Angélus - Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2020

Vinous

96-96

par Neal Martin le 28/02/2025

The 2020 Angélus has a more awkward nose than its peers, lacking the same focus and delineation. There is something Cabernet Sauvignon-like about this, though it coheres in the glass and conveys an appealing sense of classicism. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins. It's a touch more ferrous than its peers but is very well balanced with a cerebral and persistent finish. This will require several years in bottle, yet it will be worth the wait. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.

Alexandre Ma

98

par Alexandre Ma le 18/04/2023

Wine Advocate

97

par William Kelley le 06/04/2023

The 2020 Angélus has turned out superbly and underlines this estate's continuing shift to a more elegant, integrated style that offers a purer expression of its terroir. A blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc, it unwinds in the glass with aromas of cherries, wild berries, rose petals, mint and subtle hints of licorice, followed by a medium to full-bodied, beautifully layered and vibrant palate that's deep, precise and penetrating, concluding with a mouthwateringly chalky finish. Some 120 hectoliters of Cabernet Franc, amounting to around 20% of the blend, were matured in foudre this year, which no doubt helps to account for the significantly reduced oak impact in the 2020.

Jeb DUNNUCK

98

par Jeb Dunnuck le 30/03/2023

The flagship from this great estate, the 2020 Château Angelus checks in as 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc that spent 22 months in new barrels. It’s darker and more concentrated compared to the 2019, offering beautiful, medium to full-bodied aromas and flavors of redcurrants, black raspberries, sandalwood, spring flowers, and smoked tobacco. With just about flawless balance, it's not the blockbuster style of a decade ago, but it has gorgeous purity, ultra-fine tannins, a round, seamless mouthfeel, and a great, great finish. It's very much in the classic, balanced, structured style of the vintage, and a solid 7-8 years of bottle age are recommended. It will have 30+ years of prime drinking.

The Wine Cellar Insider

99

par Jeff Leve le 22/03/2023

Everything that makes Chateau Angelus great is here in spades! The wine is almost opaque in color. In the glass, the perfume pops with its essence of black, dark red and blue fruit, smoke, licorice, flowers, espresso, chocolate and an array of spices. The wine is full-bodied, intense, silky, vibrant and concentrated with multiple-layers of perfectly ripe, sweet, cashmere textured fruits. The wine builds, expands and intensifies on your palate. The fruit offers purity and lift in the seamless finish that lingers for close to 60 seconds. Give this some time in the cellar and it will probably hit triple digits. It is that good! Drink from 2026-2060.

Alexandre Ma

98

par Alexandre Ma le 15/03/2023

Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux

97

par Jane Anson le 16/01/2023

This is a vintage at Angélus that grips on from the first moment and expands through the palate, inching open and building layers of concentrated and ripe autumnal fruits of fig and blackberry, with crayon, slate, cocoa bean, chocolate cake, orange zest, smoked caramel. The floral expression of the Cabernet Franc comes in with white pepper spice, gorgeous depth of flavour. Plenty of Angélus exuberance if you give it time, with fresh acidities that lift off towards the finish. There is a tiny slice of Petit Verdot in this wine, but such a small amount that it isn't recorded as part of the blend. Ageing in a mix of oak barrels and larger oak casks,100% new oak. This is the first vintage without Premier Grand Cru Classé A on the label, after they withdrew from the classification.

Vinous

96-98

par Antonio Galloni le 01/06/2021

The 2020 Angélus is shaping up to be tremendous. Bright and punchy, with terrific energy, the 2020 is more linear and focused than any recent vintages I can remember tasting. Crushed red berry fruit, iron, smoke, mint, chalk and dried herbs all build in the glass. In 2020, Angélus is less flashy than it can be. That is a very good thing, for those who can wait. Harvest took place between September 18 to 30. One of the major evolutions here in recent years has been the use of foudres to age the Cabernet Franc. Half of the Franc is now raised in large format oak, and that seems to bringing added freshness to the Grand Vin.

Jeb DUNNUCK

95-97

par Jeb Dunnuck le 28/05/2021

I loved the 2020 Château Angélus, which has the fresh, pure, incredible style favored by the estate today yet still has beautiful concentration and depth. Lots of ripe black cherries, mulberries, and cassis as well as violets, white flowers, tobacco, and dark chocolate define the bouquet, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a seamless, incredibly elegant mouthfeel, flawless tannins, and a great finish. While I don't think it's going to match the magical 2018, it's not far off and is unquestionably a gorgeous wine.

Vinous

95-97

par Neal Martin le 27/05/2021

The 2020 Angélus was given 30–40 minutes to open. It has a very intense nose of multilayered blackberry, blueberry and wild strawberry scents, crushed violet and hints of iodine. It is quintessential Angélus in many ways, sleek and smooth, harmonious and seductive. Those qualities also come through on the palate. This is framed by fine tannins, the Cabernet components coming through strongly on the midpalate. Quite ferrous in some ways, allspice and subtle minty notes lending complexity toward the finish. It is not quite as persistent as the recently tasted 2018 from bottle, but it comes across a little more chiseled and intellectual.

Decanter.com

97

par Jane Anson le 25/05/2021

Supple damson fruits, I love the aromatics on this and the striking fruits. Silky in texture, balanced and elegant, there are big tannins that slowly but surely creep up on you through the palate. This is a sleek, poised, and confidently-constructed Angélus, with depth to the olive, chocolate, cassis body and a crushed mint leaf kiss on the finish. As often with this vintage it is not an exuberant hug, it is more about discreet power and gorgeous stealing-up of flavours and textures giving depth and subtle power. 3.62pH, aged in large sized oak cass and oak barrels. A yield of 37hl/ha.

The Wine Cellar Insider

98-100

par Jeff Leve le 21/05/2021

Dark in color, the wine explodes with blackberry liqueur, plums, smoke, licorice, Asian spice, cherry blossoms, violets and truffles. The wine is full-bodied, rich, dense and intense, with layers of opulent, cashmere textured fruits. As good as that is, it's the mid-palate and finish, with its non-stop waves of silky, sensuous fruits that build, expands and intensifies, leaving you with a beautiful purity of fruit-infused with spicy chocolate. The endnotes linger for close to 60 seconds. Give this a decade or so of age and it should be a mind-blowing tasting experience. The wine blends 60% Merlot with 40% Cabernet Franc,14.5% ABV, 3.65 pH. The wine is aging in 100% new, French oak, however, 40% of the Cabernet Franc is aged in foudres, allowing the oak to almost finish integrating into the wine on release. Harvesting took place, September 12-September 30. 98-100

Wine Advocate

98-100

par Lisa Perrotti-Brown le 20/05/2021

The 2020 Angélus has an opaque purple-black color, pulling you in with a captivating perfume of kirsch, Black Forest cake, ripe plums, violets and molten licorice, followed by wafts of underbrush, raspberry leaves and graphite, plus a hint of clove oil. The medium to full-bodied palate already offers beautiful balance and expression at this nascent stage, featuring bright, crunchy red and black fruits with remarkable energy and tension. Its amazingly plush, silken texture carries all these shimmering flavors to a very long and fragrant finish. This jaw-dropping expression of 2020 is simply stunning. The blend this year is 40% Cabernet Franc and 60% Merlot, due to be aged 18-22 months in French oak barriques, 100% new, and two new foudres. The wine has pH of 3.65 pH and an alcohol of 14.5%.

Anthocyanes

97-99

par Yohan Castaing le 11/05/2021

Très beau nez frais, floral, violette, délicat, fin et très élégant. Menthol et cassis. Boisé fin, présent mais pas masquant. Très beau toucher de bouche, dans la sapidité, la suavité, la fraicheur, du fond, de l'énergie avec des tanins d'une grande classe. Un Angélus qui confirme sa révolution esthétique et qui présente ici l'un des grands millésimes de son histoire. Une très grande bouteille que tout amateur devra acquérir. Garde : dans 15 à 20 ans voire beaucoup plus.

Bernard Burtschy

97-98

par Bernard Burtschy le 10/05/2021

Falstaff

95-97

par Peter Moser le 10/05/2021

Dunkles Rubingranat, violette Reflexe, dezente Randaufhellung. Frische rote Wald- beernuancen, rote Johannisbeeren, feine Kräuterwürze, ein Hauch von Edelholz, flo- raler Touch von Rosenöl, Veilchen, Orangenzesten unterlegt. Saftige rote Kirschen- frucht, pfeffrig unterlegte Textur, frisch strukturiert, ein Hauch von schwarzem Tee, mineralisch, wirkt leichtfüssig, verfügt über gute Länge und sicheres Entwicklung- spotenzial, ein subtiler Angélus, der sich wunderbar in die Trilogie der letzten Jahre fügt.

My Bettane + Desseauve

97-98

par Bettane & Desseauve le 07/05/2021

Jamessuckling.com

98-99

par James Suckling le 25/04/2021

This is wonderfully refined and balanced with such pretty depth. Full-bodied and so polished and pure. Subtle at first, then it takes off and keeps coming. Sophisticated. 60% merlot and 40% cabernet franc.

Tastingbook.com

98

par Markus Del Monego le 15/04/2021

Dark purple colour with violet hue and black core. Impressing nose with very complex and concentrated character, aromatic purity and depth, ripe blackberries, cherries, hints of blackcurrants, liquorice and fragrant spiciness. On the palate well a wine with great precision and complex character, refined tannins, fine acidity and wonderful fruit. Aromatic depth, great freshness and excellent length coming together, creating the most elegant Angélus ever tasted en primeur.