The 2021 vintage in Saint-Émilion
Vintage benchmark: 85/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)
Vintage character: Frost followed by a cool summer brought back classic wines, lighter and more taut, to be drunk in their youth.
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
Crackling with flashes of vibrant red, Château Canon 2021 is an electrifying experience. Raspberry and strawberry hues leap from the glass, locked in a heady embrace. Then the colour dims to a deep cherry-red, tinged with a bittersweet < darkness. The body is firm, toned, dense but never overpowering. The mid-palate is a study in controlled tension and formal precision, enlivened by a radiant splash of orange blossom and a hint of sweetness more almond than honey. It is the kaleidoscopic complexity of the vintage which most impresses, an impudent invitation to explore and enjoy. Fruity, floral, herbaceous, smoky: equilibrium incarnate.
The vintage
Harvest dates
Merlot: 16 September to 6 October
Cabernet Franc: 30 September to 8 October
pH: 3.37
Blend of the 2021 vintage
- 71 % Merlot
- 29 % Cabernet franc
Shares for this vintage, as recorded on the 2021 technical sheet. The vineyard itself is planted with 67 % merlot, 33 % cabernet franc — a vintage blend departs from the area under vine as the year dictates.
Figures from the 2021 sheet
- 13.5 % vol.Alcohol
- 40 hl/haYield
Label
Ageing
16 to 18 months with 50% new oak 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.
An offer on Château Canon 2021
Availability, allocations and terms: the Compagnie Médocaine will reply promptly. The estate and vintage are already filled in in the message.
Texts and documents 2021
The texts below copy in one click for your product sheets, catalogues and social channels. The printable sheet condenses the whole page onto a single A4 page.
Visuals
This wine’s visuals are grouped in the media library. High-definition packshots, labels, back labels and lifestyle photos are reserved for clients and partners, on the Compagnie Médocaine’s VinCod media library.