2020: the year that was

2020: the year that was Celebrity wines, counterfeit SuperTuscans and paper bottles. We look back at Decanter news coverage from a year to remember – and not just for Covid-19. Compiled by Chris Mercer

- Chris Mercer

JANUARY

France’s first ‘dry January’ campaign divided the nation, criticized by several leading writers and chefs as an ‘Anglo-Saxon and puritan obsession’. Australia’s bushfires dominated headlines. Wine Australia said less than 1% of vineyard land lay in fire zones, but Henschke reported 1,100ha of vines in the northern Adelaide Hills damaged in late December, including 90% of its own 25ha Lenswood estate. Most of the vineyard would be back in production by 2022, it added in an April update. Meanwhile, Bordeaux’s Surtep cooperage launched oak barrels toasted with hot jade stones. Diamonds would also work in theory, said CEO Thomas Moussié.

FEBRUARY

Plans were revealed for a £60m wine cultural center in Beijing, designed in partnership with Bordeaux’s Cité du Vin. Despite the tension, US officials continued 25% import tariffs on some European wines, from Rioja to Burgundy. Figures showed the tariffs had already curtailed shipments. Italian wines, unaffected by the EU-US trade dispute, only became more popular among fine wine buyers. Separately, there was excitement for the new-release Barolo 2016s. Elsewhere, burglars stole £170,000 of Domaine Leroy and DRC wines from the one-star Michelin restaurant Formel B in Copenhagen.

MARCH