Château Angélus: Tasting & Drinking
Once called Château L’Angélus, now simply Château Angélus (although I seem to recall the definitive article having been dropped in recent years, it was in fact with the 1989 vintage that the label changed from Château L’Angélus to Château Angélus), this estate, now under the direction of Hubert de Boüard de Laforest andStéphanie de Boüard-Rivoal, has been in the ascendant in recent years. With investment in the chai and improved viticultural practices in the vineyard, the wines of Château Angélus have displayed a tangible escalation in quality.
This is plain to see on tasting the wines, as the tasting notes for some recent vintages presented below make plain; both the 2001 and the 2003 have the edge over the 1998, long hyped as a superior right bank vintage. As quality has been pushed higher and higher, more recent vintages – not just great years like 2005, but also 2007 and 2008 – have been just as impressive, if not even more so. And this is the mark of a truly great estate; when they make appealing wines in washout vintages such as 2007, you know you are onto something good.
Not every vintage sings with the same definition though. The 1989 and 1990 vintage certainly have their fans, but having tasted both with some bottle age (and from a reputable source, from the personal cellar of a well-known Bordeaux négociant) I found both show the warmth of the vintage too plainly, the fruit showed a rather roasted, perhaps even baked character. Having said that, in the interest of balance, the 1990 when retasted a few years later at the château was in tip-top condition. I forces me to question whether the négociant’s bottles were really representative.
In more recent times, Hubert has taken full advantage of years such as 2009 and 2010, turning out superlative wines. For all the criticisms we could levy against the system of classification within St Emilion (or indeed any of Bordeaux’s regions that are similarly classified) there is no doubt that, despite all the controversy and the sniping comments from Hubert’s critics, there are many fans of the estate who feel its promotion to the very top tier of the 2012 classification was one that was justified. Those two vintages will have played their part in the estate’s promotion. Of course, the estate has since departed the classification, but that had nothing to do with the quality of the wines.
