Chateau Angelus 2014
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Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
This vintage has a very pure, elegant nose. The attack is clear, and the wine progressively gets bigger, reaching a very sophisticated balance between the magnificent quality of the tannins, substance, tension and freshness. There is 50% Cabernet Franc in the blend, which elevates the elegance of the wine’s tannic structure and makes the finish complex and long.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Effectively half-and-half Merlot and Cabernet Franc, this is a tremendous wine. With very fine tannins, spice from a touch of wood and swathes of ripe fruits give this wine its concentration and its huge potential. The wine has weight and a dark, dense structure that will allow it to age for many years. Best after 2027. Cellar Selection
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James Suckling
Wow. This is really decadent and fascinating with forest flowers, chocolate, tea and currants on the nose, which follows through to a firm and silky palate with lots of fruit and balance. Very long and beautiful. Citrusy undertones. Needs five or six years of bottle age to show it all.
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Wine Spectator
This has a dense, muscular core of warm blackberry, black currant and fig paste flavors, shrouded under a cloak of tobacco and loam. Not shy on toast and balanced by a hefty ganache edge, this isn't heady at all, just a terrific expression of the muscular, loamy style.
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Decanter
Hubert de Boüard's 30th vintage. 50% Merlot, 50% Cabernet Franc from 60-year-old vines. Fine, racy nose. Violet notes. Velvety texture. Ample tannins but precise, fine and long. Again real precision in this wine. Structured, seductive and long ageing.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium to deep garnet in color, the 2014 Angélus needs a fair bit of coaxing to begin to reveal very pretty aromas of lilacs, kirsch, redcurrant jelly and Black Forest cake plus nuances of graphite and menthol. The palate is delicately intense with soft spoken floral and earth notes complimenting the black fruits, supported by ripe, rounded tannins and oodles of freshness, finishing long with compelling restraint. Sporting a good amount of tertiary nuances, it can be enjoyed right now, but make sure to decant it a good 1.5 to two hours prior to drinking. Drink from 2020 - 2045. Rating: 94+
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Wine
The vineyard of Chateau Angélus is situated in a natural amphitheatre overlooked by the three Saint-Emilion churches. In the middle of this special site, the sounds were amplified and the angelus bells could be heard ringing in the morning, at midday and in the evening. They cadenced the working day in the vineyards and villages, calling the men and women to stop their labours for a few minutes and pray.
Less than a kilometre from the famous Saint-Emilion bell tower, situated on the much-vaunted south-facing “foot of the hill”, Angélus has been the life work of eight generations of the Boüard de Laforest family.
In the first-ever classification of Saint-Emilion wines in 1954, Chateau Angélus was a Grand Cru Classé. Already at the time, it benefitted from a solid reputation, which helped it survive the Bordeaux wine crisis of 1973 and take part in the oenological renewal of the 1980’s. This was the context in which Hubert de Boüard de Laforest, a graduate oenologist from Bordeaux University, took advantage of this marvellous wine’s illustrious past, while being resolutely turned towards the future and launched and continued to implement an ambitious, innovative policy in favour of achieving excellence in wine growing and making.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Marked by its historic fortified village—perhaps the prettiest in all of Bordeaux, the St-Émilion appellation, along with its neighboring village of Pomerol, are leaders in quality on the Right Bank of Bordeaux. These Merlot-dominant red wines (complemented by various amounts of Cabernet Franc and/or Cabernet Sauvignon) remain some of the most admired and collected wines of the world.
St-Émilion has the longest history in wine production in Bordeaux—longer than the Left Bank—dating back to an 8th century monk named Saint Émilion who became a hermit in one of the many limestone caves scattered throughout the area.
Today St-Émilion is made up of hundreds of independent farmers dedicated to the same thing: growing Merlot and Cabernet Franc (and tiny amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon). While always roughly the same blend, the wines of St-Émilion vary considerably depending on the soil upon which they are grown—and the soils do vary considerably throughout the region.
The chateaux with the highest classification (Premier Grand Cru Classés) are on gravel-rich soils or steep, clay-limestone hillsides. There are only four given the highest rank, called Premier Grand Cru Classés A (Chateau Cheval Blanc, Ausone, Angélus, Pavie) and 14 are Premier Grand Cru Classés B. Much of the rest of the vineyards in the appellation are on flatter land where the soils are a mix of gravel, sand and alluvial matter.
Great wines from St-Émilion will be deep in color, and might have characteristics of blackberry liqueur, black raspberry, licorice, chocolate, grilled meat, earth or truffles. They will be bold, layered and lush.