2018 Château Angélus, St Emilion, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Independent (February 2023)
Only the oldest Cabernet Francs, aged between 60 and 80 years, went into the grand vin in 2018, meaning a little less Cabernet Franc in the blend than usual. But these old vines, planted by Stephanie de Boüard's grandfather, are rich in flavour and give saline emphasis to the finish. It's the first year that they have worked entirely organically, with a 32hl/ha yield from the harvest, which ran from 24 September to 11 October.
A cold soak before fermentation was used to extract the colour and fruit flavours without too much tannin. The wine is aged in 100% oak barrels and, for the first time, a few amphorae.
Drinking Window 2027 - 2042
Jane Anson, Decanter
About this WINE
Château Angélus
Château Angélus is one of the largest and most prestigious estates in St Emilion. It was promoted to Premier Grand Cru Classé A status in the 2012 reclassification. The de Boüard family has made wine here since 1782. The estate is now run by eighth-generation Stéphanie de Boüard-Rivoal, who took over from her father, Hubert de Boüard de Laforest, and uncle, Jean-Bernard Grenié, in 2012. It is located in centre-west of the St Emilion appellation, due west of the medieval town.
Angélus’s 39 hectares of vineyards are situated less than a kilometre away from the famous St Emilion steeple. The site enjoys a perfect southerly-exposed slope. Cabernet Franc is grown at the bottom, where the soils are sandier and warmer; Merlot is grown in the limestone-rich clay soils at the top of the slope.
St Émilion
St Émilion is one of Bordeaux's largest producing appellations, producing more wine than Listrac, Moulis, St Estèphe, Pauillac, St Julien and Margaux put together. St Emilion has been producing wine for longer than the Médoc but its lack of accessibility to Bordeaux's port and market-restricted exports to mainland Europe meant the region initially did not enjoy the commercial success that funded the great châteaux of the Left Bank.
St Émilion itself is the prettiest of Bordeaux's wine towns, perched on top of the steep limestone slopes upon which many of the region's finest vineyards are situated. However, more than half of the appellation's vineyards lie on the plain between the town and the Dordogne River on sandy, alluvial soils with a sprinkling of gravel.
Further diversity is added by a small, complex gravel bed to the north-east of the region on the border with Pomerol. Atypically for St Émilion, this allows Cabernet Franc and, to a lesser extent, Cabernet Sauvignon to prosper and defines the personality of the great wines such as Ch. Cheval Blanc.
In the early 1990s there was an explosion of experimentation and evolution, leading to the rise of the garagistes, producers of deeply-concentrated wines made in very small quantities and offered at high prices. The appellation is also surrounded by four satellite appellations, Montagne, Lussac, Puisseguin and St. Georges, which enjoy a family similarity but not the complexity of the best wines.
St Émilion was first officially classified in 1954, and is the most meritocratic classification system in Bordeaux, as it is regularly amended. The most recent revision of the classification was in 2012
Merlot
The most widely planted grape in Bordeaux and a grape that has been on a relentless expansion drive throughout the world in the last decade. Merlot is adaptable to most soils and is relatively simple to cultivate. It is a vigorous naturally high yielding grape that requires savage pruning - over-cropped Merlot-based wines are dilute and bland. It is also vital to pick at optimum ripeness as Merlot can quickly lose its varietal characteristics if harvested overripe.
In St.Emilion and Pomerol it withstands the moist clay rich soils far better than Cabernet grapes, and at it best produces opulently rich, plummy clarets with succulent fruitcake-like nuances. Le Pin, Pétrus and Clinet are examples of hedonistically rich Merlot wines at their very best. It also plays a key supporting role in filling out the middle palate of the Cabernet-dominated wines of the Médoc and Graves.
Merlot is now grown in virtually all wine growing countries and is particularly successful in California, Chile and Northern Italy.
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Description
The 2018 vintage was exciting at Angélus, with a new organic approach in the vineyards and the use of larger oak foudres for maturation. The high proportion of old-vine Cabernet Franc (35%) makes itself known in the perfumed nose of redcurrants, red cherries and violets. The wine is silky, with signs of what will come with age on the finish. The wine is matured in 100% new oak, but the use of foudres softens the impact of the wood, creating a new style of Angélus that every Claret-drinker will appreciate. Drink 2022-2040.
Blend: 65% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Franc
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