Canon 2021 (750ML)

97 AG / 97 JS / 96 JA / 96 DE / 96 WI / 95 WA / 95 VM / 93-95 JD

The 2021 Canon shows just how magical this site is. Vertical and explosive in feel, with tons of pure power, it impresses with its intensity, drive and super-classic profile. Bright saline notes and vibrant tannins give the 2021 a feeling of energy that only gains momentum with time in the glass. It's not an easy Canon, like the 2015 or 2018, but it is incredibly expressive. It is the sort of wine that only truly emerges with time in bottle. I would be thrilled to own it. Canon must surely be one of the great relative values in first-class wine. Wow. Tasted two times. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

Lots of crunchy red cherries and blue plums followed by violets, fresh sage and Christmas spices with baking spice and coconuts. Medium- to full-bodied with superb fine-grained racy tannins and beautifully refreshing acidity that gives an edge to it. Gorgeous finesse and elegance with harmony and precision. Delightful, too. Already drinkable but give this a few more years to come around. Try after 2026 and it should be beautiful for a long time.-James Suckling

Gorgeous bright plum colour with violet reflections. The epitome of careful, precise, well-spliced winemaking. Sibling estate Berliquet has perhaps more immediate charm, because there is more power running through it, but this is just elegance and finesse personified. Red cherry, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, slate, saffron, oyster shell, they have teased out layers of complexity that were not easy to find in the vintage, and there is length also, with pummice stone salinity scraping across the palate. It's subtle, and it's not at the heights of a 2019 Canon, but this will not be out of place in a vertical of the estate. Tasted twice. 50% new oak, 40hl/h yield, harvest September 16 to October 8. Thomas Duclos consultant.-Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux

Dark chocolate, perfume, violets, wild flowers and bramble berries on the nose, so much going on aromatically. Lovely succulence straight away, the bright acidity giving a mouthwatering effect and really delivering in terms of vibrant and lively fruit forwardness but with these lovely edges of graphite, slate, bitter chocolate, cream and salinity. So elegant and so refined as well as super stylish. I also love the cooling menthol Cabernet aspects you get all the way through and on the long finish. This has real class, but also an effortless quality to it that is so remarkable. One of the most memorable wines of the vintage! 3.37pH. Both Canon, Rauzan-Segla and Berliquet are excellent achievements this year. - Georgina Hindle, Decanter

The 2021 Canon is deep garnet-purple in color. After a little coaxing, expressive notes of kirsch, fresh blackberries, and juicy plums emerge confidently from the glass, followed by suggestions of licorice, sandalwood, and fragrant earth. The medium-bodied palate has tightly wound layers of bright, energetic black and red fruits, framed by firm, yet rounded, tannins and great tension, finishing with wonderful length and depth. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Independent

The 2021 Canon opens in the glass with a pure bouquet of raspberries, cherries and plums mingled with pretty top notes of iris, licorice, mint and sweet spices. Medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, it's fleshy and sensual, with a deep and seamless core of fruit framed by ultra-refined tannins, a bright spine of acidity and a long, mineral finish. With an impressively low finished pH of 3.37, it was taken out of barrel a month earlier than usual and saw no fining—as has been the case since 2010. - William Kelley, Wine Advocate

The 2021 Lafite-Rothschild is driven by the Cabernet Sauvignon, as you would expect with 96% in the blend. Blackberry, cigar box and touches of gravel are entwined with the fruit— linear and quintessentially Lafite. The palate is medium-bodied with chiseled tannins. It's a growing season that suits the style of Lafite-Rothschild, classically built and not austere because there is fine depth and weight, but there is a sense of paradoxical weightlessness and a dash of cracked black pepper on the finish. Excellent. - Neal Martin, Vinous Media

From a château you can't go wrong with, the 2021 Château Canon is another head-turning, elegant, seamless wine that comes from unquestionably one of the greatest terroirs on the upper plateau of Saint-Emilion. Based on 71% Merlot and 29% Cabernet Franc that hit 13.55% alcohol, it will spend 18 months in 50% new barrels. It shows the vintage's fresher, elegant style beautifully, with lots of perfumed red fruits, spice, flowers, and chalky notes. These carry to a medium-bodied, seamless, elegant Saint-Emilion that has supple tannins, a notable sense of freshness (although I suspect the pH is solid), and a great finish. - Jeb Dunnuck