Chateau Angelus 2012

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Just a beauty, this continues to improve in bottle. Deeply colored, and already showing secondary notes of smoke, truffle, plums, cherries and flowers, the wine is full bodied, deep, silky, long and fresh. The endnote is completed by the dusty tannins and hit of dark chocolate. This is good now, and it's only going to get better from here! Give it another 7-8 years and this will just start singing…"

DECANTER: "Exotically perfumed, with ripe, lushly textured fruit. A complete and showy example of great, polished modern claret at its best, when the owner was successfully pulling out all the stops to upgrade the property’s classification."

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "Tasted blind as a vintage comparison at the Valandraud vertical, the 2012 Angelus has a forward and generous bouquet of mulberry, boysenberry, orange rind and slithers of tangerine. It is undoubtedly detailed and energetic, a subtle marine scent surfacing with continued aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with rounded and supple tannin, slightly honeyed in texture yet with a keen line of acidity running through it. Impressive body and mass, yet primal, surly and broody. Perhaps only now is it starting to flex its muscles. This is a well crafted and opulent Saint Emilion with a long future ahead and it may warrant a higher score in the future. Those who cellar this for over a decade will see this in full flight. Tasted December 2016."

JAMES SUCKLING: "Quite a shy nose, with delicate red-fruit aromas that pull you into this filigree St.-Emilion, the subtle fruit aromas beautifully underlined by the fine tannins that give this wonderful precision and clarity right through the long, elegant finish. Excellent herbal complexity and a lot of freshness there. Drink or hold. Château Quintus vertical tasting."

WEINWISSER: "Opakes Purpur mit schwarzen Reflexen. Volles und sehr reichhaltiges Bouquet, ganz präzise und linear gewoben, wunderschön aufmachende Nase aus schwarzen Beeren und würzig-dunkler Frucht, ich schmecke Lakritze, Mokkacreme, Zimtpflaume und Gewürze wie Thymian und Liebstöckel gleichzeitig. Ein schöner 2012er. Die schmelzige, cremige Dichte und erdigen Anklänge bieten viel Stoff, er bleibt aber balanciert mit gewissen Finessen, gerade im langen salzig-beerigen Finale. Mit den recht stringenten Gerbstoffen hat der Wein noch viel Zeit vor sich, kann aber schon angetrunken werden. Tolle Jahrgangsleistung."

WINE SPECTATOR: " Dark and intense, with vivid tobacco and espresso notes coursing through, while the core of dark fig, black currant and blackberry fruit sits in reserve. Extra charcoal, burnished leather and warm stone notes all add range and texture on the finish, while a bolt of iron keeps everything pinned down. Needs a bit of time to soak up its oak. Best from 2018 through 2030. 9,165 cases made."

JANCIS ROBINSON: "Tasted blind. Deep glowing crimson. Blackish crimson. Rather exotic, Merlot-dominated nose with a certain inky freshness. Some lusciousness and some Cabernet fragrance. Good tannin management though there is a light dustiness on the end. Ch Angélus?"