Jamessuckling.com | JS 95-96
Published: Apr 27, 2021

This is full-bodied with layers of fruit. Ripe and flavorful. Lots going on with a fleshy feel. No malolactic this year. Sweet peach, honeysuckle and citrus. Contrastive. 52% sauvignon blanc, 14% sauvignon gris and 34% semillon.

The Wine Advocate | RP 93-95
Published: May 20, 2021
Drink Date: 2023 - 2035

Composed of 52% Sauvignon Blanc, 14% Sauvignon Gris and 34% Semillon, the 2020 Aile d'Argent has no Muscadelle this year, no skin contact and no malolactic. It sails out of the glass with fabulously flamboyant notes of fresh pineapple, nectarines and jasmine, plus suggestions of key lime pie, passion fruit and orange zest. The medium to full-bodied palate delivers opulent tropical and citrus fruit layers, supported by plenty of freshness and a decadent touch of oiliness to the texture, finishing long and impactful. So hard to resist even at this nascent stage, I can't wait to see how this is going to age! 

“The vintage went quite well—not as extreme as 2018,” said Jean-Emmanuel Danjoy, the new estates manager, formerly the winemaking director at Clerc Milon, now overseeing winemaking for Mouton Rothschild, Clerc Milon and d’Armailhac, following the retirement of Philippe Dhallhuin last year. “There was no excessive heat, no sunburn damage, no blockage on the vines. It was an extremely early vintage, but, because of the earlier budbreak, it was also a long growing season—180 days. Usually, it is around 178 days.”

I asked Danjoy about the slightly lower alcohols this year, given the overall heat of the vintage. “I don’t know why—the sugars never went up toward the end. The vines appeared fine. The tannins were getting more and more polished. We also don’t have really high acidity.”

As for the styles of the 2020’s, Danjoy commented, “We have cool wines from a hot vintage. There was no heat spell just before the harvest—no cause for jamminess.”

Philippe Sereys de Rothschild, chairman and CEO of Baron Philippe de Rothschild, commented, “This vintage is freshest compared to the other two (2018 and 2019). And there is a great complexity of tannins. What’s happening in the barrels with the wines—there is a multilayered, complexity to the tannins. These wines handle the barrels—they are like an oxygen sink. Usually, it's the more structured vintages that behave like this. It’s incredible.”

The grand vin at Mouton was something of an enigma for me during my tastings. It seemed to have more mid-palate density and layers than many other Pauillacs, and with a touch more tension too (from acid concentration as opposed to dilution). Then I remembered those deep, deep gravels on the Mouton plateau at the heart of the vineyard. While these free-draining gravels can force Mouton’s vines to really struggle in very dry, warmer vintages (such as 2018), no doubt they will have offered a distinct advantage during the period of heavy rains in mid-August and the rains toward the end of harvest. Chalk one up for terroir!

Decanter | D 93
Published: May 1, 2021
Drink Date: 2022 - 2030

The first year made entirely under the direction of Jean-Emmanuel Danjoy. I was expecting this to be the wine in the Mouton stable with the most evident transition from Philippe Dhalluin, and certainly you see a little less exuberance, a little more sculpting rather than width, with sea breeze and citrus aromatics. Plenty of bright pineapple and apricot flavours, with nuance and balance, and the salty cracker finish that you always want from this wine. Will be bottled in June 2021. Harvest began on August 24 (same as 2011, joint earliest on record) through to 28. No more malolactic during winemaking as you saw (usually just 5-10%) under Dhalluin, and no skin contact, but the rich mouthfeel is instead found through a higher proportion of Sauvignon Gris, and no longer co-fermented with the Sauvignon Blanc.