1760-1919 and 1996 are important dates in the history of Château Canon. In 1760, Jacques Kanon, a frigate lieutenant and privateer in the service of Louis XV, bought the estate with prize money from the capture of English ships. Kanon built a beautiful small château on the estate and took the relatively unusual step (at the time) of devoting the surrounding land exclusively for winegrowing. Canon (as the estate later came to be known) soon had quite a reputation. The property was bought by the Fournier family in 1919 who in turn sold it to the Wertheimer family of Chanel in 1996. The latter invested heavily in a major renovation of the winemaking facilities. 
The vineyard faces south-west on the Saint-Emilion limestone plateau and is covered with a thin layer of clay. This plateau gently slopes towards the Dordogne. Canon's cool, meagre soil is very homogeneous and conducive to excellent balance in the predominantly Merlot-based vines.
Eighteen hectares of underground galleries run through solid rock beneath the vineyard. These bear witness to the previous importance of Saint-Emilion's quarry industry, dating back to the 16th century. Major reinforcement work has been done to prevent the galleries from collapsing and bringing the vines with them. The high stone walls surrounding Château Canon have the added benefit of protecting the grapes from late spring frosts.
Over half the vineyard has been replanted over the past ten years in order to match the best possible grape varieties to each vineyard plot. This entailed entirely removing all the Cabernet Sauvignon vines since this variety is not ideally suited to Canon's terroir. Vineyard practices include Guyot double pruning, bud pruning, suckering, leaf thinning, and green harvesting. Plot-by-plot vineyard management ensures optimum ripeness. At harvest time, the grapes are sorted in the vineyard and twice more in the cellars. Only the most ripe, healthy grapes are used to make the château’s first wine. Around 30% of the crop is used to produce the second wine, Clos Canon.
To avoid bruising or prematurely oxidizing the grapes, they are put into jacketed, cone-shaped, stainless steel vats via gravity flow for 48-hour cold maceration followed by alcoholic fermentation. This usually lasts for 9 days, during which the wine is pumped over 3 times a day.
Malolactic fermentation (50% in barrel and 50% in underground temperature-controlled vats) generally lasts for two to three months, depending on the vintage. Aging takes place in 50% new oak barrels. These come from five coopers, and are produced specially for the château's various plots. Racking is done from barrel to barrel every two to three months. The wine is fined with egg whites, not filtered, and château-bottled after 18 to 20 months. John Kolassa, also manager of Château Rauzan-Ségla in Margaux, is doing a fantastic job of helping Canon reach its full potential.
Château Canon is a well-structured, elegant wine that successfully reflects its terroir.

Canon, Clos Canon (second wine)