2025 Chateau Canon la Gaffeliere Premier Grand Cru Classe B, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru

A deep and layered young red with blackberry, black olive and white pepper character with a full body and savory fruit. White pepper and other spices. Depth with elegance. Extremely well crafted. A blend of 45% cabernet franc, 40% merlot and 15% cabernet sauvignon.

Black cherries, licorice, flowers, chocolate, smoke, and mint leaves create the perfume. The multiple layers of fruit grab your attention with their elegance, purity, and energy, finishing with a refreshing touch of chocolate-mint and a light touch of sea salt, adding sapidity, so you want to take another sniff and sip, just for the pleasure of it. The wine blends 45% Cabernet Franc, 40% Merlot, and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon. 13% ABV. The harvest took place from September 16 - September 19, making this the shortest harvest in the history of the property. Yields were 35 hectoliters per hectare. Drink from 2029-2055.

Beautiful aromatics, floral notes and Chinese five spice with some sweet red berry fruit. Juicy and lifted, a really lovely calm, chiselled and soft frame with velvety tannins and ripe but cool fruit. Acidity is not too tight and this has a generous but controlled element. Balanced and poised but maybe missing a touch more density of fruit. Lovely layering of texture and aromatic complexity.

The 2025 Canon La Gaffelière is bright and beautifully focused right out of the gate. Orange peel, sage, mint, pipe tobacco, dried flowers and mocha soar out of the glass. Floral aromatics and brisk saline notes are the signatures in a tightly wound Canon La Gaffelière that is going to need a number of years to be at its most expressive. I especially admire the energy here.

A lighter, more herbal-styled wine based on 40% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Franc, and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2025 Château Canon-La-Gaffelière offers juicy red fruits, sappy flowers, graphite, tobacco, and a kiss of minerality on the nose. On the palate, it's medium-bodied, with fine, polished tannins and a good finish. It's a more Cabernet-dominated effort from this château, and while I'd love to see a touch more generosity here, it's beautifully balanced, and I suspect it will gain volume over the course of its élevage.

The 2025 Canon La Gaffelière includes only 40% Merlot this year, the remainder, 45% Cabernet Franc and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, picked between September 16 and 19. Matured in 30% new oak barrels, this has a tightly wound nose with blackberry, briar and chalky scents, the Cabernet Franc imparting light graphite scents. The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannins on the entry. licorice-tinged black fruit, again, a little chalky in texture, but there is more suppleness compared to the Clos de l'Oratoire on the finish. Promising.