CANON 2015

One of the wines of the vintage is the 2015 Château Canon which is 72% Merlot and 28% Cabernet Franc that spent 18 months in 70% new French oak. It offers a perfect example of the old saying “iron fist in a velvet glove” and boasts gorgeous notes of black cherries, framboise, spring flowers and exotic spices. All these lead to a full-bodied, ultra-pure, seamless 2015 that marries incredible richness and depth with a sense of purity, elegance, and weightlessness that needs to be tasted to believed. This multi-dimensional, seamless 2015 needs forgotten for 4-5 years and will keep for three decades or more. Bravo! Located on the upper plateau, Château Canon recently purchased the Grand Cru Classé estate of Château Matras, which lies mostly on prime south/southwest slopes, bringing their total acreage from just over 20 hectares to 34 hectares. This gives them a variety of terroirs to work with and the estate is planted to roughly 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon with a vine age around 30 years in age. The wines are always manually harvested, destemmed, fermented in stainless steel, and see malo and aging in 70% new oak. Both the 2014 and 2015 are beautiful wines, with the 2015 having that extra dimension and sexiness of the 2015 vintage. Both need bottle age though so patience is going to be your friend.

A plush, inviting style, with warmed fig and plum sauce notes taking the lead, picking up swaths of cocoa, tobacco and roasted alder along the way. Features plenty of pumping bass, but if you pay attention, there's a laser of chalky minerality driving the finish. When the baby flesh drops away, this will sail in the cellar for some time. *Collectible* (JM)

The 2015 Canon is one of the undisputed stars of the vintage. An utterly mesmerizing wine, Canon has it all; alluring aromatics; towering structure, fabulous depth, and exceptional balance. The aromas and flavors are remarkably nuanced for such a big wine. Waves of graphite, exotic spices, smoke, herb, licorice, violets and crème de cassis appear at every angle as this utterly profound Saint-Émilion shows off its pedigree. So far I have tasted the 2015 four times. It has never been anything less than sensational. Quite simply, Canon is one of the few truly must-have wines of 2015. It is every bit that memorable.

This is the greatest red ever produced here, even better than the great wines of the 1950s and 1960s. Full body yet tight and reserved. Superbly refined tannins. Yet rich and flamboyant. Fruity yet salty and minerally. Electric finish. Stone and chalk undertones. A wonder of a young wine.

Composed of 72% Merlot and 28% Cabernet Franc and aged for 18 months in 70% new and 30% one-year-old barrels, the 2015 Canon is boldly fruited with blackberry preserves, black cherry compote, fruitcake, mocha and plum preserves with suggestions of Indian spices, licorice and black olives. Full-bodied and packed with ripe, rich dried berries and exotic spice layers, it has a firm, slightly chewy structure and just enough freshness (the pH is 3.78), finishing long and savory. Give it another 2-3 years of cellaring to soften its edges and allow its flavor spectrum to fully emerge, and drink it over the next 20 to 25+ years. Lisa Perotti Brown Score 96/100 Drink Dates 2020 - 2045