Piedmont has had a triology of excellent vintages in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Our Group Buyer, Maggie Macpherson, explains what this means for the latest release wines.

“No matter if you drink the 2020s in their youth or lay them down, when you crack open a bottle, you’re going to have a wonderful time finishing it.”

Maggie MacPherson, Jeroboams Group Buyer

Just like the recent series of Grand Designs, we have now hit the Covid Years in Piedmont. However, unlike Grand Designs, these years weren’t dogged by delays and lots of sighing from Kevin McCloud. Instead, the producers of Northern Italy look back upon this time with a certain fondness as they stayed at home, tended the vines and truly focussed on making beautiful wines during the 2020 vintage. There was reduced pollution from the lack of flights overhead, with several producers commenting on the “purity” of the air during the 2020 vintage. Who knows if the vines were aware of the chaos surrounding them but, either way, they were seemingly ready for a break from the grind and produced velvety seductive wines with immediate juicy charm balanced with a focus and natural structure which some of the 2018s lacked. In fact, seemingly the 2020s are the perfect package – the immediate drinkability of the 18s, with a lick of the power and acidity in the 19s – ensuring that, no matter if you drink them in their youth or lay them down, when you crack open a bottle, you’re going to have a wonderful time finishing it. 

So, what was the weather up to during the start of these Covid Years? A mild winter gave way to rain in May and June, with localised hailstorms in June (particularly hitting vineyards towards La Morra) replenishing water reserves which was critical given the heat of the summer. While we were enjoying the best summer in years from our back gardens and local parks, producers across Piedmont experienced consistently warm temperatures (above 30°C) across June, July and August with a couple of heat spikes sending the mercury above 35°C. As September rolled round a welcome cool front descended on Northern Italy nudging producers to begin planning for harvest. The harvest began a couple of weeks earlier than in 2019 yielding a slight more abundant crop, which was good news for us.

In 2021, Barbaresco enjoyed another mild winter with plenty of rain and some snow, which turned out to be essential over the course of the rest of a vintage where rainfall was at its lowest level in recent years, finishing hot and fast with heat continuing into September. Wines from 2021 are incredibly exciting and the vintage has been tipped to be one of the greats. These wines continue to offer ridiculous value, so be sure to seek them out.

From the other varieties produced in Piedmont, Dolcetto has done particularly well in a very hot 2022 vintage, retaining structure and plenty of up front juicy fruit. Following this hot year is 2023, which was a vintage of extremes with heavy rain, hail and extreme heat spikes across summer. Thankfully August was generally cooler and with Nebbiolo’s thick skins and late ripening,  there should be some powerful wines, although these will likely be shy at first.