Château Angelus Hommage a Elisabeth Bouchet 2018

A Tribute & A Love Story

Hommage à Elisabeth Bouchet is a tiny-production cuvée that will only be released in the greatest vintages.  The first release comes from the already almost mythical 2016 vintage.  It is made from old-vine Cabernet Franc (or Bouchet, as it has always been known on the right-bank) from two small parcels in the South-West corner of the Angélus vineyard on the famous pied de côte (the foot of the slope).  The vines themselves are of 60-80 years of age, drawing the intense minerality that characterises the wine from the clay-limestone and clay-scree-limestone terroirs on which they are planted through their profound root-systems.  

The wine honours Elisabeth Bouchet, great-grandmother of Stéphanie de Boüard-Rivoal, co-owner and CEO of Chateau Angélus – and it is inspired by a rather beautiful history.  For it was to honour his beloved Elisabeth Bouchet that the vineyard of Angélus came to be so extensively planted with Bouchet (Cabernet Franc) by her husband, Stephanie’s great-grandfather, Maurice de Boüard de Laforest.  

The 2016 was aged for 22 months in carefully selected and exceptionally fine-grained new oak from the Vosges forest so as not to mark the wine in any noticeable way.  There are just 9 barriques of the 2016 and there will be just 5 of the 2018.  Later vintages will be aged, at least in part, in larger volume foudres.  No 2017 will be produced due to frost damage.  2018 saw only 5 barrels made.

There are only 849 bottles and a few larger format bottlings of the 2018, all offered in individual wooden cases.

The Château

On the label of every bottle of Château Angélus is the picture of a bell.  This Saint-Émilion Premiere Grand Cru Classé A estate is situated in a natural amphitheater, surrounded by three local churches. The property’s namesake is derived from the close proximity to these spiritual houses of worship.  During the harvest, vineyard workers can hear the church bells toiling while they tend to the vines.  But there’s a deeper meaning to the symbol of the bell: it also represents the spiritual and priestlike devotion the eight generations of the Boüard family have to the vines at this property.  The Boüard who currently runs the estate - Stephanie de Boüard-Rivoal - puts it best.  She says, “We are only the guardians of a history that presided us and will survive us, so our role is to sustain it in the best conditions we are able to achieve.”

Château Angélus is one of the few estates in Bordeaux that has been run by the same family since its inception.  The Boüard family has an even longer history than Château Angélus, as their legacy spans 700 years.  Château Angélus was always a respectable property in Saint-Émilion, but once Hubert de Boüard took over after graduating from Bordeaux University and studying under the famed professor Émile Peynaud, quality skyrocketed. Throughout the generations, the Boüard family business was always deeply entrenched in the wine trade.  So much, in fact, that one of the original names of Cabernet Franc was Bouchet, the maiden name of Hubert de Boüard’s Grandmother, Elizabeth Bouchet.

Admittedly, the quality of the wines at Château Angélus were underperforming in the early 1980s. But once Hubert de Boüard brought forth some revolutionary techniques from Burgundy, things started to change.  Hubert made adjustments to the fermentation process, choosing to ferment whole berry in open top vats and conduct malolactic fermentation in small barrels instead.  He made sure the estate would harvest parcel by parcel – like the vignerons of Burgundy did – and encouraged periods of ageing their wines on the lees.  This would mean the wines would have more exposure to the yeast cells, yielding a creamier mouthfeel.  Many estates have emulated Château Angélus’ viticultural techniques, and though these practices may seem commonplace today they were revolutionary at the time of introduction at the estate.

Stephanie de Boüard-Rivoal took over managing the Château Angélus in 2012, which was a very big year for the property.  In 2012, Château Angélus was promoted to Saint-Émilion Premiere Grand Cru Classés A – the highest honor an estate can obtain in that part of the Right Bank. Since then, Stephanie has championed the transition of Château Angélus to organic viticulture.  She is the third woman in the long line of Boüards to run the estate and has managed to move the property to 100% organic farming as of 2018.  As of 2021, Château Angélus received its organic certification.  Stephanie says the vineyards give her emotional and spiritual strength. She shares her ancestors’ devotion to crafting some of the most profound wines on the Right Bank. 

"Only the second release of this cuvée (it was first produced in 2016 and will be produced in 2019 as well), the 2018 Château Angelus Hommage A Elisabeth Bouchet is 100% Cabernet Franc coming from a single parcel of vines averaging between 60-80 years in age. It was vinified in stainless steel and the aging spanned 18 months in new French oak. It's another magical wine from this château that somehow manages to marry serious power and richness with a sense of purity and elegance, as well as complexity, that's something to behold. Deep purple-hued, it offers a sensational array of blackcurrant and cassis fruits intermixed with truffle, spring flowers, and a subtle meaty, baking spice character that develops with time in the glass. Full-bodied on the palate, it's flawlessly balanced, has ultra-fine tannins, and an expansive, seamless, heavenly mouthfeel. Everything is in the right place, and it has perfectly integrated oak along with a gorgeous finish. There are just 849 bottles produced, with a few larger formats, so I expect this to be just about impossible to find in the marketplace (nor will it be cheap), but it's as fine a Saint-Emilion as has ever been made. It needs a decade of cellaring, and I suspect it will have 40-50 years of overall longevity." - Jeb Dunnuck (8/11/2022) Ratings: 100, Drink: 2032-2068