2020 Citran

Red and black fruits, spice, saddle leather, and tobacco leaf notes all emerge from the 2020 Château Citran, a rock-solid, medium-bodied, balanced Haut-Médoc. It has the pure, focused, nicely structured style of the vintage and is going to evolve for 15 years or more.

The 2020 Citran is fortunately showing less reduction on the nose than it did from barrel, revealing blackberry and briary scents, touches of graphite and pressed iris flower. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins. Moderate depth, filling out nicely towards the finish. This is a fresh and tensile Citran that should age well over the next 15-20 years.

The 2020 Citran is a tasty, straightforward Haut-Médoc to drink now and over the next few years. Élevage has softened some of the angular contours nicely, but this remains a touch rustic. There's good energy to the red-fleshed fruit and floral flavors, but also a touch of edginess that lingers.