Winemaker Notes
This superb vintage demonstrates the great structure of the finest crus. An abundance of red and dark fruit lies behind an almost mineral attack. Its intensity comes through in powerful, vegetal notes, such as rhubarb. This characterful wine is dense and taut on the palate. The year's great freshness can be perceived behind its still tight structure. Magnificent aging potential.
Blend: 75% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Brilliant stuff, the 2010 Château Canon exhibits a rich, powerful style, and it’s certainly a bigger wine than what this château is producing today. Nevertheless, it has that classic Canon class in its black cherry, smoked tobacco, and crushed stone-like aromas and flavors. These carry to a deep, rich, full-bodied Saint-Emilion that has a powerful, concentrated mouthfeel, ripe tannins, and a blockbuster of a finish.
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James Suckling
Wonderful nose with strawberries, cherry blossom, and vanilla. The red opens up with blueberries, milk chocolate and sweet licorice. Full and juicy on palate with pure dark fruit and velvety tannins. So nicely layered texture and long in the finish with red fruit and crushed chalk. The texture is superb.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet colored, the 2010 Canon features wonderfully expressive notes of dried mulberries, stewed plums and baked black cherries with hints of mocha, bay leaves and fallen leaves. Full-bodied, opulent and super spicy, it has a plush texture with a racy line supporting the hedonic fruit, finishing with jaw-dropping persistence.
Rating: 96+ -
Wine Enthusiast
Powerful, complex and ripe, this is a magnificent and concentrated wine. Juicy blackberry fruits, tight acidity and finely integrated tannins give a smooth, rich texture. This beautiful wine has long-term aging potential.
Cellar Selection -
Wine Spectator
soaked currant fruit and dark blackberry paste flavors. The tannins are dense but velvety, and the finish cascades nicely. A bit of panache here, but this pulls it off.
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Vinous
Good dark red. Expressive, complex aromas of redcurrant, raspberry, iron and flowers; showing its cabernet franc side today. Then juicy, minerally and tightly wound, displaying lovely delicacy and grip to its red fruit and floral flavors. Finishes gripping and taut, with talc-like chalky tannins and a light touch. Very gracefully made wine--and hardly a blockbuster. I may be underrating this.
Rating: 92+
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.