WTN: the Canon canon (1952-2006)

Yesterday afternoon I hosted a vertical of Ch. Canon. OK, maybe not the wisest plan, since I had a midday speech at a church in Scarsdale. But despite my lack of prep time, recordbreaking heat on May 2nd, a demanding hound, and a few off bottles, we actually had a very good time. Kudos to all the participants for their vinuous contributions, and their willingness to help in kitchen and with dog!

One reason I wanted to do this was Canon has a reputation for having stayed quite traditional, so looking at older vintages would give one an idea of how younger vintages might age (for chateaux that drastically changed style over last 10-20 years, who knows?).

As people arrived and I fussed with last minute prep, we enjoyed the NV Andre Clouet Champagne Grand Reserve Brut. Or at least I enjoyed it. Apples, yeast, and a little topnote of ginger. Full without being coarse. B+

I had some cheeses, pate, smoked duck breast, and sausage on table. We started in on the Canon.

2006 Ch. Canon (St. Emilion)
Young but fine, lovely black cherry and cassis fruit, fresh, nice length. I might look for this. B++

2005 Ch. Canon (St. Emilion) (decanted for few hours, then back to bottle for few more)
Tight, tight, tight when opened. Tight, tight when put back in bottle. Tight when served. Big ripe wine, but just not showing much. Revisit in 20 years. B+? For current drinking B-/C+

1998 Ch. Canon (St. Emilion)
Great nose, a melange of earth, coffee, bandaid, and black fruit. Medium bodied, nice mouthfeel, maybe a bit short on finish, but that's a quibble. B/B+

1990 Ch. Canon (St. Emilion) (double decanted an hour before dinner)
Smelled a bit advanced when opened, by dinner time showing old. Cassis, espresso, and a more pronounced bandaid aroma. Consensus was this had seen some heat at some point. This bottle, C+ (I've had better)
(surprisingly, a sip several hours later was a bit better)

1989 Ch. Canon (St. Emilion)
This is more like it. Fresh ripe dark fruit (some felt jammy), leather, mocha. Elegant, balanced, firm. A-

1986 Ch. Canon (St. Emilion)
Corked. Some commented they thought there was a good wine underneath, but I didn't go poking around.

1985 Ch. Canon (St. Emilion) (opened but not decanted an hour before before dinner)
I was fussing with grill and didn't write anything down, but this was one of my faves. Complex, elegant, pretty. A-

1983 Ch. Canon (St. Emilion) (opened an hour before before dinner, cork was sawdust, decanted and covered)
This was from same California store as the '90. Don't think I'll be buying Canon there anymore. Fried. Too bad, I enjoyed this at an 83 vertical last year. D


1982 Ch. Canon (St. Emilion) (opened an hour or so, decanted shortly before serving)
Firing on all cylinders. Great length, class. Mark commented "1st growth quality". Lovely wine, classic St Emilion. A

(OK, so embarrasing story. I thought I had lined up bottles in order, with backups (for those where I had backups) to one side. I had brought up what I thought was 70 and 75, but as John was opening he said "we have 2 1970s?" I had capsule off one bottle, good timing, retrieved the 75. Close call)

1975 Ch. Canon (St. Emilion)
Probably most controversial wine of the night. Some found it dirty, but to me the light barnyard notes were well within tolerance level. Still some tannins, burly sort of St Emilion, with black plum, cassis, leather, and barnyard. B+

1970 Ch. Canon (St. Emilion)
This was the one initially opened, though it actually was supposed to be a backup. Pretty advanced, cassis and leather, with air some ashtray. B-/C+

1970 Ch. Canon (St. Emilion)
So we opened the other one. Aha, now THIS is more like it. Dark fruits, cherries, coffee, herbs, cumin. Complex, elegant, complete. A-

1966 Ch. Canon (St. Emilion)
Cigarbox, leather, some red fruit hanging on. Maybe a bit past prime (midshoulder bottle), but I found quite enjoyable. B/B+

1952 Ch. Canon (St. Emilion)
This is amazing youthful for 58. Solid giving dark fruit, tobacco, earth/ferric notes, menthol. A-/A

Really solid showing overall, and I will continue to look for young and old Canon. Lots of character.

We passed around 2 cheesecakes Ramon had brought, plus a berry tart. There were 2 wines to finish

2001 Darting Durkheimer Nonnengarten Rieslaner Auslese
Lush, tropical, apricot botrytis notes, plenty of acidity to balance the fat. B+/A-

2008 AJ Adam  Riesling Spatlese (Mosel)
I neglected to note vineyard. Nice, zippy acidity, bright fruit. I liked but didn't find this exciting, but placement suffered- sure this would have shown better pre-meal or by itself, tough to be paired with a super rich Auslese. B/B+, probably deserves better.

Fun day/ evening, thanks all


Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.  

just went home to gather recycling, the Adam is Hofberger

Dale,
Thanks again for hosting this and having me - that was a really great, informative tasting, and some of those older Canons were really stunning. I will definitely have to look out for more Canon in the future, the wines were really consistent across the board (when not affected by storage/corks) with the best being really outstanding. Seems like they're also a lot better value than other Bdx producers I've seen. Not much else I can add to your notes (in agreement for the most part, though my personal favourite was the '52, and I though the '89 and second '70 were right up there with the '82), other than to pile on more praise for the '52 which had such an incredible aromatic profile and one of the most finessed, elegant textures I've ever experienced.

Loved the Darting Rieslaner - really intense (BA in must weight, I wonder?), spicy and beautifully balanced despite the size and sweetness. Think it did overwhelm the Adam (from the Dhroner Hofberger) a bit, that was very tasty when poured first though struggled to match the Darting's power and sweetness.

I'm sorry I didn't think to have called for a 3/2/1 fave vote, it would have been interesting. I know from comments 52, 70, 75, 82, 85, 89 would have all gotten at least one 1st or 2nd place vote, and I think 06, 98 and 66 might well would have garnered at least one third place. And I don't think anyone thought the 05 was at all bad, just tight. Quite a spread.

I think I tasted the Adam after the Darting, and I don't think any true Spatlese would show its best in that position.

I'm sorry I didn't think to have called for a 3/2/1 fave vote, it would have been interesting. I know from comments 52, 70, 75, 82, 85, 89 would have all gotten at least one 1st or 2nd place vote, and I think 06, 98 and 66 might well would have garnered at least one third place. And I don't think anyone thought the 05 was at all bad, just tight. Quite a spread.

I think I tasted the Adam after the Darting, and I don't think any true Spatlese would show its best in that position.

Dale,

Thanks for organizing and hosting. I'm in agreement with you that those vintages you wrote would represent the top vote-getter had we done a fave voting. As for me, I would have gone with the 1989, 1970 and the 1952 as my favorites, in that order.

The 2005, to me, was just young. Although, the 2006 wsa drinking better today, the 2005 would have more potential over a longer period of cellar time.

Overall, I think that the producer has been consistent enough over time with the underlying style, but obviously showed some of the well-known characteristics that "big" vintages were supposed to have.

I liked both the Adam and the Darting, but would give edge to the Adam (thanks to Salil for bringing this).

Ramon