CANON 2019

The 2019 Château Canon is another brilliant wine from this talented team that delivers everything you could want from this incredible terroir located on the upper limestone plateau. Based on 74% Merlot and 26% Cabernet Franc, it has a pure, incredibly refined yet still powerful profile that takes time to unwind. Offering up beautiful notes of black raspberries, wild strawberries, spring flowers, chalky minerality, and graphite, it hits the palate with medium- to full-bodied richness, a layered, multidimensional mouthfeel, ultra-fine tannins, and a finish that’s something to behold. This isn’t the massive style of 2015 and reminds me slightly of 2016. It’s perfectly balanced and, again, the purity and finesse are off the charts. It needs to be forgotten for 4–5 years and enjoyed over the following 2–3 decades. Hats off to Nicolas Audebert for another sensational wine.

Violet, cassis, plum purée and blackberry reduction notes are layered together without being compacted, giving each space to breathe and unfurl while letting the fine lacy thread of chalky minerality flow in between. This shows the heat and slight grain of this distinctive vintage, but manages those aspects better than most. Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2025 through 2038.

The 2019 Canon has a fine, detailed nose of blackberry, raspberry, scorched earth and just a touch of crushed stone. The palate is medium-bodied with fine delineation, poised and focused, yet serious. This is a Canon with breeding, but it is more of a long-term prospect compared to the 2018. A second sample at the château showed a bit more depth on the saline finish, and based on that example, I think this will become an outstanding Saint-Émilion.

Blackberries, blueberries and dark chocolate with bark, mushrooms and chalk. Lavender, too. Full-bodied with firm tannins that are polished and velvety. White pepper, gesso and crushed stone. It’s full-bodied and layered with tightness and focus and a long finish. It’s solid and stalwart, as usual. Reminds me of the very special 1955. One for the cellar.

The 2019 Canon has turned out brilliantly in bottle, wafting from the glass with complex aromas of raspberries and red plums mingled with notions of raw cocoa, dark chocolate, pencil shavings and rose petals. Medium to full-bodied, seamless and multidimensional, it's one of the most refined, elegant right bank wines of the vintage, with a deep core of fruit, beautifully refined tannins, lively acids and a long, perfumed finish. This is a superb achievement for Nicolas Audebert and his team.