Angelus in excelcis

Superlatives were flying thick and fast at Chateau Angelus this afternoon as le tout China (it seemed) turned up to taste the 2015 en primeurs and have a selfie with owner Hubert de Bouard de Laforest. No stranger to SA as a founder of Anwilka and now in partnership with the tandem cyclists who own Klein Constantia which is managed by Herr Angstrom, the Swedish unit of measurement equivalent to one ten-billionth of a metre. The Cyclists keep fit filing reports on the state of SA vintages in the pink pages of the Financial Times. One negociant reported that St. Emilion should make a statue of Hubert to facilitate this selfie industry.

IMG_6266

Certainly the wine was spectacular as you’d expect from grapes described by the estate as “simply magnificent, a rare and sublime moment.” The word in the trade is that Angelus will attempt to reposition itself on the back of such a magnificent vintage. So watch out for prices jumping from the E180 of 2014 to E220 or perhaps even E250. Which will make it an order of magnitude more expensive than Chateau Berliquet which is located higher up the slope. Its the difference between a nanometer and an angstrom.

But would you pay ten times more for Angelus from an equivalent or even better terroir? Certainly the Chinese wheelers and dealers will, as what the product tastes like is relatively unimportant to them. As for me, having shelled out E240 for two bottles of Clos des Jacobins 2003 at the Angelus restaurant Logis de la Cadene, I’d Berliquet every time. For the first Jacobin was wonderful and the second, ever so slightly corked, which ruined the meal and the whole experience.