Château Canon 2017

The 2017 vintage in Saint-Émilion

Vintage benchmark: 87/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: Frost struck the slope-foot vines: the plateaus saved the day, and the vintage must be judged plot by plot.

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

Canon 2017 takes us on a sensory journey of crisp fruit and aromas of garrigue scrubland. It starts with an explosion of fruit, blackcurrants, blueberries and cherries, that then gives way to a spring-like freshness. The nose reveals notes of broom and rosemary, like a walk through a field of flowers and a forest of eucalyptus. On the palate, we find a whole raft of delicate, smooth flavours. The rich, detailed texture stretches out like Ariadne’s thread, leading to a mineral, chalky finish, typical of the wines from the limestone plateau.

The vintage

Weather conditions

Winter: mild and dry

Spring: sunny and warm

Summer: hot

Autumn: lovely sunny days alternating with autumn rains

Harvest dates

Merlot: September 4th to 21st

Cabernet Franc: September 22nd to 27th

pH: 3.66

Blend of the 2017 vintage

Figures from the 2017 sheet

• 14 % vol.Alcohol
• 42 hl/haYield
• 30 yrsVine age

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 (56% new barrels), with medium or medium-long toasting. Racking via the bunghole. Fining 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.