Château Canon 2007

The 2007 vintage in Saint-Émilion

Vintage benchmark: 82/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: A cool, wet summer gave light, silky wines, with a short ageing potential.

Overall reading of the year’s season across Saint-Émilion. An estate can depart from it sharply, in frost or hail years, where two neighbours did not make the same vintage. What this particular wine actually gave is on its technical sheet and in the scores above.

Tasting

The attack is long, the aromatic bouquet complex, distinguished and subtle. Fine, it is characterised by a lovely acidity with fresh, floral notes that evolve nicely towards leather and tobacco, with undergrowth notes. A blossoming, harmonious vintage, typical of Château Canon in its minerality.

The vintage

Weather conditions

Winter: mild and humid

Spring: dry with pleasant temperatures in April, then humid from May

Summer: mixed and cool

Autumn: sunny but mild, with cool nights

Harvest dates

Merlot: 27 September to 3 October 2007

Cabernet Franc: 3 and 4 October 2007

pH: 3.72

Blend of the 2007 vintage

Figures from the 2007 sheet

• 13 % vol.Alcohol
• 35 hl/haYield
• 25 yrsVine age
• 60,000 bottlesProduction

Winemaking

Separate vinification, vatting using gravity, into conical shaped stainless steel vats with a double walled system for temperature control. Gravity run-off. Malolactic: 1/3 in new barrels and 2/3 in stainless steel vats.

Ageing

18 months in French oak barrels (50% new barrels) with a medium or medium-long toasting. Racking via the bunghole. Fining with egg whites, if necessary, depending on the vintage.

Terroir

Château Canon occupies a south-west-facing limestone terrace that makes up most of its surface area. A quarter of the estate lies on the slope of this hillside, which descends gently towards the Dordogne. This imposing mass of sedimentary rock is criss-crossed by numerous galleries, evidence of the quarrying of this building material since the 16th century. The site, which peaks at 87 metres, benefits from perfect ventilation and a walled enclosure that protects the vines from spring frosts. This setting allowed the château to be among the few estates to produce wine during the severe cold of 1766 and 1956.