Читать книгу Best of Bordeaux - Rolf Bichsel - Страница 68
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Saint-Emilion
Facts & figures: Vineyard area: 39 hectares I Production:
100,000 bottles I Top vintages: 1989, 1990, 1995, 1998, 2000,
2005, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 I Price: from €250 I Second
wine: Le Carillon
Château Angélus
F-33330 Saint-Emilion | Tel. +33 (0)557 24 71 39
angelus@chateau-angelus.com | www.chateau-angelus.com
Château Angélus
Premier Grand Cru Classé A since 2012
‘The first Saint-Emilion of my career
was the life's work of a winemaker as
ambitious as he is talented!'
Modernism with depth
The de Boüard family has lived in Bordeaux since the mid-16th century and in
Saint-Emilion since the late 18th century. They began producing wine in the early
1900s under the direction of Maurice de Boüard de Laforest, who acquired a vine-
yard named l'Angélus. This name refers to the fact that this is where the bells of
three local chapels and churches can be heard: the bell became the symbol of the
estate that would develop over future generations. Its real success story began in
the mid-1980s with Hubert de Boüard and his cousin Jean-Bernard Grenié: trained
oenologist Hubert revolutionised winemaking, developed a better understanding
of his soils, introduced innovative methods of working the vines, and became a
proponent of the Cabernet Franc grape variety which grows particularly well at the
foot of the Saint-Emilion limestone plateau. Thanks to his commitment, Angélus –
now the centre of a miniature wine empire also including the chateaus of La Fleur
de Boüard in Lalande de Pomerol and Bellevue in Saint Emilion – has reached the
lofty heights of a Premier Cru A. Hubert de Boüard also works as a wine consultant.
The term ‘modernist' alone does not do Angélus
justice. Vintages such as 1989, 1990 and 1995 were
produced under this dictate, with extract and oak
notes taking precedence over elegance and charm.
However, the dominant oak began to disappear
from around the 2000 vintage onwards with An-
gélus gaining freshness, depth and floral character.
The chateau now bottles top wines year after year
with almost alarming regularity. More recent An-
gélus wines are best drunk after 8 to 12 years at the
earliest, and will easily keep for 20 to 30.
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