“A Winegrower’s Year”: Despite a multitude of challenges, a vintage with great promise.

When it comes to agriculture, and more specifically the production of European Quality Grenache grapes, nature has a way of letting us know who is in charge. The 2020 grape growing season for Grenache in Roussillon Geographical Indications proved a worthy adversary for winegrowers in myriad ways.

Located in the Eastern  Pyrenees in southern France, the Roussillon vineyards cover 14 AOPs and three IGPs with 409 wine producers, 27 winegrower cooperatives and nearly 30 wine merchants producing over 56 million bottles.

Heavy rains carried over from the latter part of 2019 well into February of 2020, followed by unusual spikes in temperatures in February and March, resulting in a very early bud break, as much as 13 days earlier than average. More Spring rains were subsequently met with intense Summer heat and drought-like conditions, provoking one of the earliest harvests on records for many European Union Quality Grenache producers in Roussillon Geographical Indications.

With record low-yields for European Quality Grenache, winegrowers who remained patient and vigilant over their harvest were rewarded with wines of amazing elegance, freshness, concentration and complexity. The 2020 vintage was  undoubtedly a “Winegrower’s Year”, where all the hard work in the vineyard pays off in the end product. Find yourself a bottle of 2020 European Grenache and discover the quality and specificities of the vintage.