2020 Angelus
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Tasting notes
Angélus has produced a profound wine in 2020, continuing a clear move that we’ve seen over the last four years or so – away from power and towards elegance. The team rightly says the 2020 has a “sublimity” to it. It also showcases the finer detail of the Right Bank wines this year – a beautiful, delicate, floral, peony scent, matched by wonderfully dark, smoky, toasted spice, fruitier baked berries and lighter, buttery, pastry notes. The wine has fantastic texture, with detailed but perfectly ripe tannins that ripple across the palate, coated in dense, concentrated forest fruit of fantastic purity. The Cabernet Franc brings mouth-watering freshness and a minerality too. The assemblage is 60% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc with part of the Cabernet aged in 30hl foudre (the latter to reduce the Cabernet Franc’s exposure to oxygen).This is plush but beautifully elegant Angélus. A magical wine.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
James Lawther MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
Tasted blind. Darkest crimson. Pure, fragrant dark fruits. Finely scented on the nose and palate. Fresh, succulent, refined and light on its feet even though it has drive and length. An aromatic beauty. (JH)
The 2020 Angélus has a more awkward nose than its peers, lacking the same focus and delineation. There is something Cabernet Sauvignon-like about this, though it coheres in the glass and conveys an appealing sense of classicism. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins. It's a touch more ferrous than its peers but is very well balanced with a cerebral and persistent finish. This will require several years in bottle, yet it will be worth the wait. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
The 2020 Angélus has turned out superbly and underlines this estate's continuing shift to a more elegant, integrated style that offers a purer expression of its terroir. A blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc, it unwinds in the glass with aromas of cherries, wild berries, rose petals, mint and subtle hints of licorice, followed by a medium to full-bodied, beautifully layered and vibrant palate that's deep, precise and penetrating, concluding with a mouthwateringly chalky finish. Some 120 hectoliters of Cabernet Franc, amounting to around 20% of the blend, were matured in foudre this year, which no doubt helps to account for the significantly reduced oak impact in the 2020.
About the producer
Ch. Angélus is one of Saint-Emilion's finest properties. Ch. Angélus is one of the few Saint-Emilion properties today that has remained under family ownership since its inception over 237 years ago.