneity of maturation between vintages and between grape varieties. The tasting of the berries and grape seeds and the analysis of the sugar content of the grapes allowed each winemaker to adapt the beginning of the harvest and to optimize his cycle of grape harvesting, plot by plot, at optimal ripeness.With the superb trilogy 2018, 2019, 2020, the Champagne region should in a few years” time have blends and, probably, exceptional vintages, equal to the celebrations of the event that the whole world is waiting for: the end of the Covid-19 pandemic”.