Château Angélus Saint-Emilion AOP

Als Premier Grand Cru Classé A zählt Château Angélus zu den renommiertesten Weingütern in der Bordelaiser Right Bank. Ein hoher Anteil Cabernet Franc, bisweilen an die 60 %, markiert die Eigenständigkeit des Grand Vin in der Merlot-Hochburg Saint-Émilion. Intensive Frucht und glasklare Struktur kennzeichnen seine gerühmte Eleganz. Die Winzerfamilie Boüard de Laforest führt das Château in achter Generation. PRESSE 97-98 Punkte James Suckling The transparency of fruit and the finesse is really something here. There’s depth and beauty to the pristine, fresh fruit. Full-bodied and muscular with wonderful tannins that provide tension and form. Subtle and weightless, this is a thought-provoking young wine. 60% merlot and 40% cabernet franc. 95-96 Punkte Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (William Kelley) A classic blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc, the 2023 Angélus reflects this estate's continuing evolution with regard to ripeness, extraction and élevage choices, offering up attractive aromas of dark berries and plums mingled with hints of mint, potpourri, rose petals, vine smoke and orange zest. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and supple, with a velvety attack that segues into a core of pure, pillowy fruit framed by supple, powdery tannins, it's cool and harmonious, concluding with a long, perfumed finish. This is a terrific effort that foregrounds the vintage and the terroir at their best. Since taking the helm at Angélus, Stéphanie de Boüard-Rivoal and her team, inspired by the terroir transparency of the wines of the 1950s, have been boldly evolving toward less impactful winemaking. What does that mean in practice? Cooler macerations, élevage that now incorporates foudres for the grand vin and tanks for Tempo, No. 3 and Carillon, reducing the impact of new barriques without the loss in precision that often comes from repeatedly reused barrels—along with, I'm sure, a host of other smaller changes that cumulatively mean that Angélus today is a very different beast from the rich, toasty wine of the 1990s and early 2000s. The 2023 vintage has delivered wines with quite low pHs, with the team opting to harvest comparatively early to preserve freshness. Long cold macerations were followed by cool fermentations, with a maximum of 22 degrees Celsius, and the wines were barreled down clean and cool. Technical director Benjamin Laforet compares the vinifications in 2023 to a long-exposure photograph and compares the resulting wines with the estate's 2001s. 97 Punkte Falstaff (Peter Moser) Tiefdunkles Rubingranat, opaker Kern, violette Reflexe, dezente Randaufhellung. Feinwürzig unterlegte schwarze Herzkirschen, Brombeeren, ein Hauch von Edelholz, zarte florale Nuancen, kandierte Orangenzesten. Komplex, saftig, elegant, feine Tannine, gute Frische, extraktsüßer Abgang, mineralisch und lange anhaftend, ein straffer, finessenreicher Speisenbegleiter mit sicherem Zukunftspotenzial. Schlägt stilistisch eine neues delikates Kapitel für Angelus auf. 94-96 Punkte Vinous (Neal Martin) The 2023 Angélus is the traditional blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc. It aged for 20 months in new oak with just over half the Cabernet Franc aged in foudres (the Merlot is apparently less receptive to this larger vessel). It has a crisp and precise bouquet, not powerful, a light marine influence coming through with background scents of oyster shell. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grained tannins. There’s a pleasant saline edge to this Angélus, perhaps a little more compact on the mid-palate than usual, with touches of white pepper toward the finish. It needs a little more persistency on the aftertaste. This will deserve five of six years in bottle.