2020 Cissac

The 2020 Cissac has meliorated on the nose, gained more delineation and focus with blackberry, pine and touches of graphite. The palate is what hampers it - just still rather simple and one-dimensional, a bit of a dropped catch given the millésime.

This is an estate that can vary in quality depending on vintage, and it's a great sign of the potential of 2020 that I can easily recommend this as an unfussy but good quality Cru Bourgeois to be drunk over the next decade. The tannins are chalky, with the fruit showing loganberry and cranberry character set against raspberry leaf. Easy charm. Same family since 1895 at Château Cissac, today run by Marie Vialard.

The 2020 Château Cissac was slightly hard to read, but I’m confident it’s going to be a solid wine. Lots of red, blue, and black fruits as well as chocolatey notes give way to a medium-bodied, plump, rounded, textured 2020 that is just young and unevolved. It has solid mid-palate depth, and the tannins are ripe as well, so this should come together in bottle.