Chateau Canon

Chateau Canon was originated from a small vineyard planted around the Church of St-Martin, by Jean Bies in the early 18^th century, and was known as Clos St-Martin then. In 1760 Bies sold the 13-hectare vineyard to Jacques Kanon, who expanded the estate by purchasing several neighboring vineyards, and also constructed a manor house.

Kanon subsequently sold the estate to Raymond Fontemoing, a local negociant, whose family already owned a property in Fronsac named Chateau Canon, so they marketed the new acquisition as St-Martin. Around 1853 the property was renamed Chateau Canon, perhaps to honor its previous owner, or perhaps reverting to the name following the sale by the Fontemoing family.

The estate changed hands several times afterwards, before going to Andre Fournier in 1919. The family did much good work at the estate, including the installation of new wooden fermentation vats. However, there were many difficulties too and ultimately the family decided to sell, which then came to the Wertheimer brothers.

The Wertheimer brothers Alain and Gerard, who owned Chanel, acquired Chateau Canon in 1996. During that time the estate was a dilapidated property, requiring major investment to renovate. John Kolasa, already proven in the revitalization of the other property of the brothers, Rauzan-Segla, came to lead the rescue of Canon.

 

The investment included the replanting of the whole vineyards, which is still going on today because the appellation regulations requiring this to be undertaken in stages. Due to the limited supply of grapes because of replanting, with approval from INAO, Canon started to incorporate the fruit from the nearby Cure-Bon, acquired in 2000, to the property.

In 2011 the neighboring Chateau Matras was acquired too, adding another 12 hectares to the mix. It was believed that once the Canon vineyards are mature, the Matras vineyards would be channeled into the second wine Clos Canon. Other investments by Chanel included rebuilding the cellars, installation of a gravity fed system and new stainless steel fermentation vessels.

The investments paid off with the wine being ranked as premier grand cru classe (class B) in the 1996 classification. The vineyards are located to the west of St-Emilion, with the addition of Cure-Bon and Matras expanding to about 34 hectares now. The soil is largely limestone, with 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Franc, with low average vine age because of the replanting.

There is leaf thinning and green harvesting, before the ripe fruit is hand-harvested into small crates, to a sorting table and destemmed, before a second sorting. The fruit are then gravity fed into the temperature controlled stainless steel vats, with elevage for between 14 to 18 months in barrel, of which 50% to 80% are new.

Racking is done every three months, with the wine fined with egg white but not filtered. The grand vin is Chateau Canon, with the rejected fruit going to the second wine Clos de Canon. There are about 6000 to 7000 cases produced with about equal split between the two.

I have recently tasted the 2007 vintage and below is my tasting note:

Appearance
Bright and clear, it has deep ruby color, with legs.

Nose
Clean, with medium (+) intensity aromas of black fruit of plum and blackberry, red fruit of raspberries, oak notes of cedar, sweet spice of cloves, maturity notes of cigar, mineral notes of peat. The wine is developing.

Palate
Dry with medium acidity, the wine has medium tannin which is velvety and smooth. Having medium (+) alcohol and medium body, it is showing medium intensity flavors of black fruit such as blackberry and plum, red fruit of redcurrant, oak note of cedar, maturity notes of cigarbox and some sweet spice of cloves. The wine has a medium finish.

Conclusion
Good quality St-Emilion with typical plummy style, the wine has a fairly intense nose of good complexity, with the palate of balance and showing nice right bank characters with a higher than expected alcohol, which is a bit surprising given the poor vintage. With a decent finish, the wine is ready to drink now though can benefit from further ageing of another 2-3 years.