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.

Tasted at the Château Canon vertical, the 2010 Canon has developed a certain opulence in the nose since I last tasted it. A blend of 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Franc, there is a surfeit of blackberry and blueberry fruit, a background scents of warm gravel and pressed flowers that emerge with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with a succulent core of sweet mulberry and dark plum fruit, surprisingly saline in the mouth, very well balanced with the Cabernet Franc stealing the steering wheel from the Merlot on the finish that fans out beautifully. As I mentioned in my previous note, I feel that this will shut down for several years, but it will ultimately deliver an impressive Château Canon, albeit one with a rockin' 15% alcohol. Tasted October 2015.

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.

Ripe and silky, with a flamboyant edge to the plum sauce, anise-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. Best from 2015 through 2027.