Château Angelus 2012

The 2012 Angélus (55% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Franc) is inky bluish purple in color and exhibits blueberry and blackberry fruit intermixed with some licorice, charcoal and graphite. It is full-bodied, ripe, and a great, great success for this estate. The tannins are silky and soft, and the wine can be drunk now or over the next 15 or more years. Very tiny yields of 34 hectoliters per hectare rendered a wine with 14.5% alcohol.

Dark and intense, with vivid tobacco and espresso notes coursing through, while the core of dark fig, black currant and blackberry fruit sits in reserve. Extra charcoal, burnished leather and warm stone notes all add range and texture on the finish, while a bolt of iron keeps everything pinned down. Needs a bit of time to soak up its oak. Best from 2018 through 2030. 9,165 cases made.

Exotically perfumed, with ripe, lushly textured fruit. A complete and showy example of great, polished modern claret at its best, when the owner was successfully pulling out all the stops to upgrade the property’s classification.

Quite a shy nose, with delicate red-fruit aromas that pull you into this filigree St.-Emilion, the subtle fruit aromas beautifully underlined by the fine tannins that give this wonderful precision and clarity right through the long, elegant finish. Excellent herbal complexity and a lot of freshness there. Drink or hold. Château Quintus vertical tasting. SP.

The 2012 Angélus is an attractive wine, although it is lacking in the weight, tannin and overall intensity that are such signatures here. As such, the 2012 will drink well with minimal cellaring. Hints of dark red cherry, plum, spices, new leather and menthol are layered in the delicate finish. The 2012 is 55% Merlot and 45% Cabernet Franc.

Just a beauty, this continues to improve in bottle. Deeply colored, and already showing secondary notes of smoke, truffle, plums, cherries and flowers, the wine is full bodied, deep, silky, long and fresh. The endnote is completed by the dusty tannins and hit of dark chocolate. This is good now, and it's only going to get better from here! Give it another 7-8 years and this will just start singing...

Mineral and stony, with crushed cassis, blackberry, cherry, dark chocolate and spice box. Good depth and weight, intense and lingering flavours, very packed and concentrated with fine powdery tannin, a very long and lingering finish, multilayered with excellent potential.

Opaque purple with black highlights. Full and very rich bouquet, precisely and linearly woven, with a beautifully expressive nose of black berries and dark, spicy fruit; I taste licorice, mocha cream, cinnamon plum, and spices like thyme and lovage at the same time. A fine 2012. The silky, creamy density and earthy nuances provide plenty of substance, yet it remains balanced with a certain finesse, especially in the long, saline-berry finish. With fairly firm tannins, the wine has a long future, but can already be enjoyed. Great vintage performance.

Planting: 50% Merlot, 47% Cabernet Franc, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon. Blend of the 2012 vintage: 55% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Franc. So a preference for Merlot and omission of Cabernet Sauvignon! Extremely dark purple with lilac and violet highlights. Finely spiced bouquet, licorice, fine woods, coffee, dry on the attack (certainly due to the concentration), followed by blue to black berry contours. On the palate soft, fine and very charming. These are all attributes I had practically never used for an Angélus barrel sample. Does the new Premier A now suddenly want to show off finesse in its special class? Fine by me. There are already enough powerhouses in Saint-Émilion. Never have the tannin curls sounded so sweet – just like the new, Disney-like chime on the roof of Angélus. (18/20). 16: Deep purple-garnet, dense at the core, lilac shimmer at the rim. Fresh, very blueberry-like bouquet, intense cassis notes, licorice, also showing a floral glimmer. The nose opens direct and purist. And it continues just as directly and straightforwardly on the palate, crafted right on point and, with these attributes, conveying—for the vintage—a rather grand future. This Angélus needs at least five more years of bottle age.

Fresh, delicately floral bouquet with raspberries, cherries, subtle roasted notes, mocha. Fine-boned, fragrant, fresh palate with delicate fruit, good tannins, an elegant, finely creamy structure, sweet aromatics, long, delicate finish. 18/20 drink - 2036

If any wine in the tasting fits the ‘exuberant’ personality of a Year of the Dragon wine, it is this Angélus 2012 that is barely getting out of the starting gates at 12 years old. Confident and powerful, with supple tannins that are still holding the dominant blackberry, damson, pomegranate and grilled sandalwood character in line. As things open, smoked vanilla bean, espresso, turmeric, dark chocolate and orange peel join in, layered and complex. It will benefit from another five years in bottle before reaching its full drinking window, or give it a good long decant. This was the year that Angélus was promoted to Premier Grand Cru Classé A, a position that would only last a decade until they withdrew from the classification in 2022. Hubert de Bouard owner, Emmanuelle Fulchi technical director.

Medium to deep garnet colored, the 2012 Angelus comes barreling out with notions of Indian spices, dried mulberries, and prunes with hints of camphor, cardamom, and cigar box. Medium to full bodied, the palate has a sturdy structure of firm, chewy tannins and plenty of freshness to support the exotic, spice-laced fruit preserves flavors, finishing on a lingering mineral note.

A perfect vintage today, still displaying brilliant youth, with tightly structured density on the palate and a fresh, beguiling length.

The 2012, in its gold-plated commemorative bottle unveiled in May 2014 in Hong Kong, seems to puff out its chest to rise to the occasion: it’s a very velvety, rich, massive wine that, for now, reveals little of itself.

A dark Angélus as usual, with plenty of volume, very present tannins, and a slightly dry finish on an elegant frame, with, as always, beautiful fruit intensity.

The nose is complex, refined, “warm,” racy and elegant. It reveals notes of ripe black fruits (beautiful ripeness) combined with subtle hints of coffee, along with a touch of Zan and menthol. The palate offers good density and a pleasant, slightly creamy/silky texture. Good structure. On the palate, there are notes of stewed black fruits, black cherry, plum, blackberry and strawberry, paired with hints of crème de cassis. Good length on the finish, marked by notes of fruit, Zan and menthol.

Dark, intense and beautiful color. Big, unusual nose—complex, fresh, fruity—with a hint of ink and hazelnut. Lovely entry on the palate where the wine immediately unfolds silky, yet also rich and juicy, above all with a melting core and a hint of Cabernet at mid-palate. It develops nobly into a long, complex, deep finish with fine-grained texture. Bravo! Note that decanting enhances the mouthfeel without altering its fine aromatic precision. A great success.

In its gold-embossed bottle to celebrate the elevation of Angélus to Premier Grand Cru Classé A in the Saint-Émilion hierarchy, this perfumed wine bursts from the glass. The tannins are totally enveloped by the ripe black plum and berry fruits. With 45% Cabernet Franc in the blend, it is rich and generous, with licorice and black chocolate flavors. Drink this opulent wine from 2022.