Château Angélus - St.-Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classé 2014
Price: $399.99
| Producer | Château Angélus |
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| Country | France |
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| Region | Bordeaux |
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| Subregion | St.-Emilion |
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| Varietal | Bordeaux Blend |
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| Vintage | 2014 |
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| Sku | 31691 |
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Wine Enthusiast: 97 Points
Effectively half-and-half Merlot and Cabernet Franc, this is a tremendous wine. With very fine tannins, spice from a touch of wood and swathes of ripe fruits give this wine its concentration and its huge potential. The wine has weight and a dark, dense structure that will allow it to age for many years. Drink from 2027.
James Suckling: 96 Points
Wow. This is really decadent and fascinating with forest flowers, chocolate, tea and currants on the nose, which follows through to a firm and silky palate with lots of fruit and balance. Very long and beautiful. Citrusy undertones. Needs five or six years of bottle age to show it all.
Wine Spectator: 95 Points
This has a dense, muscular core of warm blackberry, black currant and fig paste flavors, shrouded under a cloak of tobacco and loam. Not shy on toast and balanced by a hefty ganache edge, this isn't heady at all, just a terrific expression of the muscular, loamy style. Best from 2026 through 2040.
Decanter Magazine: 95 Points
Wine Advocate: 94 Points
The 2014 Angelus has developed with some panache during its barrel maturation and now in bottle, it conveys attractive blackberry, briary and vanilla pod aromas, the oak neatly integrated. It is not the most powerful bouquet that Hubert de Boüard de Laforest has ever overseen, though it offers precision and focus. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, a crisp line of acidity, quite compact and linear in the mouth with a subtle oyster-shell note that tinctures the black fruit towards the persistent finish. It is no showstopper, yet there is craftsmanship and terroir-expression here and it should drink well for two decades.
Vinous
The 2014 Angélus is a dark, powerful wine. Black cherry, violet, chocolate, leather, torrefaction and cloves are some of the many aromas and flavors that give the wine its dense, heavily extracted feel. There is no shortage of intensity today, but the real question is whether there will still be enough fruit once the tannins soften. That said, the 2014 opens up nicely with time, so I am cautiously optimistic.
