2020 Vintage #nobestlot
One of the special, yet frustrating characteristics of Malbec is its proclivity for poor set of the bunches of grapes. Despite Malbecs' robustness as wine, it can be a delicate soul in the vineyard, with Malbecs bunches being particularly prone to shatter or ‘coloure’ prior to forming grapes, resulting in the eponymous ‘hen and chicken’ bunch formation.
The 2020 season was blighted by a combination of wind and rain during spring. This meant that flowering conditions were far from ideal. When combined with Malbecs' fussiness with weather this meant that bunch set was poor with miniscule yields being predicted. True to Malbecs' temperamental nature in the vineyard, a single hot day of 42oC in February 2020 saw what little crop was left post flowering pretty much fried….
As a consequence, there will be no 2020 vintage of The Best Lot produced.