Chateau Canon

One of the benefits of Oxford is being part of Bacchus, the Oxford Wine Society, which periodically organises wine tastings for its members, hosted by wine merchants and knowledgeable presenters with much experience and insight to share.

Tonight we attended a vertical tasting of a Bordeaux Grand Cru from St. Emilion, hosted by the extremely voluble and experienced John Avery, who was presenting on behalf of Chateau Canon, which had generously provided a series of good vintages stretching back to 1985, so it was definitely an opportunity not to be missed.

While I was somewhat disappointed with the 1985, considering that it is my birth year, I had a great time drinking the 1989, which I thought was probably the most enjoyable wine of the night, but what was a more surprising show-stopper was the 2005, which hasn't even been bottled yet so we were quite lucky to have got some.

Though much too young, it's clearly got great potential (coming from such an excellent year), and in fact is surprisingly drinkable if you allow it to breathe for a sufficient period of time.

I know this is going to sound like a snobby wine article, which is why I'm deliberately eschewing detailed taste notes, and it's a bit of a departure from the usual food-related posts, but I thought I'd diversify, and more importantly, store this memory so that I'd have somewhere to retrieve it if I ever came across Chateau Canon again.