Description
Château Canon Chaigneau, Lalande-de-Pomerol
Okay, Bordeaux lovers, fire up your engines! Some of you may recall a discovery from about six months ago, the Château Canon Chaigneau “8a”—in fact many of you should recall since we sold out quite quickly. Well today we bring you the powerful-yet-elegant older sibling, the flagship estate wine of Canon Chaigneau, and the real stunning revelation is that it costs just a few dollars more. This is a classic, Pomerol-styled masterpiece made by the former cellar master at Cheval Blanc, Thierry Garnaud. For four decades, Thierry crafted some of the most lauded, sought-after wines in all of Bordeaux. They received outrageous scores, and now command four figure prices to match those scores, but today we have a wine that is made about seven minutes up the road, for just $35. Yup, same terroir, similar blend, same winemaker, and same ancient winemaking tradition, for about 30 times less dough. And if you buy six or more the price is even lower. So you know what to do: stock up!
Despite its status as a “satellite” appellation on the Right Bank, it’s crucially important to know that Lalande-de-Pomerol is no “flyover” appellation. Romans cultivated the vine here 2,000 years ago, its stone-built châteaux date back centuries, and the terroir shares many similarities with its immediate neighbors Pomerol and Saint-Émilion. And we do mean immediate: Château Canon Chaigneau, founded in 1564, is just minutes away from the most iconic Right Bank properties of Petrus, Figeac, L’Évangile, Le Pin, La Conseillante, and Cheval Blanc. That last property is especially noteworthy because their maitre de chai, aka Cellar Master, of nearly 40 years left in 2018 to devote all of his winemaking hours to Canon Chaigneau. However, this was no late-life crisis or spur-of-the-moment decision. Thierry Garnaud had been actively involved at the property since 1995, and a recent change in ownership bestowed him with the opportunity for more creative freedom, something you simply cannot afford to do at a heavily marketed Grand Cru Classé that charges $800+ per bottle. The “Cuvée 8a” that we offered last spring is their “second” label, aged only in concrete for a fresh, forward and early drinking style. But the classic vin du château we have for you today uses the same excellent terroir, plus a higher percentage of old vines and some classic oak aging to achieve a texturally excellent, spot-on interpretation of the very best in Right Bank Bordeaux.
Canon Chaigneau’s 30- to 40-year-old vines are essentially an extension of Pomerol: The soils here are more sandy than gravelly but the clay and limestone are streaked with those same prized iron deposits—crasse de fer. Their small team farms lutte raisonnée and harvests their crop by hand with a couple of sorts before shuttling the grapes into concrete vessels. After fermentation, the resulting wine continues aging in about 40% concrete (“beton”), and 60% 500-liter barrels, equal parts new and used, until blending and bottling. This stunning 2019, a truly exceptional and classic vintage, is 93% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Malbec (known as Pressac on the Right Bank).
Serve this in Bordeaux stems, at around 60 degrees, and you’ll be treated to deep violet-red hue and aromas of black cherries, purple plum, violets, lavender, leather, cigar box, tobacco leaf, crushed mint, and cocoa powder. The rich, red-black fruit is balanced perfectly by saline, iodine-like minerals and hints of earth. With a good tannic structure this will age gracefully for well over a decade, but you can enjoy it right now with a good 30-plus minute decant. Your favorite roasts or stews are a perfect companion, but personally I’m craving this with a classic steakhouse burger. It will do the trick nicely on so many levels, you should definitely grab a full case and really be ready to rock with a special occasion styled wine at a weekday price!
