Château Canon 2016

The 2016 vintage in Saint-Émilion

Vintage benchmark: 96/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: A dry summer on full water reserves gave fresh, deep wines, magical on the asteria limestone.

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

Stroll through the vineyards in the heat of a summer afternoon, enjoying the refreshing breeze coming down off the St Emilion high land...this is the place to which you find yourself transported by Château Canon 2016. The nose releases aromas of black cherries and ripe fruit. Then the fragrances of violets and chocolate express themselves. A few notes of fresh fig and slightly peppery spices complete the aromatic palette, which reveals excellent length and unctuosity. The fine, silky tannins create a creamy and long-lasting mouthfeel. The limestone plateau imprints it minerality and brings a liveliness on the palate along with beautiful balance.

The vintage

Weather conditions

Winter: mild

Spring: rainy

Summer: very hot and dry

Autumn: Indian summer

Harvest dates

Merlot: 22 September to 3 October

Cabernet Franc: 7 to 11 October

pH: 3.57

Blend of the 2016 vintage

Figures from the 2016 sheet

• 14 % vol.Alcohol
• 45 hl/haYield
• 30 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 with 65% new barrels

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.