2007 Château Angélus

92 POINTS

Robert Parker - Wine Advocate

A super effort from proprietor Hubert de Bouard, this blend of 62% Merlot and 38% Cabernet Franc exhibits sweet notes of chocolate, charcoal, blackberries, and jammy cherries in its round, opulent, fleshy personality. Yields were 35 hectoliters per hectare, and the wine achieved 13.5% natural alcohol. Low acidity and ripe tannin make for a voluptuous style of Angelus to drink now and over the next 10-15 years.

92 POINTS

Neal Martin - Wine Advocate

Tasted at Farr Vintners’ vertical from ex-chateau magnum. The 2007 has a slightly lighter colour than the 2008 and 2009. I appreciate the bouquet, lighter compared to more recent vintages with raspberry, cranberry sauce and a background tinny accent. Very nice purity here, the Merlot stronger than the Cabernet Franc at the moment and it unfurls nicely in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp acidity on the entry. It is a little angular compared to bottles that I have tasted, but it is very fresh in the mouth with admirable fruit concentration considering the vintage. It does not have a great length, cutting away quite sharply on the spicy finish with residues of burnt toast, so not a long-term vintage but very fine. Tasted October 2011.

91 POINTS

Stephen Tanzer - Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar

Good deep ruby-red. Spicy aromas of blueberry, licorice and bitter chocolate. Sweet, lush and deep but quite suave, with lovely lift to the cabernet franc-driven violet, licorice and peppery flavors. Firmly structured and long on the aftertaste. This already shows good mid-palate fat but really needs at least a few years to expand.

James Suckling - Wine Spectator

Shows very good intensity of blackberry and coffee bean on the nose. Full-bodied, with slightly austere tannins and a long finish. A little hollow midpalate. Almost minerally. There's a lot of wood and cool fruit character, a bit too much new wood for me. Wait and see. Best after 2012.

Jancis Robinson MW

Dark purplish crimson. Very big-boned but with a hint of green on the nose. This wine tastes like a cross between Troplong Mondot and its fleshiness and the norm of the rest – lots of late-picked aromas but also some astringency and pretty mouth-puckering overall. Like sucking a bit of tarmacadam. Pretty hard work! And a bit of a hole in the middle. Not the charm of Pavie. 16/20

Jacques Dupont - Le Point

Vanille, fruits rouges, floral, bouche puissante, un peu extraite, tannique, serrée, tendue, tanins un peu mordants, vifs, de l'allure. 16/20