Bordeaux wine

The Angélus vineyard, which totals 23.4 hectares, is situated on the famous côtes of St Emilion with the clay and limestone typical terroir typical of the region. It is planted with 51% Merlot and 47% Cabernet Franc, with just 2% Cabernet Sauvignon bringing up the rear. The vines have an average age of about 30 years, and are planted at a density of up to 7000 vines/ha.  A typical figure for Angélus is between 35 and 40 hl/ha.

The fruit is picked by hand with an aggressive sorting in the vineyard, then destemmed at the chai, before going into the fermentation vessel which may be oak, steel or perhaps one of the concrete tanks, which were retained. There is a cold maceration of up to five days before fermentation gets started. Once complete, the wine undergoes malolactic and is then matured in oak for up to 22 months. The grand vin is Chateau Angélus of which there are about 10000 cases per annum, and the second wine is the aforementioned Carillon d’Angélus, of which there are about 1000 cases per annum.

Once called L’Angélus, now simply Angélus, this estate has, under the tenure of Hubert de Boüard de Laforest, been in the ascendant. With investment in the chai and improved viticultural practices in the vineyard, the wines of Angélus have displayed a tangible escalation in quality in recent vintages. This is plain to see on tasting the wines, as the tasting notes for some recent vintages, of both the grand and deuxième wine, presented below make plain; both the 2001 and the 2003 have the edge over the 1998, long hyped as a superior right bank vintage.

But the successes have manifested in many other ways too, not only elevation from Grand Cru Classé to Premier Grand Cru Classé B status in 1996, but also a valuable product placement in a Bond film, Casino Royale, an arrangement which seems to have come about as a result of Boüard’s friendship with actor Daniel Craig (at least that is would Boüard would have me believe). With continued success, Angélus is surely a front-runner for future elevation to Premier Grand Cru Classé A status, although with the failure of the 2006 revision to the St Emilion classification, perhaps Boüard would benefit more from seeking further exposure on the big screen than he would from wooing any visiting committee members.