Canon St-Emilion 2015

100 points Antonio Galloni (Vinous): "From the very beginning, the 2015 Canon has made an eloquent case for itself as one of the wines of the vintage. Multiple tastings from bottle only confirm what several early tastings hinted at: the 2015 Canon is simply extraordinary in every way. Sumptuous and exotic, with no hard edges and exceptional balance, the 2015 grabs hold of all the senses and never lets up. A rush of red fruit intermingled with floral notes, spice and smoke notes effortlessly runs up the wine's vertical structure as the 2015 thrills with every twist and turn. The 2015 Canon is a rare wine that is both hedonistic and intellectual - well, maybe it is a bit more hedonistic-leaning. It doesn't matter. Don't miss it. This 2015 is masterpiece from General Manager Nicolas Auderbert and his team at Canon. Drink: 2025-2065. (Feb 2018)"

100 points James Suckling: "Seductive. The nose draws you in deep: It's like staring into a well of pristine dark cherries, dark plums, blackberries and mulberries. All the oak is perfectly subsumed. The palate is flawless with immense depth and power and it's so balanced as to appear to float. Immaculate fresh dark-berry and plum flavors. Silky and deep, ribbon-like finish. Perfect. Best from 2022. (1/22/18)"

100 points Neal Martin (Wine Advocate): "The 2015 Canon was a benchmark wine that seemed to revitalize this historic estate. I was crossing my fingers that it would not disappoint in bottle and I am glad to say that it delivers the goods. It has a very intense bouquet (just as it showed out of barrel) with laser-like precision offering wild strawberry, raspberry preserve, wet limestone and hints of truffle. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, clean and fresh with pure black and red fruit whose every atom appears infused with minerals. The mouth is tingling long after the wine has exited and your brain is thinking...when is the next sip coming? It is frankly heads and shoulders above almost every Saint Émilion this vintage, to reaffirm, a benchmark for this historic estate that will give pleasure to many over the coming years. Astonishing. Drink: 2021-2050. (2/28/18)"

99 points Chris Kissack (Winedoctor): "The team have created a new, slightly less fussy style to the label for this vintage. The blend here is 72% Merlot and 28% Cabernet Franc, while the élevage was 18 months in barrique, using 60% new oak. This is less oak than in the past, the plan here being a gradual reduction in new oak over the years to see how that benefits the wine. in terms of freshness and minerality. This is the first vintage in which Nicolas Audebert had full control. I get wonderfully desiccated fruit on the nose, all black cherry with a kirsch-like intensity, black bean, salted olive, with a fine spiral of coffee bean and praline wrapped around it all, but integrated with a fine degree of subtlety, and on top of that a floral perfume, rose petal and violets. This has total harmony on the nose, seemingly perfectly finessed and at ease with itself. The palate starts off so relaxed, elegant and unforced, but there is a brooding texture here, as well as a fine grip of ripe tannins, spiralling within a central seam of coffee bean, toasted cedar oak and a savoury concentration of fruit, all dried and grilled dark cherry, and currants too. This feels so precise and focused, and yet it suddenly tightens down on the finish, before exploding again, to give a long, broad and warming finish filled with black cherry and praline. Overall this has great structure, so polished and fine, and it is so long. It is clearly set up for decades in the cellar. This surpasses any vintage of Canon I have previously tasted, and I have tasted some pretty smart vintages over the years. (May 2018)"

98 points Jeb Dunnuck: "One of the wines of the vintage is the 2015 Château Canon which is 72% Merlot and 28% Cabernet Franc that spent 18 months in 70% new French oak. It offers a perfect example of the old saying “iron fist in a velvet glove” and boasts gorgeous notes of black cherries, framboise, spring flowers and exotic spices. All these lead to a full-bodied, ultra-pure, seamless 2015 that marries incredible richness and depth with a sense of purity, elegance, and weightlessness that needs to be tasted to believed. This multi-dimensional, seamless 2015 needs forgotten for 4-5 years and will keep for three decades or more. Bravo! Located on the upper plateau, Château Canon recently purchased the Grand Cru Classé estate of Château Matras, which lies mostly on prime south/southwest slopes, bringing their total acreage from just over 20 hectares to 34 hectares. This gives them a variety of terroirs to work with and the estate is planted to roughly 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon with a vine age around 30 years in age. The wines are always manually harvested, destemmed, fermented in stainless steel, and see malo and aging in 70% new oak. Both the 2014 and 2015 are beautiful wines, with the 2015 having that extra dimension and sexiness of the 2015 vintage. Both need bottle age though so patience is going to be your friend. Drink: 2022-2052. (11/30/17)"

97 points Wine Spectator: "A plush, inviting style, with warmed fig and plum sauce notes taking the lead, picking up swaths of cocoa, tobacco and roasted alder along the way. Features plenty of pumping bass, but if you pay attention, there's a laser of chalky minerality driving the finish. When the baby flesh drops away, this will sail in the cellar for some time. Best from 2022 through 2045. (3/31/18)"

96 points/'Le Coup de Coeur,' La Revue du Vin de France: "Admirable, delicate fragrance of wild raspberries. On the palate, the wine traces a path of subtlety and balance. This is the grand vintage of plenitude we've been waiting for from Canon, which in no way denies its commitment to delicacy, but transcends it with this vintage of great generosity. (2019)"

97 points Wine Enthusiast: "This estate, now performing on top form, has produced a rich, dense wine. Swathes of black fruits underline the generous structure and intensity. At first taste, the tannins are soft but that turns out to be an illusion. The tannins are just richly cushioned within the beautiful fruit. Drink from 2024. Alcohol 14%. (Feb 2018)"