Château Canon

Visitors discover the estate gradually as they travel through the maze of stone walls and meandering roads which criss-cross the upper reaches of the Saint-Emilion plateau. The château seems eternal, giving the impression of being frozen in time. Located close to the village, its drawing room and courtyard offer views over the ramparts. The pale stone of the façade reflects the soft sunlight, holding the promise of an exceptionally peaceful way of life. When privateer Jacques Kanon bought the vineyard on April 2nd 1760, he could hardly have imagined that 250 years later the estate would be globally recognised for its wine, which is ranked amongst the very finest Premiers Crus. 

When CHANEL acquired the estate in 1996 they decided to invest in restoring the full potential of Château Canon for crafting Premier Grand Cru Classé wines. The vineyard, the cellars and all the buildings were given their current appearance. The latest to date is the 18th century residence, entirely restored to the highest standards by architect Peter Marino. This is no ordinary château. It is a home, a family-owned château passed down through the generations. In winter, blazing fires crackle in the hearths. In summer, lunch is taken by the ornamental pond in a sheltered garden in the shade of the holm oaks.

Since the 2002 vintage, the introduction of a new harvest reception system has enabled us to take even greater care of the selection and handling of the grape bunches. After a painstaking selection in the vines, the best bunches are taken in small-sized crates to the vat cellar entrance. These are then carefully tipped on to a sorting table, where a team of 6 to 8 people removes any berries that are of lesser quality. After a gentle de-stemming, the berries are then sorted by 10 people who discard any berries which have not reached perfect ripeness.

The crop is then placed in small 3 hectoliter stainless steel containers and emptied into the new stainless steel fermentation vats by gravity. Canon thereby avoids any aggressive handling of the crop through pumps and pipes.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

1er Grand Cru Classé B 22 ha / 55acres Clay-limestone plateau South / South-West 75 % Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc 25 years

5500 & 6500 plants per hectare Double cane pruning – Manual leaf thinning – Green harvest – An environmentally – friendly spray programme.

In Saint-Emilion, the Merlot grape reigns supreme. Its name, a diminutive of “merle”, meaning “blackbird’ in the local dialect, comes from the grape’s colour, like that of the bird. The restructuring of Château Canon’s vineyards has restored the planting to its original proportions - primarily Merlot with around one-third Cabernet Franc. With 30-40% Cabernet Franc, Château Canon’s planting is also typical of the Saint-Emilion appellation. This complementary varietal has been traditionally combined with the Merlot in this appellation, where it works wonders.

At Château Canon, we work alongside Nature. It is through the reiteration of Nature’s seasons and colours and the repetition of painstaking work, that our wines are built. It is an intimate journey that challenges perceptions. Pruning, training, de-budding, harvesting and blending - the rituals themselves are almost immutable, yet each vintage is a new beginning.

It takes years of experience and long hours of hard work, to ensure the vineyard is the way we want it, harvesting vine by vine, cluster by cluster and marrying one parcel to another at the time of blending. At Château Canon, we prefer to use craft methods, believing in the value of work carried out by hand. History and tradition are not regarded as a burden, but as a blessing. With each motion, the wine is reborn in the vineyard each year.

Due to the care that goes into their production, only a small number of bottles leave Château Canon’s cellars each year. We take the time required to age the wines, until the tannins are well “melted” (a description typically used for the greatest of grand crus). The wine is therefore a reflection of its terroir and its vintage and will deliver a wealth of emotions at some point in a distant future, never failing to show its exemplary nature.

The 32 hectares are made up of 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc, with the average vine age now close to 30 years following all the ferocious replanting. Classified a Premier Grand Cru Classé, Château Canon is widely recognised as a distinguished, superlative wine; ripe, mineral and opulent, a wine for those with the patience to wait.

• Alcoholic fermentation during 10 days • Maceration (between 28 and 32°C) for 15 days in double walled stainless steel vats, integrating a thermoregulation system with three daily pump-overs. 

• Malolactic fermentation in stainless steel vats and in barrels.

• Ageing during 18 months in barrels, 50 % of which are brand new, racking through the small bunghole at the end of the barrel every three months, fining with fresh egg whites and no filtering.

Synonymous with the greatest wines in the world, the “juridiction of Saint-Emilion” is a veritable wine paradise with several hundred châteaux producing wine in its appellation area – a remarkable group of properties. Unspoiled Unesco World Heritage landscapes, unchanged for centuries, invite the visitor to contemplation and reverie.

There are vines everywhere, with vineyards stretching out as far as the eye can see, glimpsed through a window, or espied through the crumbling walls of some ruins. This is wine land, it always has been. Château Canon’s remarkable walled vineyard borders the entrance to the village. You can go through a door and walk up to Château Canon’s parcel of vines growing in the centre of Saint-Emilion. This unique plot of vines, surrounded by houses, is ploughed by horse and harvested by hand, respecting traditional practices. Its grapes go into the composition of the Grand Vin.