Angelus
Stephanie Rivoal-de Bouard has been managing Angelus since 2012.
Mini vertical of Grand Vin in five vintages at the property in November 2021
-----
2024 (barrel sample) 95p
The blend is 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc. 13.5% alcohol. It’s fresh with an aroma of morello cherries and flowery notes, plush, delicate, elegant, with finesse, great complexity, and length. It displays a splendid mid-palate, velvety fruit and tannins, and a long-lasting aftertaste. It’s a superb effort for the vintage.
2023 (barrel sample) 98p
Tasted in April 2024. 60% Merlot + 40% Cabernet Franc. 14.5% alcohol. On the nose, there are intensely aromatic morello cherries and raspberries, while on the palate, it's elegant and plush, with a strong backbone, great complexity, sophisticated touch, and finesse. It has a great mid-palate and long aftertaste. This is stupendous stuff.
2022 98-99p
Tasted twice - last time in April 2025. Consistent notes. 60% Merlot + 40% Cabernet Franc. 14.5% alcohol. The wine is fresh and floral, featuring notes of roses, morello cherries, crushed rocks, and minerality. It is elegant and has a strong backbone, delivering great complexity and length. This sophisticated wine is multilayered, showcasing a wonderful mid-palate and a long aftertaste. Stephanie Rivoal-de Bouard, the current director and manager, has transformed this property into one that produces incredibly refined and intellectual wines in recent vintages. The quality is stunning.
2021 96p
Tasted twice - last time in April 2024. Consistent notes. 60% C. Franc + 40% Merlot. The blend is historic, as it's the first time with such a high percentage of C. Franc, which ripened excellently. Fresh, morello cherries, crushed rocks, mineral, elegant, with a strong backbone, great complexity and length, a splendid midpalate, and a persistent aftertaste.
2020 98-99p
Tasted three times - last time in April 2023. Consistent notes. 60% Merlot + 40% Cabernet Franc. 14.5% alcohol. Several specially selected C. Franc plots for Grand Vin were aging in so-called foudres, each with a volume of 30 hl, to preserve the subtlety of this grape variety. Freshness, intense black cherries, and bright acidity. Spectacular elegance and a sophisticated touch. This wine exuded great precision, with a flowing mid-palate and length. Breathtaking quality.
2019 98-99p
Tasted in November 2021. 60% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc, 14.5% alcohol. This wine combines 2020 and 2018 vintages, blending 2020's elegance, finesse, and sophisticated touch with 2018's intensity and concentration. A beautifully aromatic nose, silky berries, tannin, great complexity, and length made this wine irresistible!
2018 98+p
Tasted twice - last time in November 2021. Consistent notes. 65% Merlot + 35% Cabernet Franc, 14.5% alcohol. When Stephanie de Bouard-Rivoal, daughter of Hubert de Bouard, took over winemaking duties in the 2015 vintage, she aimed to change Angelus's style from what her father practiced. She aimed to reduce the amount of new oak used in the vinification, achieve greater freshness, and produce more delicate and fine-grained tannins. In a Zoom interview with me in mid-December 2020, she felt she had succeeded fairly well with this style change in the 2018 vintage. When I tasted the bottled Angelus 2018 at my home in December 2020, it was a sublime, sophisticated, and incredibly complex wine. It's an imposing effort, for sure! It was equally stunning when I tasted it again at the property in November 2021!
2017 97p
Tasted in November 2021. 70% Merlot + 30% C. Franc, 14% alcohol. 30% less was produced due to spring frost. It displayed fragrant cherries and raspberries, as well as milk chocolate and cocoa powder. It was lighter in intensity and concentration, with more elegance and finesse evident here than in 2015 and 2016. It's an excellent effort for the vintage.
2016 97p
Tasted in November 2021. 60% Merlot + 40% Cabernet Franc, 14.5% alcohol. It is quite similar to 2015 in terms of concentration and upfront fruitiness. It had an alcoholic nose, with notes of morello cherries, and an excellently structured palate featuring lush berries and fine tannins. It's more elegant and refined than the 2015 vintage. Eminent wine.
2015 96-97p
Tasted in November 2021. 62% Merlot + 38% C. Franc. Flamboyant and concentrated wine with great depth, complexity, and length. Silky texture, velvety tannin, and luscious fruit. This wine had a slight sensation of extended extraction and big ripeness, but it didn't detract from the overall excellent quality.
2001 94p
Tasted three times - last time in April 2007. Consistent notes. Big extraction, modern style, ripe and aromatic fruit, and long aftertaste. This wine has been a significant success for the vintage.
2000 99p
I had the pleasure of tasting this wine during lunch in April 2024 at Logis de la Cadenne with Léa Bodin and Benjamin Laforet from Angelus. It was a wonderful example of how the 2000 vintage has developed into an utterly perfect wine. This bottle was genuinely spectacular and timeless to taste.
1990 96p
Tasted twice - last time in December 2016. Consistent notes. A very distinguished nose with intense flavors, featuring truffles, and several layers on the palate, accompanied by great length and structure. It is a formidable wine with considerable aging potential.
1989 97p
Tasted twice - last time in August 2024. Consistent notes. Fabulous, featuring black cherries and truffles. It has great complexity, structure, luscious berries, stunning balance, and a long, soft, sweet finish. It was an excellent performance! This was in December 2006. Approximately 18 years later, it still tasted strikingly excellent. This wine was loaded with creamy cherry fruit and had fabulous complexity, featuring a great mid-palate, remarkable acidity, a seamless structure, and a long, sensual finish. Intellectual wine!
-----
Link to Wine-Searcher's Chateau Angelus page - click here