Brought up 22 months in a mix of new barrels, foudre, and once-used barrels, the 2023 Château Angelus is based on a classic blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc. Gorgeously pure crème de cassis and black cherries are supported by graphite, spring flowers, smoke, and a terrific sense of crushed stone. It's medium to full-bodied on the palate and has a pure, graceful, layered mouthfeel, ultra-fine, focused tannins, and a great finish. It's about as classy as they come. Drink this aristocratic, layered, sensationally complete Saint-Emilion from 2030-2060.

The transparency of fruit and the finesse is really something here. There’s depth and beauty to the pristine, fresh fruit. Full-bodied and muscular with wonderful tannins that provide tension and form. Subtle and weightless, this is a thought-provoking young wine. 60% merlot and 40% cabernet franc.

The 2023 Angelus is seriously impressive. Readers will find a wine of notable textural intensity and resonance. Dark-fleshed fruit, new leather, lavender and dried herbs race across the palate. The 2023 is pliant and expansive, with gorgeous mid-palate depth and a long, sustained finish. It was an unusual year, one marked by an early harvest for the Merlots and a late harvest for the Francs. The Merlot saw 70% new wood, while the Franc was aged in equal parts foudre and smaller French oak barrels, some new, some once-filled. This is an important vintage for the Grand Vin.

Gorgeous nose, floral and scented with roses and violets, expressive strawberries and raspberries and some herbal elements. Full and filling, but soft and smooth, almost crushed velvet in texture. It’s not so tense and straight but has a solid backbone of freshness and plush fruit but very cool. It’s more on the structured side than overt acidity, serious but still with crunchy blueberries, chalky blackcurrant, lots of graphite and minerality on the finish. Less fruit forward than some but layered with complexity - a subtle opulence. Fleshy ripe tannins with mouthwatering acidity adding a serious touch. It’s missing that Angelus hug on the mid palate, but I like it a lot and you can’t fault the refinement and precision on show. It’s got body, length, tannins, crunch, freshness, and a vein of minerality underpinning the expression. 3.65pH. Harvest September 14 to October 1.

Cocoa bean, liquorice, pomegranate, smoked earth, sage, anis, fennel, slate tannins, this combines nuanced and sinewy tannins with a generous supple expansion through the palate, building in power and impact. Beautifully fragrant, measured and skilful. 50% in foudres for Cabernet Franc, 50% new oak for the Merlot. Harvest September 14 through to October 1, Benjamin Laforest winemaker, Stephane de Boüard-Rivoal owner.

A classic blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc, the 2023 Angélus reflects this estate's continuing evolution with regard to ripeness, extraction and élevage choices, offering up attractive aromas of dark berries and plums mingled with hints of mint, potpourri, rose petals, vine smoke and orange zest. Medium to full-bodied, fleshy and supple, with a velvety attack that segues into a core of pure, pillowy fruit framed by supple, powdery tannins, it's cool and harmonious, concluding with a long, perfumed finish. This is a terrific effort that foregrounds the vintage and the terroir at their best.

The 2023 Angélus is the traditional blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc. It aged for 20 months in new oak with just over half the Cabernet Franc aged in foudres (the Merlot is apparently less receptive to this larger vessel). It has a crisp and precise bouquet not powerful a light marine influence coming through with background scents of oyster shell. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grained tannins. There’s a pleasant saline edge to this Angélus perhaps a little more compact on the mid-palate than usual with touches of white pepper toward the finish. It needs a little more persistency on the aftertaste. This will deserve five of six years in bottle.

60% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc. 40 hl/ha. Cask sample. Deep purple hue. Complex nose with floral and dark-fruit notes. Rich, smooth and dense on the palate, the tannins fine but firm and tightly wound. Exudes a certain power and austerity at the moment but clearly built to age. (JL)