Winemaker Notes
The color is deep, luminous. The aromatic profile opens on a beautiful red fruit, both rich and fresh, unctuous yet cool - strawberry, blackberry, cherry. Fragrant floral notes envelop this core as it becomes more defined: crisp, juicy, sanguine. 2025 could have tipped everything over, yet freshness runs through the wine from start to finish, carried by the saline signature of the limestone. The tannins, discreet, silky, elegant, structure the whole without ever weighing it down. The fruit unfolds with amplitude, supported by a persistent tension that stretches the finish and prolongs its brightness. The plateau frames, the wine falls into line. Ripeness settles in, freshness asserts itself. And balance, regal, prevails. A Canon of sovereign breadth.
Blned: 76% Merlot, 24% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
-
Vinous
The 2025 Canon is a total stunner. Deep and sumptuous in the glass, it offers tons of the vintage's textural intensity along with all the vibrant, saline energy that is such a signature here. Dark-fleshed fruit, mocha, new leather, herbs and dried flowers build gradually in the glass, leading to a huge, dramatic finish laced with hints of blood orange, pomegranate and chalk. The interplay of finesse and power is dazzling. Tasted two times. –Antonio Galloni
Barrel Sample: 98-100 -
James Suckling
The finesse and sophistication are very impressive, with a medium body, ultra-fine tannins and a rather endless finish. It’s medium-bodied ad poised. Great length. A great wine.
Barrel Sample: 98-99 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A blend of 76% Merlot and 24% Cabernet Franc, the 2025 Canon continues this property's brilliant decade-long run of exceptional wines. Unwinding in the glass with a complex bouquet of cherries and raspberries mingled with hints of exotic spices, licorice and petals, it's medium- to full-bodied, suave and concentrated, with a bright spine of acidity and a long, penetrating finish. Harvest stretched from August 28 to September 18.
Barrel Sample: 96-99 -
Jeb Dunnuck
Ripe cherries, graphite, crushed flowers, and assorted blue fruits all define the 2025 Château Canon, another great wine from this team, which checks in at 76% Merlot and 24% Cabernet Franc and will spend 16 to 18 months in 49% new French oak, with the balance in foudre. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, with a remarkably polished, flawlessly balanced mouthfeel, ultra-fine tannins, and a great finish. It hits 14% alcohol with a pH of 3.5 and is very much in the ultra-pure, graceful, classic style this terrific château is known for today. Tasted multiple times with consistent notes. Yields here were 40 hectoliters per hectare with harvest running from the 28th of August (one day earlier than 2022) to the 18th of September.
Barrel Sample: 96-98 -
Decanter
An outstanding Canon. Cherry, cola, liquorice, slate, blackcurrant with a milk chocolate dusting. Smooth and impactful from the start – chewy but juicy, round, alive and filling – mature but there’s no overt sun in the glass. You can feel the Cabernet Franc and the coolness all round. Good structure, maybe more serious than some Canons in the past, but there’s such purity and focus with excellent tannins as well as plenty of blackcurrants, red cherries and hints of raspberry too Complexity and nuance in abundance. A fabulous wine in the making. Authentic.
Barrel Sample: 97
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Marked by its historic fortified village—perhaps the prettiest in all of Bordeaux, the St-Émilion appellation, along with its neighboring village of Pomerol, are leaders in quality on the Right Bank of Bordeaux. These Merlot-dominant red wines (complemented by various amounts of Cabernet Franc and/or Cabernet Sauvignon) remain some of the most admired and collected wines of the world.
St-Émilion has the longest history in wine production in Bordeaux—longer than the Left Bank—dating back to an 8th century monk named Saint Émilion who became a hermit in one of the many limestone caves scattered throughout the area.
Today St-Émilion is made up of hundreds of independent farmers dedicated to the same thing: growing Merlot and Cabernet Franc (and tiny amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon). While always roughly the same blend, the wines of St-Émilion vary considerably depending on the soil upon which they are grown—and the soils do vary considerably throughout the region.
The chateaux with the highest classification (Premier Grand Cru Classés) are on gravel-rich soils or steep, clay-limestone hillsides. There are only four given the highest rank, called Premier Grand Cru Classés A (Chateau Cheval Blanc, Ausone, Angélus, Pavie) and 14 are Premier Grand Cru Classés B. Much of the rest of the vineyards in the appellation are on flatter land where the soils are a mix of gravel, sand and alluvial matter.
Great wines from St-Émilion will be deep in color, and might have characteristics of blackberry liqueur, black raspberry, licorice, chocolate, grilled meat, earth or truffles. They will be bold, layered and lush.