Canon 2020

St Emilion, Premier Grand Cru Classé B

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Tasting Notes
The 2020 Canon is a wine of mind-blowing purity and nuance. It has been nothing less than thrilling on the three occasions I have tasted it so far. Intensely saline and chalky, the 2020 possesses spellbinding finesse and nuance. Red-toned fruit, crushed rocks, white pepper, rose petal and mint all come alive in the glass, buttressed by clean saline notes that extend the mid-palate into the finish. There is simply nothing like great Canon. And the 2020 is unquestionably a great Canon. Score: 100 Antonio Galloni, Inside Bordeaux Maturity: 2030-2070 23 February 2023
The 2020 Canon is a gorgeous, sophisticated wine. Silky and soaring, Canon is vertical in build, with a real sense of explosive energy that give the wine its shape. Rose petal, lavender, mint, spice and ripe red/purplish berry fruit all meld together effortlessly. The 2020 is an especially airy, understated Canon. I can't wait to see how it ages. Score: 95 - 97 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2035 - 2060 03 June 2021
The 2020 Canon is a gorgeous, sophisticated wine. Silky and soaring, Canon is vertical in build, with a real sense of explosive energy that give the wine its shape. Rose petal, lavender, mint, spice and ripe red/purplish berry fruit all meld together effortlessly. The 2020 is an especially airy, understated Canon. I can't wait to see how it ages. Score: 95 - 97 Antonio Galloni, Inside Bordeaux Maturity: 2035-2060 01 June 2021
Stunning, grab-a-friend, insanely good wine. The structure and tannic grip manage to be both barely there and tightly controlling, giving form and space for the raspberry, blueberry and pomegrante fruits to crowd in the palate, followed by oyster shell salinity, pummice stone scrape and electic points of mandarin peel and lemon grass. Finished with pure no messing about juiciness. 50% new barrels, 3.53ph. Harvest 4 September to 23 September. 50% new oak, 40hl/ha yield. Thomas Duclos consultant, Nicolas Audebert director. Score: 100 Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux Maturity: 2028-2046 15 February 2023
Still an En Primeur wine and yet already the texture velvety, powerful yet seductive, utterly delicious. Levitates above the palate in the way that the best limestone estates are able to do; violet, peony, raspberry, crushed stone, tobacco, blueberry, salted almonds. My Right Bank wine of the vintage when I was tasting this earlier in the year, and a few months later it continues to perform extremely strongly. 40hl/h yield, 50% new barrels, 3.53ph, harvest September 4 to 23. Thomas Duclos consults. Score: 98 - 100 Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux Maturity: 2026-2050 17 September 2021
This is intense, structured and concentrated yet with an abundance of violet and peony notes that curl up through the tannins, combining halfway through the palate with blueberry, raspberry, tobacco, gunsmoke and sculpted, precise pulses of chalk minerality. There is just so much to talk about with this wine, but the overall impression is of dozens of carefully crafted elements that steal up on you. It's hard not to be convinced by its success - and as ever with Canon you are in no doubt as to how well it will age. Gorgeous. 50% new barrels. 3.53pH. Harvest 4 September to 23 September. 50% new oak. A yield of 40hl/ha. Could go up after tasting in bottle, a potential 100 points. 98-100. Score: 98 - 100 Jane Anson, Decanter.com Maturity: 2027 - 2050 16 May 2021
The 2020 Canon, bottled in May 2022, has an exquisite bouquet that stops you in your tracks. Breathtaking delineation and focus, taut and linear, yet with ample fruit, this unabashedly exudes its propitious terroir. The palate is delectably creamy on the entry with fine salinity, vibrant and tensile, with a very persistent finish. This Canon ranks amongst the finest overseen by the team in recent years. Chapeau. Tasted twice with consistent notes. Score: 97 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2026-2055 08 February 2023
The 2020 Canon nailed it this year, the best since the benchmark 2015/2016 vintages. It has one of those bouquets that stops the clock thanks to its breathtaking delineation and focus, fragrant black cherries, bilberry, shucked oyster shell and crushed rock aromas. It is cool, calm and collected. The palate possesses exquisite definition, armed with simply crystalline red fruit matched with a perfect silver bead of acidity. There is tangible tension from the start and it fans out gloriously toward the pixelated finish. This brilliant Canon should offer 20–30 years of drinking pleasure, probably more. Chapeau! Score: 96 - 98 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2026 - 2055 27 May 2021
The 2020 Canon nailed it this year, the best since the benchmark 2015/2016 vintages. It has one of those bouquets that stops the clock thanks to its breathtaking delineation and focus, fragrant black cherries, bilberry, shucked oyster shell and crushed rock aromas. It is cool, calm and collected. The palate possesses exquisite definition, armed with simply crystalline red fruit matched with a perfect silver bead of acidity. There is tangible tension from the start and it fans out gloriously toward the pixelated finish. This brilliant Canon should offer 20–30 years of drinking pleasure, probably more. Chapeau! Score: 96 - 98 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2026-2055 01 May 2021
The 2020 Château Canon is another brilliant wine in a long line of brilliant wines from this incredible team and consistent estate. Coming from the upper plateau (unquestionably one of the finest terroirs on the upper plateau) and 68% Merlot and 32% Cabernet Franc, it offers a perfumed, ethereal nose of red and blue fruits, violets, white flowers, and unsmoked tobacco. With riveting purity, full-bodied richness, flawless balance, and a great, great finish, it’s going to push the upper limits of my scale. The tannins here are incredible as well, and this beauty should drink well for 20-30 years. Hats off to technical director Nicolas Audebert and his team for another insanely good wine. Score: 96 - 98 Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com 25 May 2021
The 2020 Canon is a blend of 68% Merlot and 32% Cabernet Franc, aging for 18 months in French oak, 50% new. It weighs in with 14.5% alcohol and a pH of 3.53. Deep garnet-purple colored, it bursts from the glass with vivacious notes of Morello cherries, redcurrant jelly, wild blueberries and black raspberries, plus hints of powdered cinnamon, clove oil, star anise and dusty red soil. The medium to full-bodied palate is an exercise in grace, delivering exquisitely ripe, finely pixilated tannins and bold freshness to support the tight-knit black, red and blue fruit layers, finishing long with loads of exotic spices and mineral sparks. An exhilarating triumph! Score: 98 - 100 Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2027 - 2062 20 May 2021
68% Merlot, 32% Cabernet Franc. Cask sample. Refined and discreet. Delicately perfumed, berry-fruit aromas. Gentle attack then builds and persists, the tannins so fine as to be inconspicuous. No exaggeration but a depth and presence that reflects the potential. (JL) Score: 17+ Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com 08 May 2021
Wow. This is really exceptional with super density of fruit that remains clear and agile. Blackberries, currants, violets and spice, as well as some chalk and salt. It really goes on for minutes. Best of the trilogy? Score: 98 - 99 James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com 05 May 2021

Tasting Notes

The 2020 Canon is a wine of mind-blowing purity and nuance. It has been nothing less than thrilling on the three occasions I have tasted it so far. Intensely saline and chalky, the 2020 possesses spellbinding finesse and nuance. Red-toned fruit, crushed rocks, white pepper, rose petal and mint all come alive in the glass, buttressed by clean saline notes that extend the mid-palate into the finish. There is simply nothing like great Canon. And the 2020 is unquestionably a great Canon.

Score: 100

Antonio Galloni, Inside Bordeaux Maturity: 2030-2070 23 February 2023

The 2020 Canon is a gorgeous, sophisticated wine. Silky and soaring, Canon is vertical in build, with a real sense of explosive energy that give the wine its shape. Rose petal, lavender, mint, spice and ripe red/purplish berry fruit all meld together effortlessly. The 2020 is an especially airy, understated Canon. I can't wait to see how it ages.

Score: 95 - 97

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2035 - 2060 03 June 2021

Score: 95 - 97

Antonio Galloni, Inside Bordeaux Maturity: 2035-2060 01 June 2021

Stunning, grab-a-friend, insanely good wine. The structure and tannic grip manage to be both barely there and tightly controlling, giving form and space for the raspberry, blueberry and pomegrante fruits to crowd in the palate, followed by oyster shell salinity, pummice stone scrape and electic points of mandarin peel and lemon grass. Finished with pure no messing about juiciness. 50% new barrels, 3.53ph. Harvest 4 September to 23 September. 50% new oak, 40hl/ha yield. Thomas Duclos consultant, Nicolas Audebert director.

Score: 100

Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux Maturity: 2028-2046 15 February 2023

Still an En Primeur wine and yet already the texture velvety, powerful yet seductive, utterly delicious. Levitates above the palate in the way that the best limestone estates are able to do; violet, peony, raspberry, crushed stone, tobacco, blueberry, salted almonds. My Right Bank wine of the vintage when I was tasting this earlier in the year, and a few months later it continues to perform extremely strongly. 40hl/h yield, 50% new barrels, 3.53ph, harvest September 4 to 23. Thomas Duclos consults.

Score: 98 - 100

Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux Maturity: 2026-2050 17 September 2021

This is intense, structured and concentrated yet with an abundance of violet and peony notes that curl up through the tannins, combining halfway through the palate with blueberry, raspberry, tobacco, gunsmoke and sculpted, precise pulses of chalk minerality. There is just so much to talk about with this wine, but the overall impression is of dozens of carefully crafted elements that steal up on you. It's hard not to be convinced by its success - and as ever with Canon you are in no doubt as to how well it will age. Gorgeous. 50% new barrels. 3.53pH. Harvest 4 September to 23 September. 50% new oak. A yield of 40hl/ha. Could go up after tasting in bottle, a potential 100 points. 98-100.

Score: 98 - 100

Jane Anson, Decanter.com Maturity: 2027 - 2050 16 May 2021

The 2020 Canon, bottled in May 2022, has an exquisite bouquet that stops you in your tracks. Breathtaking delineation and focus, taut and linear, yet with ample fruit, this unabashedly exudes its propitious terroir. The palate is delectably creamy on the entry with fine salinity, vibrant and tensile, with a very persistent finish. This Canon ranks amongst the finest overseen by the team in recent years. Chapeau. Tasted twice with consistent notes.

Score: 97

Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2026-2055 08 February 2023

The 2020 Canon nailed it this year, the best since the benchmark 2015/2016 vintages. It has one of those bouquets that stops the clock thanks to its breathtaking delineation and focus, fragrant black cherries, bilberry, shucked oyster shell and crushed rock aromas. It is cool, calm and collected. The palate possesses exquisite definition, armed with simply crystalline red fruit matched with a perfect silver bead of acidity. There is tangible tension from the start and it fans out gloriously toward the pixelated finish. This brilliant Canon should offer 20–30 years of drinking pleasure, probably more. Chapeau!

Score: 96 - 98

Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2026 - 2055 27 May 2021

Score: 96 - 98

Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2026-2055 01 May 2021

The 2020 Château Canon is another brilliant wine in a long line of brilliant wines from this incredible team and consistent estate. Coming from the upper plateau (unquestionably one of the finest terroirs on the upper plateau) and 68% Merlot and 32% Cabernet Franc, it offers a perfumed, ethereal nose of red and blue fruits, violets, white flowers, and unsmoked tobacco. With riveting purity, full-bodied richness, flawless balance, and a great, great finish, it’s going to push the upper limits of my scale. The tannins here are incredible as well, and this beauty should drink well for 20-30 years. Hats off to technical director Nicolas Audebert and his team for another insanely good wine.

Score: 96 - 98

Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com 25 May 2021

The 2020 Canon is a blend of 68% Merlot and 32% Cabernet Franc, aging for 18 months in French oak, 50% new. It weighs in with 14.5% alcohol and a pH of 3.53. Deep garnet-purple colored, it bursts from the glass with vivacious notes of Morello cherries, redcurrant jelly, wild blueberries and black raspberries, plus hints of powdered cinnamon, clove oil, star anise and dusty red soil. The medium to full-bodied palate is an exercise in grace, delivering exquisitely ripe, finely pixilated tannins and bold freshness to support the tight-knit black, red and blue fruit layers, finishing long with loads of exotic spices and mineral sparks. An exhilarating triumph!

Score: 98 - 100

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2027 - 2062 20 May 2021

68% Merlot, 32% Cabernet Franc. Cask sample. Refined and discreet. Delicately perfumed, berry-fruit aromas. Gentle attack then builds and persists, the tannins so fine as to be inconspicuous. No exaggeration but a depth and presence that reflects the potential. (JL)

Score: 17+

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com 08 May 2021

Wow. This is really exceptional with super density of fruit that remains clear and agile. Blackberries, currants, violets and spice, as well as some chalk and salt. It really goes on for minutes. Best of the trilogy?

Score: 98 - 99

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com 05 May 2021

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