Château Canon, 1er Grand Cru Classé, St Emilion, 2012
John Kolasa and team are doing a fabulous job restoring the fortunes of this estate. The 2009 shone at the 2009 Southwold tastings and when we tasted the 2009 and 2010 side by side, we thought the 2010 was head and shoulders above the 2009. The 2012 is intensely mineral and perfumed with floral notes, crème de cassis and prunes. There is real density here; almost unctuous and thick, this is rich and possesses masses of sexy extract. A really impressive, silky, supple, fresh effort, which must rank amongst the top wines of the vintage. Bravo!
critic reviews
Deep garnet in color, the 2012 Canon storms out of the glass with powerful notes of baked blackberries, prunes, and scorched earth leading to hints of sandalwood and tobacco with a waft of dried herbs. The medium to full-bodied palate delivers a generous core of mature black fruit and savory layers, with a chewy texture and a stewed tea note on the finish.
The 2012 Canon just misses a little delineation on the nose, smudged red berry fruit, desiccated orange peel, camphor and fresh figs. The palate is medium-bodied with rounded tannins, a generous dab of white pepper sprinkled over the red fruit, clove and sage towards the balanced and focused finish. Perhaps just compromised by the aromatics at the moment, but I might leave this in bottle to see how it evolves. Tasted twice at Bordeaux Index's Ten Year-On tasting and blind at the Southwold Ten-Year On tasting.
Majoring on saffron and tobacco leaf aromatics, this has a delicate delivery of minerality and power, a tightrope balance of soft leather, strawberry and rasberry, with layers of mandarin peel and white pepper spice. Lace-like delicacy to the tannins, enjoyable and ready to drink. 80% new oak, 35hl/h yield, 3.66ph. Harvest October 3 to 15. John Kolasa was director of both Canon and Rauzan Ségla for this vintage.