99 points - Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Independent"The 2016 Canon is deep garnet colored. It pirouettes out of the glass with energetic scents of Morello cherries, black raspberries, and fresh blueberries, plus wafts of lilacs, star anise, fallen leaves, and fragrant soil. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is exquisitely balanced with beautifully ripe, fine-grained tannins and seamless freshness supporting the perfumed, multi-layered fruits, leading to a very long and minerally finish on this beautiful wine." 98 points - Jane Anson, Decanter This vintage delivers a beautiful, classic style of Canon that is right at the top of what St-Émilion can offer. Compact and dense without being hard, it is finely structured both in terms of the texture of the cassis and blackberry fruits and in the shape of the tannins. It demonstrates a clear minerality and a feather-brushing of violet notes. This is less obviously sexy than 2015, but is a wine that offers a masterclass in what limestone terroir can convey - salinity, succulence, hints of austerity and reserves of power. I retasted it a few times, and the main take away of what to expect is layers of flavour and huge persistency. The details of how they worked the vintage are an added bonus to understanding how they achieved this result. When it started getting hot and dry, they left all green cover on the vines, and did no green harvesting except tidying up in September. The result was loading the vines to avoid over-concentration. 72% Merlot and 28% Cabernet Franc, with the final blend aged in 70% new oak. 3.6pH. 98 points - Roger Voss, Wine Enthusiast "This wine is impressive both from its structure and its fruit, one of the stars of the vintage in Saint-Émilion. It has great weight, concentration as well as style and aging potential. The ripe fruit shines through the structure, promising an elegant maturity. Drink from 2025." 98 points - Tim Atkin MW “A real terroir wine that I prefer to the 2015 is how maître de chai, Stéphane Bonnasse, describes his majestic 2016. You’d expect a wine owned by Chanel to be perfumed and that’s the case here on this scented, refined, beautifully balanced cuvée, showing refined oak, velvety tannins and flavours and texture that are as close as St Emilion gets to great Burgundy. 2024-36 97 points - Neal Martin, vinous.com The 2016 Canon has the unenviable task of following the astonishing 2015, and it does a damn good job, even if it doesn’t reach the same ethereal heights. There is a pleasing strictness and poise on the nose; this is less immediate than the 2015, yet intellectual, a Canon that expresses its terroir rather than tons of fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, a fine bead of acidity, a smooth texture and a slightly savory but persistent finish, which feels a little plusher than the 2015, implying that this might drink a little earlier. But there is unquestionably immense breeding locked into this rejuvenated Saint-Émilion, which is now firmly ensconced among the top-flight Right Banks. 96 points - Jeb Dunnuck The 2016 Château Canon is another beautiful wine from this estate, made in a more streamlined, elegant style compared to the richer, sexier 2015. Checking in as a blend of 74% Merlot and 26% Cabernet Franc all from a magical terroir situated on the upper plateau just outside of the village of Saint-Emilion, it saw a small percentage of the blend go through malolactic fermentation in barrel, and the wine spent 18 months in 70% new French oak, with the balance in once-used. Gorgeous notes of blueberries, cassis, spring flowers, white truffle, and crushed rock nuances all come soaring from the glass and it has notable intensity as well as complexity. Medium to full-bodied, with vibrant acidity, ultra-fine tannins, and a straight, silky texture, I don’t think it matches the 2015 on concentration, but it’s perfectly balanced and has a texture to die for. It needs a good 4-5 years of bottle age (or more) and it’s going to be long-lived. T
