Château Angélus, St Emilion, 2008
52% Merlot, 48% Cabernet Franc. Hubert de Bouard continues to drive the quality at Angelus ever upwards. The 2008 offers high toned, perfumed fruit, flowers as well as a smoky, savoury notes. The palate is very intense, very pure, with a sweet core of dark and red berry fruits. Full bodied with lovely structure. An iron fist in a velvet glove. Very impressive.
critic reviews
The 2008 Angélus is a vintage that I have tasted many times. It boasts a rich but fortunately not overbearing bouquet adorned with macerated red cherries, camphor, hints of jalapeño pepper and later, a tang of dried blood, almost ferrous. The palate is medium-bodied with smooth polished tannin matched with well judged acidity. It is backward in style to the point that you could almost describe it as charmless, though that is by dint of its youthfulness. It just needs time. Signaling that this Angélus clams up towards the finish as if to say: Too early. You know what? It is probably right. (Tasted at the château and at BI Wine & Spirits' annual vertical tasting.)