Community Tasting Note

Cailles wrote:

Sunday, November 28, 2021 - 20 Vintages of Angelus (1988-2015): All wines tasted single blind. A few observations and conclusions: It seems that until more recently, Angelus focused on late picking, big wines with too much extraction. Most pre 2004 wines we tasted did not show well and are drying out or already have. The younger vintages showed better but only time will tell if the 2004 to 2015 vintages will age more gracefully. An experienced Angelus collector mentioned a style shift towards more finesse right after the promotion to Premier Grand Cru Classe A with the 2012 vintage. It would have been great to include more of the recent vintages (we had only 09/10/14/15) to better understand when and to what extent that shift happened. Still, there are some very good wines with the 2010 being the WOTN (rated 96+ pts, the structuredness, freshness and purity of the vintage shines through), narrowly ahead of the 2008 (96pts, these 2008 right banks are singing these days and are incredibly fresh) as well as two wines with 95 pts, the 2005 (slightly closed but lots of complexity and no structural deficits) and the 2015 (showcasing the stylistic shift: there aren’t many 2015s out there that share the light- and airiness and perfect ripeness level and purity with their respective 2010 counterparts).

TN: On the nose there is beautiful ripe dark red fruit, a bit roasted herbs and some toasty notes, the oak is still quite noticeable but it is luxurious oak. Quite inviting but not radiating greatness. On the palate this is disjointed. The wine is not yet completely dried out but there is not enough fruit left. Some herbs and minerality noticeable but not much more. Slightly harsh tannins, high acidity dominating. The nose deserves a 92ish rating but overall this is not good.

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