1998 Château La Croix Canon- France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Canon-Fronsac (1/29/2014)
Popped and poured. Definitely on the downslope but still shows some interesting notes. Initially a burst of red currant and sour cherry, quickly fading to green pepper, saddle leather, and dusty soil. A compelling earthy/peppery thing keeps me interesting. Good acidity, especially as it opens up more. Firm tannin on the finish but that’s about the only place they’re left. Not bad for $15.
Hey, I have this wine! One note from May 2010: “A little rustic but also very complex and cultured on the nose. No hurry, should develop well.”
About the downslope: On CT people have been calling this wine peaking or too old for ten years now. Hard to say with a wine like this but I’ll still have some more than ten years from now if you want to try it again.
I almost want to go back and edit my note, it’s picking up some really cool tertiary components on the nose. Even the palate has lost the green edge and now has plums and cassis to go with the leather and soil flavors. I wish I had a few more bottles.
Thanks for the interesting note! Unfortunately, La Croix Canon does not exist anymore… Made in a classic style, with a focus on balance, elegance and delicacy, the wines from this estate more often than not provided great pleasure to me over many years. The 2001 was even among the best I ever had from Fronsac and Canon-Fronsac.
Château Canon-Moueix and château Canon de Brem were of similar high quality, but disappeared as well.
Beau, in 2000, the Moueix family, Château Pétrus, sold La Croix Canon, Canon de Brem, Canon-Moueix, and La Dauphine to Jean Halley, a shareholder of Carrefour…
First, the vines of Canon-Moueix were incorporated into Canon de Brem, then, in 2006, the vines of Canon de Brem and La Croix Canon were incorporated into La Dauphine and their second wine Delphis.
Meanwhile, La Dauphine is the flagship of Domaines Jean Halley and Guillaume Halley is the manager. The hiring of Denis Dubordieu as consultant has led to more modern wines. Nevertheless, La Dauphine can be an impressive wine today, but I miss the purity, sheer elegance and delicacy from days gone by…
I drank this again last night and it’s still in good shape, though it’s a bit lean. As the bottle warmed up it filled out a bit and became a little more expressive. As Beau’s second post above mentions it has some nice plumminess and fruity complexity, but it may take some coaxing to get it out. There’s a grippy tannic finish and my overall impression was that it’s still quite fresh.
I was trying to figure out why I had this wine in the first place. It looks like Robert Parker raved about it from barrel but then downgraded it after bottling. I guess I bought it pre-arrival in 1999. As it turns out, it’s much more Alfert than Parker.