Canon 2017

Another successful year for Canon; not as voluptuous as in 2016 or 2015, but it has a wonderful salinity and a crisp, fresh curl to the fruit. They aim for crystalline flavours, vibrant fruit and a sense of forward motion, and for me it has that again this year. The flavours of blueberries, blackberries and soft, smoky almonds are drawn out through the palate, and by the time it has finished you are ready to go again. It has an austerity that is overridden by the juice, not quite overriding the vintage, but it's a delicious wine that again showcases the beauty of limestone. 50% new oak. Thomas Duclot is consultant here, and it really is a great year for the estates that he works with.Drinking Window 2025 - 2040

Pretty dark crimson. Lightly toasty nose with some floral notes – pretty ! Not forced but with some rigour. There’s a little note of sweet oak here but it should dissipate. Good balance. A more serious, complete 2017 than many.Drink 2025-2035

Deep crimson. Sweet dark plums and a touch of vanilla. Lovely pure black fruit that sings, if quietly for now. Silky and elegant. Refined and just slides over the palate to a very long finish. Subtle beauty. Drink 2022-2032

The nose is sweet with brooding black fruits the palate has the fleshy richness of ripe black cherries and cassis. Bramble underpins and balances slightly lighter at the back with ripe sweet black fruits giving richness and depth on the finish. 2024-33

Lovely and relaxed on the nose, with oak and fruit in harmony, this is a good wine, but it is slightly spoilt by a green edge on the finish and overly austere tannins. I would like it to be so much more refreshing and silky but the attack of dryness and grainy tannins rather shuts it all down. Given the reputation of this Château I am confident that it will even out, but this will always be a wine with a bitter edge.

Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2017 Canon bursts from the glass with expressive notions of baked black cherries, kirsch, plum preserves and black raspberries plus hints of red roses, Ceylon tea, black olives and fertile loam. Medium-bodied, the palate is wonderfully elegant and refined, with a soft, finely grained texture and seamless freshness, finishing long and mineral laced. The blend is 77% Merlot and 23% Cabernet Franc and it was aged for 18 months in French oak, 50% new. 2021 - 2045

The 2017 Canon was picked 4 to 21 September and 22 to 27 September for the Merlot and Cabernet Franc at 42hl/ha and matured in 56% new oak. There is 14.0° alcohol this year and the pH comes in at 3.66. This takes a little time to open, eventually revealing blackberry, briary, crushed stone and light iris scents. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine tannins and good backbone. Strangely, it reminds me a little of modern-day Figeac, that Cabernet component smaller here but very expressive with touches of graphite and flint towards the linear but beguilingly fresh finish. I like the manner in which the limestone shines through the wine here, something noticeable in recent vintages. Whilst not the sensational 2015 or 2016, it is a damn fine Saint-Émilion that will settle at the top of my banded score. Drink 2022-2045.

This is very focused and fresh with limestone and crushed-stone character. Medium to full body, integrated tannins and a salty finish. Shows lots of minerality already. Umami licorice undertones.

The deep purple-black colored 2017 Canon offers-up intense notes of crushed blackberries, black cherries and warm cassis with touches of fertile loam, yeast extract, beef drippings and iron ore plus a waft of garrigue. Medium to full-bodied with great freshness and firm, rounded tannins, it's very earthy in the mouth, finishing long and mineral-laced. A very serious wine, it is also fun, bright and vivacious and should age impressively.