Earthy and muddy with sweet dark fruits and full-on extraction. In the mouth it just felt unbalanced, spicy and hot, primarily due to an excess of alcohol. Closer to a Chateauneuf-du-Pape than a claret, and not pulling my punches, I found this gaudy and monstrous. CHP 85 pts
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Phew, this wine is not ready. Decanted for let breathe for 5-6 hours and still it wasn't open for business. Very dark and dense fruit, chocolatey, you could certainly feel the alcohol. Nowhere near ready. But underneath it all you could feel the quality. This will be a great wine one day - but keep it for another 5-10 years.
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I approached my first bottle of this with some trepidation after a few other 2005 St. Emilions disappointed due to heavy overextraction and overripe fruit.
Immediately on opening the nose and palate hit me with raisiny sweetness, glossy ripe fruit, good acidity and tannins. I leave it alone in the glass for a couple of hours and the nose is much improved. Shy, backward, but at least not offputting. Very modern on the palate. I really don’t want this to be another boring overdone right bank 05, so I give it a continuance and stick it in the fridge for the next day.
Not expecting much today, the wine has really come around. Nose has dark fruits, cassis, cigar wrapper, a hint of moist earth. Medium-full body, with plenty of acid and tannin to balance the abundant fruit. No overripe or raisiny notes remain, no alcoholic heat. No complexity at this stage. That and the overnight improvement tell me this has potential to blossom. Excellent now with upside potential.
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Unlike most 2005s I've tasted over the past couple of years, I didn't have the chance to sit with this at home and follow it over a long period. So who knows, maybe it was open at the start and shut down, maybe it would have opened up in time. But over the couple of hours that I had it in the glass at dinner, it was brutally shut down. A big heap of fruit, shrouded in oak as young Angelus of this era is. Forbidding at the moment, demanding (not asking for) another decade.
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(Château Angélus, St. Émilion) Hubert de Boüard took over at Château Angélus in 1985, and by 1996, Angélus had been promoted to premier grand cru classé. With the 2005 vintage, Boüard has taken the winery to even greater heights. The youthful structure of this bottling makes it hard to believe that the cépage is 50% Merlot. Stunning blackberry and dark-cherry aromas are just the beginning, but the centerpiece of this wine is its concentration and balance. Hot Picks
(Château Angélus) Dark red violet color; sexy lavender and rich blackberry nose; balanced palate of ripe plum, sweet tannins, and a cedar note, very structured and needs probably 10 years to open; medium-plus finish (60% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc)
(CHATEAU ANGELUS.) #1; COLOR-very dark; NOSE-amazing fruit explosion (black currant, cherry & cassis, hints of blueberries), chocolate/mocha, pure black licorice; TASTE-complete blitzkrieg of your palate, every part of palate is coated w/ charcoal, blackberry & black currant, huge mouthfeel, some heat (very young), huge tannin structure, explosive & tremendous, stunned by the balance of such a young wine, already has complete harmony; very special; expensive, but will be $1000 in 7-15 years ; RP-96/98; GV-99+
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4/9/2024 - platpeeps Does not like this wine: 85 Points
Earthy and muddy with sweet dark fruits and full-on extraction. In the mouth it just felt unbalanced, spicy and hot, primarily due to an excess of alcohol. Closer to a Chateauneuf-du-Pape than a claret, and not pulling my punches, I found this gaudy and monstrous. CHP 85 pts
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3/4/2024 - jrh82 wrote: 92 Points
Phew, this wine is not ready. Decanted for let breathe for 5-6 hours and still it wasn't open for business. Very dark and dense fruit, chocolatey, you could certainly feel the alcohol. Nowhere near ready. But underneath it all you could feel the quality. This will be a great wine one day - but keep it for another 5-10 years.
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2/22/2024 - dbg wrote:
I approached my first bottle of this with some trepidation after a few other 2005 St. Emilions disappointed due to heavy overextraction and overripe fruit.
Immediately on opening the nose and palate hit me with raisiny sweetness, glossy ripe fruit, good acidity and tannins. I leave it alone in the glass for a couple of hours and the nose is much improved. Shy, backward, but at least not offputting. Very modern on the palate. I really don’t want this to be another boring overdone right bank 05, so I give it a continuance and stick it in the fridge for the next day.
Not expecting much today, the wine has really come around. Nose has dark fruits, cassis, cigar wrapper, a hint of moist earth. Medium-full body, with plenty of acid and tannin to balance the abundant fruit. No overripe or raisiny notes remain, no alcoholic heat. No complexity at this stage. That and the overnight improvement tell me this has potential to blossom. Excellent now with upside potential.
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2/14/2024 - yaanik Likes this wine: 100 Points
Dense, structured. Cannot believe this is 19 years old. Still very primary -- layers of crushed sweet blackberry, floral. Decant for several hours.
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1/6/2024 - englishman's claret wrote:
Unlike most 2005s I've tasted over the past couple of years, I didn't have the chance to sit with this at home and follow it over a long period. So who knows, maybe it was open at the start and shut down, maybe it would have opened up in time. But over the couple of hours that I had it in the glass at dinner, it was brutally shut down. A big heap of fruit, shrouded in oak as young Angelus of this era is. Forbidding at the moment, demanding (not asking for) another decade.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (4)