Thierry Garnaud has been in charge of the chai at Château Canon Chaigneau since 1995 and will continue to shape our wines for years to come, while gradually passing on his knowledge, discipline and technique to Marine and Romik.

Former maître de chai and winemaker at Château Cheval Blanc from 1988 to 2018, Thierry was instrumental in crafting some of the estate’s most celebrated 100-point vintages, including 1990, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2015 and 2016. His savoir-faire and stature within Bordeaux are beyond question.

At Château Canon Chaigneau, Thierry brings the same exacting standards, instinctive precision and quiet mastery to both our Grand Vin and our new creation, Cuve 8a. These wines embody the hallmark “iron fist in a velvet glove” structure and sensuality for which he is renowned — combining depth, control and elegance with unmistakable finesse.

His methods are clearly his own; but the premise is one of letting the vines and the grapes do the talking, with minimal intervention, and according to traditional methods.

Core to his beliefs is that wines should not be too heavy, concentrated or extracted, and avoiding many modern practises which can lead to over alcoholic, ‘heady’ wines.

We aim for wines that are delicious, drinkable & complex;
representative of both terroir and vintage, they are singular, original & unmistakeable.

We vinify in traditionally equipped, excellent quality cement cuves.
These differ in size, corresponding to the parcels they represent - from our smallest at 44 hectolitres (1 hectolitre = 100 litres = 133 bottles) all the way up to 150 hectolitres.

Vinification generally takes place over a 15 to 18 day period, with three ‘remontages’ per day: gently pumping the wine from one concrete tank to another. This careful technique optimises the wine's contact with the grape skins, ensuring it doesn't become too jammy or overly extracted.

Post vinification, we select around 35% to be aged in new, one or two year old 500 litre French oak barrels, from master Tonneliers, Sylvain, Demptos & Taransaud.

We taste through all the different barrels, regularly assessing their progress.

We then perform trial ‘assemblages’ - the process of blending the different lots to create the best possible version of our sensational terroir.

After around 20 months of ageing, the wines are gently bottled. Ready to be labelled and capsuled on demand, so they arrive in perfect condition to your door...