Château Angélus - St. Emilion 2018

100 POINTS

James Suckling

This shows beautifully sensibility of generous fruit and soft and velvety tannins with an undertone of chocolate and cedar. Full-bodied, pure and supple with a direct delivery of vibrant fruit and real terroir expression. Savory at the end with hazelnut and crunchy-seed flavors. Reality check here. Incredible fruit quality.

99 POINTS

James Suckling

The aromas are incredibly complex with dark berries, elderberries, bay leaves, cloves and tile, follow through to a full body with layers of creamy and lightly dusty tannins that deliver a lingering finish and great attention to detail. The flavors range from black fruit to earth and stones. It’s reserved and poised with great intensity and power, in a toned and formed mode. One for the cellar. Try after 2026.

98 POINTS

Jane Anson - Decanter Magazine

This is rich and complex from the very first nose, showing dense brambled fruit with real precision of expression. After a few minutes the aromatics explode, leaping out of the glass and giving an extra level of enjoyment to the wine. In the mouth, lovely vibrant tannins grip without any sense of urgency, joined by curls of woodsmoke and salt taffy through the finish. It's gorgeous and will make you smile with its mouthwatering finish. Only the oldest Cabernet Francs, aged between 60 and 80 years, went into the grand vin in 2018, meaning a little less Cabernet Franc in the blend than usual. But these old vines, planted by Stephanie de Boüard's grandfather, are rich in flavour and give saline emphasis to the finish. It's the first year that they have worked entirely organically, with a 32hl/ha yield from the harvest, which ran from 24 September to 11 October. A cold soak before fermentation was used to extract the colour and fruit flavours without too much tannin. The wine is aged in 100% oak barrels and, for the first time, a few amphorae.

98 POINTS

James Suckling

Sweet tobacco and black olives with some basil and terra cotta. Violets and dark berries, too. Very fine and linear with freshness and beauty. Full and very tight with beautiful depth. It goes on for a very long time. Best after 2025, but seductive now.

97 POINTS

Roger Voss - Wine Enthusiast

96–98. Barrel Sample. This is a dense, smoky wine, packed with ripe tannins and a line of fresh acidity that forms a fine contrast. It's a great wine that is rich in tannins while keeping elegance and finesse.

96 POINTS

Wine Spectator

Very gutsy in feel, with lots of tobacco leaf, loam and espresso notes swirling around a core of steeped black currant and warm fig fruit flavors. The muscular finish is a jumble right now, but there's ample acidity coiled within. A wine that clearly wants to stand out from the pack. Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Score range: 95-98