Chateau Angélus - St. Emilion 2012

95 POINTS

Jane Anson - Decanter

2012 was a vintage with a higher proportion of Cabernet Franc than usual, at 45% compared to around 40% in most previous years. It was a late harvest, finishing on 8 October, and it was a clear success. This was the year when Angélus was promoted to Grand Cru Classé A, and to celebrate the achievement the bottle comes with 21.7-carat gold embossed lettering! The impact and personality that comes from the Cabernet Franc is in full evidence, showcasing the tension and steely core that the grape gives to what is always a seductive, complex and silky wine. Although still young, you get a gorgeous liquorice bite alongside fleshy red cherries, hints of vanilla bean and succulent but fine tannins that spin out across the palate and pull you further every time you think you are reaching the end.

94 POINTS

Wine Spectator

Dark and intense, with vivid tobacco and espresso notes coursing through, while the core of dark fig, black currant and blackberry fruit sits in reserve. Extra charcoal, burnished leather and warm stone notes all add range and texture on the finish, while a bolt of iron keeps everything pinned down. Needs a bit of time to soak up its oak.

94 POINTS

Stuart Pigott - JamesSuckling.com

Quite a shy nose, with delicate red-fruit aromas that pull you into this filigree St.-Emilion, the subtle fruit aromas beautifully underlined by the fine tannins that give this wonderful precision and clarity right through the long, elegant finish. Excellent herbal complexity and a lot of freshness there. Château Quintus vertical tasting. SP.

94 POINTS

Robert Parker - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2012 Angélus (55% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Franc) is inky bluish purple in color and exhibits blueberry and blackberry fruit intermixed with some licorice, charcoal and graphite. It is full-bodied, ripe, and a great, great success for this estate. The tannins are silky and soft, and the wine can be drunk now or over the next 15 or more years. Very tiny yields of 34 hectoliters per hectare rendered a wine with 14.5% alcohol.

94 POINTS

Neal Martin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

Tasted blind at the Southwold Bordeaux tasting. The 2012 Angelus does not offer the same level of complexity as its peers at the moment. This is (surprisingly for Angelus) conservative and backward. There is a touch of seaweed developing with time but otherwise the message of the aromatics is: come back later. The palate is medium-bodied with a gentle grip, sultry and broody, somehow quite intriguing, a saturnine Saint Emilion that may be interesting to revisit in a decade's time, since there is appreciable depth and structure here. Tightly-coiled, long-term, serious. Tasted January 2016.

94 POINTS

Neal Martin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

Tasted blind as a vintage comparison at the Valandraud vertical, the 2012 Angelus has a forward and generous bouquet of mulberry, boysenberry, orange rind and slithers of tangerine. It is undoubtedly detailed and energetic, a subtle marine scent surfacing with continued aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with rounded and supple tannin, slightly honeyed in texture yet with a keen line of acidity running through it. Impressive body and mass, yet primal, surly and broody. Perhaps only now is it starting to flex its muscles. This is a well crafted and opulent Saint Emilion with a long future ahead and it may warrant a higher score in the future. Those who cellar this for over a decade will see this in full flight. Tasted December 2016.

93 POINTS

Antonio Galloni MW - Vinous

The 2012 Angélus is an attractive wine, although it is lacking in the weight, tannin and overall intensity that are such signatures here. As such, the 2012 will drink well with minimal cellaring. Hints of dark red cherry, plum, spices, new leather and menthol are layered in the delicate finish. The 2012 is 55% Merlot and 45% Cabernet Franc.

Jancis Robinson

Tasted blind. Dark crimson. Well-integrated if fairly neutral nose. Then quite a tarry complex of flavours on the palate. Good vigour. Just a hint of greenness in the background but good concentration of fruit. Some real polish of the tannins here. Score: 16.5/20