1989 Château Angélus
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Tasting notes
The 1989 Château Angelus was singing, with a gorgeous array of red and black fruits, leafy tobacco, tapenade, and cedar pencil (I would have guess Médoc if blind) that makes you sit back and sigh in contentment. Just complex, nuanced, and satisfying on the nose, it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness that carries resolved tannins, a pure, layered, elegant mouthfeel, and a great finish. Tasted next to the 2009, it doesn't quite have the depth or grandeur of that vintage (or the 1990, for that matter), but it’s just a beautiful expression of the château that is drinking at point. Count yourself lucky if you have these in the cellar. It will evolve gracefully over the coming decade and have a gradual decline thereafter.
Critic scores
Wine Spectator
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Almost nothing left at the estate, and hard to find globally. Hard not to gulp down also, as this is delicious. Tobacco, orange peel, baked earth, Christmas spice and sweet raspberry fruits dominate on the opening beats. Melted and silky tannins, we are in full cigar box, leather, sweet liquorice, black truffle and camphor territory. A brilliant wine, at its peak drinking, showcasing seductive tertiary flavours. This was made just a few years after Hubert de Boüard took over full control, and it reflects the fact that something special was happening at Angélus at the time.
The 1989 Angélus is a vintage that I have tasted multiple times from various formats. It remains one of my favorite of that era. Still quite deep in color, it has a glorious, almost hubristic bouquet of layers of lush black cherries, cedar, sage and meat juice aromas as it moves assuredly into its secondary phase. The palate has always been very harmonious and smooth, the tannins finer than preceding vintages. There is lovely grip here, and black truffle and smoky notes appear on the finish. A quite marvelous Château Angélus. (NM)
About the producer
Ch. Angélus is one of Saint-Emilion's finest properties. Ch. Angélus is one of the few Saint-Emilion properties today that has remained under family ownership since its inception over 237 years ago.