Canon 2020

The 2020 Canon is very succinct on the nose, beautifully defined with extraordinarily pure red fruit laced with pressed violet and iris flower. The oak is perfectly integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, fresh and almost citric, very vibrant and precise with a quite peppery finish. God made wine so that it can taste as good as this. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. 2030 - 2065

Black cherries, fresh herbs, lemon rind, and violets on the nose. Crushed stone, too. Medium to full body with super fine tannins that run the length of the wine. It goes on for minutes. A great wine. Try after 2027, but already thoroughly gorgeous. A classical Canon.

Another brilliant Saint-Emilion, the 2020 Château Canon actually reminds me of the 2019 with its pure, elegant, yet concentrated profile. Based on 68% Merlot and 32% Cabernet Franc, it reveals a deep ruby hue as well as classic upper plateau notes of perfumed red and black fruits (black raspberries, darker cherries), wildflowers, graphite, and chalky minerality. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it has a seamless, elegant mouthfeel, perfectly integrated tannins and acidity, and flawless overall balance. As with the 2019, it's not the blockbuster style of the 2015, but it’s lively, elegant, and pure class. It needs 7-8 years of bottle age to hit maturity and will have 2-3 decades of overall longevity.

68% Merlot, 32% Cabernet Franc. Cask sample.Refined and discreet. Delicately perfumed, berry-fruit aromas. Gentle attack then builds and persists, the tannins so fine as to be inconspicuous. No exaggeration but a depth and presence that reflects the potential. (JL)Drink 2028 – 2045

(68% M, 32% CF; 40hl/ha; 14.5% ABV; 50% new)Soft black-cherry ripe to smell; rich and powerful, vital, and fine in tannin; deep and rich and long and close-grained, clearly from a hot year and, as regularly recently, always with a touch of alcohol warmth, but an elegant, graceful, sweet-cored, fleshy wine, with an absolutely effortless tannin texture and great length to finish. The Right Bank year’s ample proportions, but with the plateau’s limestone grace and restraint. 2028–48+.

The 2020 Canon, bottled in May 2022, has an exquisite bouquet that stops you in your tracks. Breathtaking delineation and focus, taut and linear, yet with ample fruit, this unabashedly exudes its propitious terroir. The palate is delectably creamy on the entry with fine salinity, vibrant and tensile, with a very persistent finish. This Canon ranks amongst the finest overseen by the team in recent years. Chapeau. Tasted twice with consistent notes. Drink 2026-2065.

The 2020 Canon nailed it this year, the best since the benchmark 2015/2016 vintages. It has one of those bouquets that stops the clock thanks to its breathtaking delineation and focus, fragrant black cherries, bilberry, shucked oyster shell and crushed rock aromas. It is cool, calm and collected. The palate possesses exquisite definition, armed with simply crystalline red fruit matched with a perfect silver bead of acidity. There is tangible tension from the start and it fans out gloriously toward the pixelated finish. This brilliant Canon should offer 20–30 years of drinking pleasure, probably more. Chapeau! 2026 - 2055.

Wow. This is really exceptional with super density of fruit that remains clear and agile. Blackberries, currants, violets and spice, as well as some chalk and salt. It really goes on for minutes. Best of the trilogy?

The 2020 Canon is a blend of 68% Merlot and 32% Cabernet Franc, aging for 18 months in French oak, 50% new. It weighs in with 14.5% alcohol and a pH of 3.53. Deep garnet-purple colored, it bursts from the glass with vivacious notes of Morello cherries, redcurrant jelly, wild blueberries and black raspberries, plus hints of powdered cinnamon, clove oil, star anise and dusty red soil. The medium to full-bodied palate is an exercise in grace, delivering exquisitely ripe, finely pixilated tannins and bold freshness to support the tight-knit black, red and blue fruit layers, finishing long with loads of exotic spices and mineral sparks. An exhilarating triumph!

This is intense, structured and concentrated yet with an abundance of violet and peony notes that curl up through the tannins, combining halfway through the palate with blueberry, raspberry, tobacco, gunsmoke and sculpted, precise pulses of chalk minerality. There is just so much to talk about with this wine, but the overall impression is of dozens of carefully crafted elements that steal up on you. It's hard not to be convinced by its success - and as ever with Canon you are in no doubt as to how well it will age. Gorgeous. 50% new barrels. 3.53pH. Harvest 4 September to 23 September. 50% new oak. A yield of 40hl/ha. Could go up after tasting in bottle, a potential 100 points. 98-100.Drinking Window 2027 - 2050