by Malcolm Jolley


Christopher Cannan had moved to France from the UK in the 1970s to set up a successful wine export business, Europvin. In the 1980s he began to be interested in Spanish wines, like Vega-Sicilia, which are now well known and sought after but then were virtually unknown outside of Spain. In the 80s, as Spain transformed from a dictatorship to a democracy and joined the EU, Cannan had found Scala Dei and the long forgotten region of Priorat, South of Barcelona in Catalonia. There, Cannan met Alvaro Palacios (L’Ermita) and Réné Barbier (Clos Mogador), who would go on to become legendary winemakers and who convinced him of the potential of the region. Finally in the 90s, Cannan bought Clos Figueras, where he makes top tier wines, blended from Grenache, Carignan, Syrah, Mourverdre and Cabernet Sauvignon. The wines, like the flagship Clos Figueres, regularly wine all manner of awards and 90+ scores. I caught up with Cannan in Toronto to shoot the video below at a recent tasting put on by his Ontario agent, John Hanna & Sons.

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Clos Figueras wines are available in Ontario through John Hanna & Sons. Visit winetrader.ca to find out more.

Malcolm Jolley is a founding editor of Good Food Revolution and Executive Director of Good Food Media, the non-profit organization that publishes GFR. Follow him at twitter.com/malcolmjolley. Photo: John Gundy. This video is made possible through the kind support of Fortessa Canada/Schott Zwiesel: casual elegance for everyday living.