Canon 2012

St Emilion, Premier Grand Cru Classé B

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Tasting Notes

Tasted from several bottles in recent months, the 2012 Canon is a stupendous wine for the vintage and if anything, it appears to be improving with each encounter. It clearly serves up more than enough volume and fruit intensity on the nose compared to the impressive 2011 Canon: it is very pure with black cherries, wild strawberry, asphalt and blood orange. This is very well defined and beautifully focused. The palate is medium-bodied, silky smooth and with that thrilling sense of frisson. There is so much vivacity wound up inside this Saint Emilion that it would not surprise me if it turns out to be one of the very best in 2012. Tasted January 2017.

Score: 94

Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2020-2045 31 March 2017

Tasted at a negociant tasting, the Canon ’12 has a perfumed, mineral-rich bouquet with vibrant red berry fruit that blossom in the glass. As usual, it is understated and refined. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine tannins, a silver thread of acidity and a rather masculine, structured finish that comes at somewhat of a surprise. This is a cerebral Canon that will repay cellaring. Excellent. Tasted April 2013.

Score: 94 - 96

Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 01 May 2013

The 2012 is the first truly profound Canon under the administration of the Wertheimers, the family that owns the famous haute couture house of Chanel. Improvement has been noticeable for a number of years, but this wine is remarkable, particularly in view of a more challenging vintage. The color is a healthy dark ruby/purple, and the wine offers up great minerality along with floral, black-fruited characteristics. What’s not a surprise are the nobility, elegance and finesse of this wine (70% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc) married with serious richness and intensity. Give it another 5-6 years and drink it over the following 20-25 years. (92+)

Score: 92

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2020-2045 01 April 2015

A dense ruby/purple color is followed by notes of black raspberries, blueberries, crushed rocks and spring flowers. This medium to full-bodied, well-endowed, authoritative Canon reveals some serious tannin in the finish, so 4-5 years of cellaring will be needed after bottling. It should last 15-20 years. Owned by the Wertheimers (also the proprietors of the enormously successful haut-couture house of Chanel), this is a pure, stylish, nicely textured, impressive effort from a superb terroir on the limestone plateau of St.-Emilion. The final blend was 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc, and yields were a modest 35 hectoliters per hectare.

Score: 91 - 94

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2013-2033 26 April 2013

A red with blueberry, blackberry and walnut character. Chocolate too. Medium to full body, fine tannins and a fresh finish. This is tight and dense. Extremely polished tannins and a long finish. Another 2001. Better in 2018.

Score: 93

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com Maturity: 2018+ 01 February 2015

Highly distinctive notes marked by beef extract and ripe damsons, as well as oak toast. Rather one-dimensional on the palate.

Score: 15 - 16

Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2017-2023 26 April 2013

Displays a rather firm coating of chalk dust and vanilla notes, with a core of subdued plum and blackberry fruit. Verges on an extracted feel, but comes out solid and sculpted in the end.

Score: 88 - 91

James Molesworth, Wine Spectator 08 April 2013