Château Angélus St-Émilion 2011 (1500ml)

96 POINTS

Jane Anson - Decanter Magazine

2011 was a fairly classical vintage, and after austere early years it's now becoming approachable, full of life, finesse and precision. You can begin to see in this wine how Angélus opens up with some bottle age. There are touches of rose petal alongside still-intense damson fruits, and the liquorice through the mid-palate is coming to the fore. There's good flesh to the tannins, and the elegance is clear without being too serious. Angélus is a wine that never forgets how to be generous.

95 POINTS

Jane Anson - Decanter Magazine

Fine tannins, this is elegant and finessed, with cool blueberry and raspberry fruits, touches of orange peel, rose petal and slate. Well balanced, precise and well crafted, with a shot of espresso and cocoa bean on the finish. This is just beginning to be ready to drink if given a good few hours in a carafe.

95 POINTS

James Suckling

This is a racy, elegant Angélus with super-silky, caressing tannins and a fabulous depth of fruit, including blackberries, chocolate and light espresso. Such length and beauty. It needs at least four of five years of bottle age. Try in 2019.

94 POINTS

Robert Parker - Wine Advocate

The 2011 Angelus is another winner from Hubert de Bouard. Supple and sexy with lots of blueberry and black raspberry fruit intermixed with licorice, barbecue smoke and camphor, this medium to full-bodied, supple-textured, sexy effort offers delicious drinking now, and promises to become even better over the next decade. It should keep for 15 or more years.

94 POINTS

Robert Parker - Wine Advocate

A great success for proprietor Hubert de Bouard, the 2011 Angelus came in at 14.5% natural alcohol (keep in mind that this is supposedly a challenging vintage – and it was), and 75% of the production made it into the top label. The remainder was declassified into a second label or was sold off in bulk. Yields were a low 30 hectoliters per hectare, and the final blend was 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc. The color is a typical dense blue/purple, and the nose offers up wonderful notes of black raspberries, blueberries, flowers, vanillin and spice box. With authority, velvety tannin, good extract and glycerin, this rich, pure, beautifully textured St.-Emilion should drink well for 20+ years.

94 POINTS

Neal Martin - Vinous

The 2011 Angélus has a lovely bouquet with ample red fruit, fireside hearth/ash and a touch of Earl Grey. Fine definition and lift here. The palate is very well balanced with supple tannins, fine bead of acidity, quite sensual for the growing season with a judicious plushness and a sense of breeding on the finish. Superb. Tasted blind at the annual 10-Year-On tasting.

93 POINTS

Roger Voss - Wine Enthusiast

92-94. Barrel sample. Very dry, firm and hard, this is heavily dominated by new wood. It's only the underlying weight that suggests the black fruit potential.

92 POINTS

Ian D'Agata - Vinous

(a 60/40 blend of merlot and cabernet franc): Opaque ruby-purple. Deep, brooding aromas of cassis, blackberry syrup, coffee and cocoa. Then very rich, dense and unctuous, with blackberry syrup, blueberry liqueur, vanilla and chocolate-covered plum flavors of uncommon depth and purity. The smooth, velvety texture coats the palate while avoiding the bitterness and tannic unpleasantness of many other 2011s. Very long and serious wine, perhaps better balanced than the 2009 and 2010 vintages. As impressive as those wines might be, I think they were too extracted.