Château Angélus 2022
Château Angélus is a legendary estate of the appellation founded in 1782, and for 8 generations the Boüard de Laforest family has been responsible for this exceptional estate.
Vinification: The harvest began on 6 September after the grapes were perfectly ripe. Vinification took place in wooden and stainless steel vats for the Merlot and in concrete vats for the Cabernet Franc. Pre-fermentation maceration at 8°C for a period of 4 days to a week. Alcoholic fermentation up to 28°C. Post-fermentation maceration at 28-30°C for one to three weeks. Ageing should be 22 months in new French oak barrels.
Producer's tasting notes: The wine has a vivid, deep, dense and dark purple colour. The aromas have been carefully preserved throughout the winemaking process and feature a wide range of fresh black fruits and an intensely floral side reminiscent of violets. Smooth and juicy, but also delicate and precise on the palate, the 2022 reveals the freshness and verticality characteristic of Cabernet Franc. The oak is already well integrated, allowing the crunchy, flavoursome ripe fruit to come to the fore. A long, spicy finish, supported by silky, well-knit tannins. This vintage is rich in salinity and complex, with great tension and freshness. It shows the immense capacity of the Angelus terroirs to adapt to climatic adversities
Varieties: Merlot (60%) and Cabernet Franc (40%)
This is a powerful Angelus, showing incredible depth and intensity, as well as tannins that are totally fused into the wine, giving incredible energy to such a young bottle. It makes me think of the great reds of the 40s or 50s, but with a modern precision. Full-bodied but agile, it has infinite length, with blackberries and crushed stones, light herbs and dark chocolate appearing everywhere. Very balanced. Al dente. 60% merlot and 40% cabernet franc. So attractive now, but it will age forever.
This estate's shift in the direction of gentler extraction and more reductive, less overtly oaky élevage continues, and this extreme vintage only underlines that. Fermented at cool temperatures (20 to 23 degrees Celsius), and with an increasing proportion of the wine's Cabernet Franc component matured in large wooden foudres, the 2022 Angélus wafts from the glass with deep aromas of dark berries and cherries mingled with hints of iris, licorice and pencil lead. Full-bodied, deep and seamless, with a layered core of cool, vibrant fruit, powdery tannins and a long, saline finish, it's a brilliant young wine in the making. The 2022 is a blend of 53% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot.
Looking at the Grand Vin, the 2022 Château Angélus is based on 53% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot that will spend 22 months in new French oak, with a portion of the Cabernet Franc aged in foudre. This estate doesn't put a foot wrong, and this is clearly a profound Angélus with a deep purple, almost blue hue, extraordinary notes of cassis, blueberry liqueur, acacia flowers, and scorched earth, full-bodied richness, building tannins, and a dense, concentrated mid-palate, all of which is grounded by a vibrant sense of freshness and purity. While older vintages were more closed and backward on release, this has a certain accessibility given its balance and purity, and I suspect it will offer incredible pleasure right out of the gate. It will evolve for 40+ years as well.
Precision and freshness here, with fennel, aniseed, marzipan, cassis, incense, cigar, black cherry, mint leaf and ink, with a slow build of subtle aromatics, and a cooling uplift on the finish. An exceptional wine that will reward long ageing, but captures the luscious, exuberant quality of the vintage without ever stepping over the line. 100% new oak for the barrels, with 20% of the production (Cabernet Franc only) to be aged in larger oak casks. Organic farming (with their own farm growing produce for their restaurants and for vineyard treatments). This vintage also shows one of the benefits of leaving the classification, which has become official as of 2022 - the de Boüard family is able to expand the footprint for the main wine of Angélus this year with 3ha of Château Bellevue (which has now been officially split and passed entirely back into the hands of the co-owners the de Lavaud family), which brings some cool soil Merlot into the blend.
