Canon-Fronsac is an appellation for still, dry red wines produced in a small area on the right (northern) bank of the Dordogne river, just west of Libourne in the northeast of the Bordeaux wine region. Its wines are superior, at least in theory, to the wider Fronsac appellation.
Location
Canon-Fronsac wines can only be produced from grapes grown in the two communes of Fronsac and Saint-Michel-de-Fronsac. The appellation's southern boundary is marked by the Dordogne river and, to the east, the river Isle as it flows into the Dordogne immediately west of Libourne (to the east of Libourne town lie the prestigious appellations of Saint-Émilion and Pomerol).
To the west and north lie the communes of La Rivière, Saint-Aigan and Saillans (which, along with Saint-Germain-de-la-Rivière and parts of Galgon, constitute the remainder of the Fronsac title).
Like Saint-Émilion, just a few miles to the east, Canon-Fronsac has a picturesque, gently hilly landscape made up of woodland, arable land and vineyards.
Vineyards and soils
Although vineyards run from the banks of the Dordogne to the very northern borders of Fronsac and Saint-Michel-de-Fronsac, it is the slightly higher land at the appellation's northern end, away from the alluvial soils by the Dordogne, that produces the best wines.
The soils here are more sandstone and limestone than clay, which lends the vines a certain resistance to hotter weather. In the sweltering 2003 vintage, Canon-Fronsac wines were more balanced than many wines from other appellations.
Grape varieties
Canon Fronsac red wines are a relatively standard Bordeaux red blend, constituted primarily of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc (any combination of these must constitute at least 50 percent of a wine). To these may be added Malbec, Carmenère and/or Petit Verdot.
Production
The appellation current boasts around 270 hectares (670 acres) of vineyard – just over a quarter of the size of the wider Fronsac title which covers around 800 hectares (2000 acres). Around 1.1 million liters (120,000 cases) of wine are produced under the Canon Fronsac title annually.
Both Canon-Fronsac and Fronsac benefitted from investment and improvements in technology in the second half of the 20th century. They provide viable, more moderately priced alternatives to the more familiar regions of Bordeaux.
History
The region has a rich history reaching back hundreds of years, when the area was much favored by French nobility. Fronsac itself became a duchy of the infamous Cardinal de Richelieu in the 17th Century, although it was his great grand-nephew, Louis-François Armand du Plessis (a noted statesman and libertine, who also took the Duc de Richelieu title) who introduced the wines of Fronsac to the royal court at Versailles.
The wines of Fronsac and Canon Fronsac were in vogue at the court, becoming the "favorite tea of Richelieu". By the end of the 18th Century, wine merchants based in Libourne replanted much of the vineyard area in modern-day Fronsac, improving the quality of wines that already commanded high prices.
According to noted geographer and Bordeaux wine specialist Henri Enjalbert, writing in the early 1980s, the Fronsac region became "the historic cradle of the great wines of the Libournais".
Initially set down as the Côtes de Canon Fronsac appellation in 1939, the region's name was simplified to "Canon Fronsac" in 1964.
