| Canon 2004 • September 2005 | CANON
1er Grand Cru Classé
2004 Vintage
Surface area :
22 hectares (54.34 acres), of which 17.4 hectares (42.97 acres) are in production (in 2004)
Terroir :
Clay-limestone plateau.
Exposure :
South/South-west exposure
Grape varieties :
- 75% Merlot
- 25% Cabernet Franc
Density of plantation:
5,500 plants per hectare
Average age of the vines :
25 years
Vineyard management :
- Double Guyot pruning
- Manual de-leafing
- Crop thinning
Environmentally-friendly disease and pest control
Growing season :
The 2004 spring, which was quite cold and dry, had two consequences: the first was a relatively late flowering, which took place in June in excellent weather conditions, keeping optimism high after a successful bud-break ; then , early drought conditions for an oceanic climate during spring months which are generally humid. This explains the high degree of polyphenols in the 2004 vintage. Moderately hot weather during July easily forced the vine to halt vegetation growth at the end of July just before the colour change. Though August was cool and intermittently rainy, vegetation growth did not take off again. Quite hot and dry weather during September was decisive, enabling a slow and complete ripening of the Merlot and also the Cabernets Franc. It was clear that in order to get the very best out of this very large crop, it was necessary to reduce the yield by appropriate crop thinning. The red wines, whether coming from Merlot or Cabernet plots, have a very deep colour, fruit which is both fresh and ripe, and impressive tannins.
Harvest :
Merlot : from September 28 to September 29 (the young vines) and from September 30 to October 7
Cabernet Franc: Monday and Tuesday October 11 and 12
Since the 2002 vintage, the introduction of a new harvest reception system has enabled us to take even greater care of the selection and handling of the grape bunches.
After a painstaking selection in the vines, the best bunches were taken in small-sized plastic crates to the vat cellar entrance. These were then carefully tipped on to a sorting table, where a team of 6 to 8 people removed any berries that were of lesser quality. After a gentle de-stemming, the berries were then sorted by around 10 people who discarded any berries which had not reached perfect ripeness. The crop was then placed in small 3 hectolitre stainless steel containers and sent into the fermentation vats by gravity directly from the top of the oak vats.
Canon thereby avoids any aggressive handling of the crop through pumps and pipes.
Vinification :
Alcoholic fermentation (10 days) and 15 days maceration in temperature-controlled oak vats with three daily pump-overs of half or the whole of the volume of the vat.
Malo-lactic fermentation in stainless steel vats and in barrels.
Ageing :
In barrels, 65 % of which are brand new, racking through the small bunghole at the end of the barrel every three months, fining with fresh egg whites and no filtering.
Second wine :
Clos Canon
Annual production :
50,000 bottles of Château Canon
20,000 bottles of Clos Canon
Managing Director :
Mr John Kolasa
Cellar master :
M. Stéphane Bonnasse
Vineyard manager :
M. Hervé des Garets
Contacts :
Tel : 33.(0)5.57.55.23.45
Fax : 33.(0)5.57.24.68.00
E-mail : contact@chateau-canon.com
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