WTN: Chateau Angelus tasting in a private home on Nantucket

I managed to get my schedule confused and showed up at this house a day early and had to call a taxi to pick me up and convey me to another home some distance away on the island. A member of the Bouard family (not the owner) was the presenter of these right-bank Bordeaux wines from Saint Emilion. The estate produces La Fleur de Bouard and the Chateau Angelus. The estate is near three churches and the church bells could be heard ringing out the angelus (a call to prayers of devotion three times a day).
In the latest reclassification of St. Emilion wines, Chateau Angelus in 2012 was promoted to the rank of Premier Grand Cru Classe' A (others with this rating are Chateau Ausone, Cheval Blanc, and also newly promoted Chateau Pavie.) This designation will appear on the labels for future vintages. (An interesting side note: from 1945 to 1982 Angelus wine was aged in concrete, spending no time in oak barrels.)

2009 LA FLEUR DE BOUARD Smooth up to the finish which is a little astringent. More sun and a riper vintage than 2010. 85% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon.

2010 LA FLEUR DE BOUARD I slightly prefered the 2009 vintage over this but wasn't greatly enthused with either wine. This was the more classic vintage in terms of weather.

2007 CHATEAU ANGELUS Described as a difficult vintage. More fragrant than the first two (lesser) wines. Some red fruit aromas--berries and cherries with soft tannins on the finish. One to drink in the near term. Semi-opaque. Smooth but perhaps lacking in strength and structure. Leggy.

2009 CHATEAU ANGELUS More silky, velvety, and riper than the 2007. Long finish. I kept comparing 2007 to 2009 and couldn't decide which I liked better. Both were very attractive to me.

2005 CHATEAU ANGELUS Monsieur Bouard acknowledged that this wine needed time to show its best--more backward than the 2007 or 2009 vintages. I felt like I tasted the Cabernet Franc more in this wine. I was getting raspberry notes. Could easily use 10-15 more years in the cellar.

Fruit is sorted three times and destemmed manually. Blend is usually slightly higher percentage of Merlot than Cabernet Franc such as 53% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Franc and 2-3% Cabernet Sauvignon. (The 2006 vintage was 62% Merlot.)

I found a label of the 1970 Chateau L'Angelus in my old scrap book. I believe they dropped the " L' " from the name several years ago. I don't know why. I probably drank it in the late 1970s, but I didn't write down any notes. It looks like recent vintages are going for over $300. I'm guessing I paid less than $20.

The 2001 was one of my favorites wines of all time! Great chance to taste, JC.

Although my tastes have skewed lately toward lighter, higher-acid wines, I still recall the '90 Angelus with great pleasure. It was massive, concentrated, roasted but still with a core of not-overripe fruit and enough acidity to pull it off. It was worlds apart from Loire Cab Francs, but wonderful within its idiom.

Mark Lipton

Yes, it was a great opportunity to taste a highly ranked Bordeaux. I had only had a taste of Angelus once before, I think a 2000 vintage at a charity tasting in Raleigh.

With the name “L Angelus” on a computerized (alphabetical) price list they would have been listed somewhere “midway” under “L”. By dropping the “L” and using the name “Angelus” they would be closer to the top under “A”.

http://premieurwine.com/angelus.html


Salute