The 2020 Château Canon truly deserves its 100-point score! It’s being hailed as a monumental wine, not just for its superb balance and depth but also for its remarkable freshness, precision, and expressive character. With its vibrant acidity, silky tannins, and a long, mouthwatering finish, it’s a true testament to the potential of the Saint-Émilion plateau. This wine definitely promises an exceptional aging potential, and it’s already showing incredible elegance and complexity. A true gem for collectors and connoisseurs alike!

The Wine Advocate | RP 100
Published: Apr 6, 2023
Drink: 2030-2065

The brilliant 2020 Canon looks set to surpass both the 2019 and 2016 as this estate's finest wine since the post-war period, though like many of the best 2020s, it will require more patience than its 2019 counterpart. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of cherries and raspberries mingled with notions of exotic spices and iris, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with vibrant acids and beautifully polished, chalky tannins. Pure and precise, it concludes with a long, mouthwatering finish. This beautifully constructed wine communicates the essence of this superb limestone terroir, and it will be worth a special effort to track down and cellar.

In the last few years, this sleeping giant has well and truly reawakened, and the 2020 vintage represents the finest Canon produced since the early 1960s. Extensive replanting between 1996 and 2003, overseen by Audebert's predecessor, John Kolasa, saw some 50% of the estate's 22 hectares replaced. The fact that these vines are now arriving at full maturity surely goes some way to accounting for Canon's contemporary renaissance. Now, the team is working on restructuring the rest, combining massal selections and clones. Viticulture is thoughtful, with cover crops across the estate, and the terroir itself is relatively homogeneous: solid limestone covered by some 0.25 to 0.7 meters of clay, with a more or less uniform exposition on Saint-Émilion's plateau. There's also one small parcel in the town itself and another by Berliquet. Today, the vineyard is planted with about 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc, and there are no plans to radically alter that. Winemaking privileges finesse over power, though a certain richness and texture can be taken for granted with a site like this, and maturation is in 50% new oak (mostly from Taransaud, Demptos, Sylvain and Quintessence). Today, the focus is on increasing precision and refinement, rather than revolution. And well it might be, for why change a winning team?

Decanter | D 99
Published: Jan 3, 2023
Drink: 2027-2048

A classy, open, expressive and radiant Canon in 2020. Less plush than I was expecting on the palate, this is linear, focussed and refined with a core of juicy red fruits; raspberries, strawberries and cherries. High acidity gives the lifeforce and sense of joy while still remaining structured and forward. Definitely not as big, or weighty as some in St-Emilion, this is more sophisticated with well integrated, very fine tannins and good use of oak. It’s not trying too hard, elegant and charming as Canon does so well with freshness and a wide, expansive finish. Clarity and intensity. Brilliant.

Closure: Cork
Alcohol: 14.50%
Body: Full
Oak: Oaked
Grapes: 32% Cabernet Franc 68% Merlot

JamesSuckling.com | JS 98
Published: Dec 12, 2022

Black cherries, fresh herbs, lemon rind, and violets on the nose. Crushed stone, too. Medium to full body with super fine tannins that run the length of the wine. It goes on for minutes. A great wine. Try after 2027, but already thoroughly gorgeous. A classical Canon.

Jancisrobinson.com | JR 17.5
Published: Nov 15, 2024
Drink: 2027-2045

68% Merlot, 32% Cabernet Franc.
Dark, lustrous crimson. Fresh and contained and a wine concentrating on being a well-balanced drink rather than showing anything off. Lots to enjoy here and fairly soon too! 

Chateaucanon.com

Canon’s wines reflect the huge rigour of the Saint-Emilion plateau. Freshness hones the huge voluptuousness. A pure, clean nectar that draws all of the minerality’s tension. A fine wine. The protruding power of the vine rooted in the rock.

Château Canon offers a masterful, full, direct personality. The opulence of the fruit creates tension with the mineral freshness. A game of light and shadows between the quarries and the plateau. Reflecting the vineyard’s density of sunlight.
Indomitable fullness. A favourite. Ageing potential.