Château Canon 2020

The 2020 vintage in Saint-Émilion

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

Vintage character: An early, dry year gave splendid wines, which many rank above 2018.

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

This wine opens up with earthy, slightly peaty notes before giving way to aromas of cedar. A few swirls in the glass release an explosion of fruity aromas and reveal a fluid, ethereal and almost weightless nose, a sign of its remarkable complexity. The splendour of the vintage truly comes into its own on the palate with its rich attack and juicy, creamy overtones yet without the slightest hint of heaviness. Quite the contrary, this richness actually elongates the palate with notes of ripe fruit, raspberries and morello cherries. It also has this long, precise salinity to it which structures the finish. A lively, mineral touch from the limestone plateau adds the finishing touches and brings the wine’s freshness back to the forefront.

The vintage

Weather conditions

Winter: exceptionally mild

Spring: very rainy

Summer: very hot from July onwards

Autumn: the rain returned as of the Solstice

Harvest dates

Merlot: 4 to 21 September

Cabernet Franc: 18 September to 23 September

pH: 3.53

Blend of the 2020 vintage

Figures from the 2020 sheet

• 14.5 % vol.Alcohol
• 40 hl/haYield
• 28 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 (50% new barrels), with medium or medium-long toasting.

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.