1993 Angelus

Magnum. 25% Cabernet Franc, 75% Merlot. Looks quite old at the rim. Black middle. Bit of a blob (formless) on the nose. Very rich and sweet with no rough edges. Vibrant. Something rather wild about this wine. Transparent and readable. Slightly drying now but I’d be very happy to be served this. Fading slightly, gamey. (JR)

Solid colour. Sweet, ripe Merlot nose High toned, quite appealing nose. Real lift. Good balance, prettier than 1994. Good fruit in the middle. Quite supple. Pretty. Round. Ready. Fine tannins have disappeared. This would make great drinking now if it’s not too expensive. (JR)

In the new classification of St.-Emilion, justice was certainly served with the elevation of Angelus to premier grand cru classe status. No Bordeaux estate has been making as concentrated and consistently high quality wines as has Angelus since 1988. Even in the rain-plagued vintage of 1992, Angelus produced a wine of uncommon power, ripeness, and intensity. This estate is in many ways symbolic of what heights Bordeaux can achieve when a property is managed by someone as passionate and driven as Hubert de Bouard. As I have been writing for the last decade, these are wines to buy at first release; they can only go up in price given their quality. One of the four or five most concentrated wines of the vintage, this opaque, black/purple-colored 1993 offers an intensely fragrant nose of smoke, olives, chocolate, black fruits, hickory, and sweet, spicy oak. Amazingly rich and full-bodied, with massive extract, it is almost unbelievable that this wine could have been produced in a vintage such as 1993. Give it 3-4 years of cellaring, and drink it over the following 15-18 years.