Chateau Angelus - Le Carillon d'Angelus Saint Emilion Grand Cru 2020 (750ml)
Price: $124.99
| Producer | Chateau Angelus |
| Country | France |
| Region | Bordeaux |
| Subregion | Saint-Emilion |
| Varietal | Bordeaux Blend |
| Vintage | 2020 |
| Sku | 5950 |
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Chateau Angelus Description
The vineyard of Chateau Angélus is situated in a natural amphitheatre overlooked by the three Saint-Emilion churches. In the middle of this special site, the sounds were amplified and the angelus bells could be heard ringing in the morning, at midday and in the evening. They cadenced the working day in the vineyards and villages, calling the men and women to stop their labours for a few minutes and pray.
Less than a kilometre from the famous Saint-Emilion bell tower, situated on the much-vaunted south-facing “foot of the hill”, Angélus has been the life work of eight generations of the Boüard de Laforest family.
In the first-ever classification of Saint-Emilion wines in 1954, Chateau Angélus was a Grand Cru Classé. Already at the time, it benefitted from a solid reputation, which helped it survive the Bordeaux wine crisis of 1973 and take part in the oenological renewal of the 1980’s. This was the context in which Hubert de Boüard de Laforest, a graduate oenologist from Bordeaux University, took advantage of this marvellous wine’s illustrious past, while being resolutely turned towards the future and launched and continued to implement an ambitious, innovative policy in favour of achieving excellence in wine growing and making.
Wine Enthusiast: 98 Points
This wine brings together all the best elements of the vintage. It shows concentrated tannins laced with a velvety texture and a sustained intensity of black fruits. It shows a strong mineral element in the texture that gives complexity and a fine edge at the end. Obviously, it's a wine for long-term aging.
James Suckling: 95 Points
This is very fine and racy with refined tannins that are long and really precise. It’s medium-bodied with a lovely, creamy texture. Really long and bright.
Vinous: 94 Points
The 2020 Le Carillon d'Angelus is another very pretty, expressive wine from the de Bouard family. Bright floral notes open first, showing off the wine's aromatic presence. Surprisingly elegant for the year, the Carillon impresses with its refined personality. Crushed flowers, sweet red berry fruit, and cedar linger on the vibrant, persistent finish. Aging is 60% in new oak and 40% in stainless steel. Carillon continues to improve, some of that is likely attributable to a new cellar that was recently completed for this wine and the No.3. Le Carillon is a blend taken from vineyards in three locations: Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes, the Cheval Blanc/Figeac sector, and around the chateau.
Jeb Dunnuck: 93 Points
The 2020 Le Carillon D'Angélus bring things up a notch, offering wonderful purity of fruit as well as notes black cherries, cassis, graphite, and leafy herbs. Medium-bodied on the palate, it has wonderful tannins, nicely integrated acidity, and a clean, lengthy finish. It's a beautiful wine.
Decanter: 92 Points
Rich, seductive and powerful with fleshy Merlot fruit, intense with a kick of spice. This is a fairly different blend than you would find in Carillon a few years ago, when there was more Cabernet Franc. Now, with new plots, you can expect it to be more Merlot-focused going forward, setting it clearly apart from the main estate wine.
Wine Advocate: 92 Points
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2020 Le Carillon d'Angélus (a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc) rocks up with ready-to-go scents of plum preserves, blackberry pie and mulberries, plus hints of spice cake, aniseed and unsmoked cigars. The medium-bodied palate has lovely freshness and an approachable, soft texture framing the crunchy black fruits, finishing long and savory.
