Canon-Fronsac

kah-NOHN frohn-SAHK

How to read this

Capitals mark the stressed syllable. “ohn” is a nasal vowel: say it through the nose, with no n. The French r comes from the back of the throat. The recording is the reference.

The southwest corner of Fronsac, where the Isle meets the Dordogne: 2 communes of steep limestone slopes, 270 hectares and about 50 family estates, on the hill a geographer called the cradle of the great wines of the Libournais.

The place

Canon Fronsac sits in the southwest corner of the Fronsac area, on the right bank of the Dordogne where the Isle runs into it. It takes in 2 communes, Fronsac and Saint-Michel-de-Fronsac, and only the parcels INAO approved on September 14, 1989; the alluvial flats of the lower valley are left out. This is steep land: 41% of it slopes more than 10%, and most of it lies between 17 and 64 meters. Under it lie the Fronsadais molasse of sands, sandstone and clay, the limestone of Castillon and the starfish limestone, weathered into brown limestone soils, clay and limestone, and sandy clay. In 2010 the appellation covered 270 hectares and made an average of 11,000 hectoliters a year, from some 50 family estates of about 6 hectares each.

The rules

Red only. Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, also called Cot, and Merlot are the principal varieties and must make at least 80% of the vines; Malbec joined them in 2024. Carmenère and Petit Verdot are accessory, to 10% each. At least 5,000 vines a hectare, in rows no more than 2 meters apart. Merlot is picked at 198 g/l of sugar and the other varieties at 180, the wine must reach 11% of natural alcohol, and the yield is 53 hectoliters a hectare with a ceiling of 65. It is raised until June 1 and sold from June 30 of the year after the harvest. The headlands of every plot must be grassed, chemical weeding is held to 30 centimeters on either side of the row, and every grower records each treatment. The cahier des charges, the appellation’s official rulebook, was homologated on December 10, 2024, the same day as Fronsac’s.

The names

No classification. The appellation was recognized on July 1, 1939 as Côtes de Canon Fronsac, a name shortened in 1964. Its history is a history of owners. Cardinal Richelieu bought the land of Fronsac in 1633. In the 18th century Louis-François Armand du Plessis, known as Fronsac, built a folly here in the Italian style and served the wine at Versailles, until the wine became the fashion in Paris. At the end of that century the Libourne merchants Fontemoing, Boyer and Lafon bought estates on the hill. The geographer Henri Enjalbert called Canon the historic cradle of the great wines of the Libournais.

Color: Red
Communes: Fronsac and Saint-Michel-de-Fronsac, on the parcels approved in 1989
Vineyard: 270 hectares, 11,000 hectoliters a year, some 50 estates of about 6 hectares (2010)
Soil: Fronsadais molasse, Castillon limestone and starfish limestone; 41% of the land steeper than 10%
Grapes: Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot, 80% of the vines at least; Carmenère and Petit Verdot to 10% each
Density: 5,000 vines a hectare at least
Yield: 53 hectoliters a hectare, ceiling 65
Alcohol: 11% natural at least; 198 g/l of sugar for Merlot, 180 for the others
Release: From June 30 of the year after the harvest
Classified: No classification
AOC since: July 1, 1939 as Côtes de Canon Fronsac; Canon Fronsac since 1964; cahier of December 10, 2024

Sources: FGVB, cahier des charges Canon Fronsac, arrêté du 10 décembre 2024 · FGVB, cahier des charges Canon Fronsac, les modifications de 2024

The stack

The same land in Canon-Fronsac may also be labeled Bordeaux, Bordeaux Supérieur, Crémant de Bordeaux and Fronsac. A grower chooses which appellation to sell under, and the narrowest is almost always the dearest.

The appellations of Bordeaux are stacked, not laid side by side. The map draws the whole stack. Open the map

The pyramid of names shows what each step promises: vines a hectare, bottles, ripeness, day of sale, grapes. Climb from here

Terroir

Steep is the first word for Canon-Fronsac: 41.0% of its delimited area slopes at more than 10%. Down those slopes the soil reads like a record of water. At the bottom lie the sands and clays of old rivers and lakes (molasse); here they are a floodplain’s limy clay, threaded with old channels of pale green sand.

Above it comes the lake. Green to whitish clays, very limy and compact, with the lake limestone, cover 20.1% of the delimited area: the Castillon formation, laid down in a lake before the sea arrived. On top, the sea left its starfish limestone (calcaire à astéries), a plateau lying just under the surface and largely hidden by silty clay that came down the slopes.

Where molasse or a clayey limestone turns to soil, it makes a heavy clay soil (terrefort), found mostly on this Fronsadais side of the Libourne map. River, lake and sea lie stacked in a single steep slope.

392 ha delimited

Slope wash and cover6.3%
River and estuary deposits of today0.3%
Starfish limestone and marine marls33.1%
Lake limestones and clays20.1%
Molasses: sands and clays of old rivers and lakes40.1%

Shares of the delimited area, measured on BRGM’s geological map, in families by the age and rock its legend prints, youngest first.

Half its delimited soil lies above 42 m, and 9 tenths lies between 17 and 64 m.

Measured section

The line runs 5.2 km, from 1 m to -0 m. Inside the delimited area it lies between 18 and 65 m.

Colors: Slope wash and coverRiver and estuary deposits of todayStarfish limestone and marine marlsLake limestones and claysMolasses: sands and clays of old rivers and lakes

Measured section: one elevation every 10 meters, west to east, along the whole of a 5.2 km line set across the appellation by a fixed rule, not chosen for the view (IGN, RGE ALTI 5 m), with the geology at the surface (BRGM, BD Charm-50). Heights stretched 20 times. The layers below the surface are not drawn.

The units, as BRGM prints them

Code	Name and age, as printed	Share
Slope wash and cover		6.3%
CF	Formations superficielles	6.3%
River and estuary deposits of today		0.3%
	and 1 more unit under 1% each, 0.3% in all
Starfish limestone and marine marls		33.1%
g1-As	Calcaire à Astéries, Rupélien marin	33.1%
Lake limestones and clays		20.1%
g1-Cc	Formation du Calcaire de Castillon s.s., Rupélien basal continental	20.1%
Molasses: sands and clays of old rivers and lakes		40.1%
e7-g1-S	Molasse du Fronsadais sup. à facies sableux dominant, Priabonien sup. à Rupélien basal continental	28.2%
e7c-A	Molasses du Fronsadais inf. à moy. (facies argileux dominant), Priabonien sup. continental	11.9%
	and 1 more unit under 1% each, 0.1% in all

Informative figures, computed from INAO’s digitized parcel delimitation of October 12, 2026 and BRGM’s harmonized geological map (BD Charm-50); heights from IGN’s RGE ALTI 5 m. The plans held at the town hall are the legal reference. The delimited area is always somewhat larger than what is planted.

Sources: BRGM, Notice explicative de la feuille Libourne à 1/50 000, 1995; INAO parcel delimitation (file of 2026-10-12) laid over BRGM BD Charm-50 Gironde, harmonized geological map; IGN RGE ALTI 5 m, Gironde, edition 2021-04-19.

See it on the Map · Compare it with another appellation · All about Terroir

Châteaux on this site

News from Canon-Fronsac

Oct 26, 2026

Ten generations at Château Mazeris

Jean de Cournuaud represents the 10th generation at Château Mazeris, a property founded in 1769 in Saint-Michel-de-Fronsac that produces Canon Fronsac. The estate covers 23 hectares, including 15 hectares of producing vines.

The estate offers a view of continuity and adaptation in the Fronsadais, where long family histories must coexist with changing market expectations.

Source: Sud Ouest Château MazerisChâteau Mazeris Jean de Cournuaud Canon-Fronsac Fronsac Estates and People
Oct 22, 2026

Fronsac and Canon Fronsac focus on consumers

Winegrowers in Fronsac and Canon Fronsac will open 32 properties to visitors on October 24 and 25. Appellation president Damien Landouar said the priority is to address consumers directly.

The open-house weekend gives both appellations a direct channel for explaining their wines and building consumer relationships.

Source: Sud Ouest Canon-Fronsac Fronsac Visiting Bordeaux