Château Citran 2021

Cool, fresh expression with discreet oak. On the palate it’s balanced; the wine managed to absorb the slightly rough tannins from the En Primeur period. Good length.

Clean and clear, with a nice purity of fruit expression and a really salty, mineral, cooling undertone. It’s lightly presented, delicate, but sleek with tension, so you don’t miss the lack of weight too much as it keeps the definition. Sleek and stylish. I like this.

Blue and black berry fruit on the nose, alongside graphite and tobacco. Clean, firm and linear with a medium body, tight tannins and a savory finish. Drink from 2024.

Cask sample. Medium-bodied with dark-fruit notes. Misses some mid-palate weight. Light but fine tannic frame. Oak a little too obvious but hopefully it will integrate. Pleasant, easy drinking. (JL)

The 2021 Citran offers a mixture of red and black fruit on the nose, with touches of orange blossom and cedar coming through with time—cohesive and well-defined. The palate is very linear in style, medium-bodied with edgy tannins and commendable sapidity. It’s a bit lean toward the finish, but I suspect that will fill out with a few months in bottle. This is not a memorable wine, but a very decent effort considering the growing season.

Peppery red fruits and herbs, with cigar wrapper notes, create the nose. The wine is medium-bodied, bright and citrusy, which gives it plenty of lift and crispness on the finish. Drink from 2024–2034.

Dark ruby core, purple reflections, subtle brightening on the rim. Elegant aromas of plums, blackberries with a touch of liquorice, and nougat. Medium-bodied palate with concentrated red cherries, vibrant acidity, mineral notes and a citrus finish. An attractive companion to food.

Smoky red and black fruits, cedary herbs, and tobacco all emerge from the 2021 Château Citran, a pretty, perfumed, medium-bodied effort that has the vintage’s juicy, bright, fresher style. Drink bottles over the coming 7–8 years or so, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it last longer.

Kunz barrel sample 2022: (60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, 20 hl/ha, 13.5% vol. alcohol, production 160,000 bottles) Slim, austere bouquet, red berries, green wood, white pepper. Firm, slender palate with fine sandy tannins, light fruit, medium aromatics, bourgeois structure, light finish.

(60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, 20 hl/ha, 13.5% vol. alcohol, production 160,000 bottles) Sleek, austere bouquet, red berries, green wood, white pepper. A taut, slender palate with fine sand-like tannins, light fruit, medium aromatics, a bourgeois structure, and a light finish. 16/20 2027 - 2036

Unfussy, delicate example of the vintage, soft through the mid-palate, with salinity and white pepper spice taking precedence over fruit. 20 hl/ha yield, on sandy gravel soils.

The 2021 Citran has a medium to deep garnet-purple color. It offers notes of dried herbs and red cherries, with touches of raspberry coulis and mossy tree bark. Medium-bodied, the palate has a good intensity of red berry and savory layers, with lightly chewy tannins and a lifted finish.

The warmth of the wood doesn’t quite overshadow a very vibrant, indulgent, and rounded fruit. The same holds on the palate. You can feel the freshness of the vintage in a supple texture that evokes late-summer evenings—still mild, yet already cool.

I’m getting the blackcurrant notes that stood out during the tasting.

The 2021 Citran offers up notes of dark berries, mint and pencil shavings, followed by a medium-bodied, lively palate that’s a touch pinched and angular on the finish.