Château Angélus, until 1990 known as Château L'Angélus, or simply L'Angélus, is a

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the cultivation and production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feat ...

in the

Right Bank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrain alongsid ...

of the

Bordeaux wine region The wine regions of Bordeaux in France are a large number of wine growing areas, differing widely in size and sometimes overlapping, which lie within the overarching wine region of Bordeaux, centred on the city of Bordeaux and covering the whole ...

, in the

appellation An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication used to identify where the ingredients of a food or beverage originated, most often used for the origin of wine grapes. Restrictions other than geographical boundaries, s ...

Saint-Émilion Saint-Émilion (; Gascon dialect, Gascon: ''Sent Milion'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in Southwestern France. In the heart of the country of Libournais (the area around Libourne), in a regio ...

. The estate was formerly highly ranked in the

Classification of Saint-Émilion wine In 1955, the Saint-Émilion AOC, wines of Saint-Émilion in the wine-growing region of Bordeaux wine, Bordeaux were classified. Unlike the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 covering wines from the Médoc and Graves (wine region), Grave ...

, being promoted to ''Premier grand cru classé'' in 1996, then ''Premier grand cru classé (A)'' in 2012, before withdrawing from the classification in 2021. The château also produces a

second wine Second wine or second label (French: ''Second vin'') is a term commonly associated with Bordeaux wine to refer to a second label wine made from '' cuvee'' not selected for use in the ''Grand vin'' or first label. In some cases a third wine or e ...

named ''Carillon d’Angélus'' (since 1987) and a third wine, ''No. 3 d’Angélus''. A fourth label was announced in 2022 called Tempo d’Angélus which is a Bordeaux AOP wine from plots of land acquired in the Côtes de Bordeaux Castillon area to the east of Saint-Émilion in 2017, though the wine is labeled as Bordeaux AOP.

History

The estate has been owned by the Boüard de Laforest family since the Domaine de Mazerat was bequeathed to Comte Maurice de Boüard de Laforest in 1910, and expanded by the acquisition of Clos de L'Angélus in 1922 by Elisabeth Bouchet his wife and a plot from

Château Beau-Séjour Bécot Château Beau-Séjour Bécot, formerly Château Beauséjour-Dr-Fagouet, is a Bordeaux wine from the Appellation d'origine contrôlée, appellation Saint-Émilion AOC, Saint-Émilion, ranked ''Premier grand cru classé B'' in the Classification o ...

in 1969. The name refers to the three Angelus bells audible from the vineyards, coming from the chapel at Mazerat, the church in Saint-Martin de Mazerat and Saint-Émilion. Hubert de Boüard de Laforest joined the family business at Angélus in 1976 having concluded studies under

Émile Peynaud Émile Peynaud (29 June 1912 – 18 July 2004) was a French oenologist and researcher who has been credited with revolutionizing winemaking in the latter half of the 20th century, and has been called "the forefather of modern oenology". Biogr ...

at the Faculté d'Oenologie in Bordeaux. Along with several modernising changes, the practice of maturing in new oak was begun in 1980. The estate was not included in the 2022 classification, having withdrawn in early 2022. It was previously classified as a ''Premier grand cru cru classé (A)'' in 2012, previously a ''Premier grand cru cru classé (B)'' since 1996, and was before that classified as ''Grand cru classé''. But according to research of journalist Isabelle Saporta, Hubert de Boüard is judge and jury in the preparation of the classification. In 2018, the co-owner Hubert de Bouard has been charged with seeking to unfairly influence the outcome of the coveted Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classé rankings in his favour. Angélus is currently managed by Hubert de Boüard, with the consultancy of the

oenologist Oenology (also enology; ) is the science and study of wine and winemaking. Oenology is distinct from viticulture, which is the science of the growing, cultivation, and harvesting of grapes. The English word oenology derives from the Greek word ' ...

Michel Rolland Michel Rolland (born December 24, 1947) is a Bordeaux-based oenologist, with hundreds of clients across 13 countries and influencing wine style around the world. "It is his consultancies outside France that have set him apart from all but a handf ...

Production

The estate consists of 23.4 hectares with a grape variety of 51%

Merlot Merlot ( ) is a dark-blue-colored wine grape variety that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name ''Merlot'' is thought to be a diminutive of , the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the color ...

, 47%

Cabernet Franc Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux (wine), Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone, as in the Loire (wine), Loire's C ...

and 2%

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebano ...

. The annual production averages 10,000 cases of the Grand vin and 1,000 cases of the second wine.

References

External links

Château Angélus official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Angelus, Chateau Bordeaux wine producers Saint-Émilion wine