“It quickly became the poster child and catalyst for the qualitative revolution in St Emilion and since 1988 there has not been a hiccup”. – Robert Parker
Château Angélus is one of Saint-Emilion’s finest properties. Angélus is one of the few Saint-Emilion properties today that has remained under family ownership since its inception over 237 years ago. Hubert de Boüard was the seventh generation to take over the property in 1985 and it was his work in the vineyard and winery that saw the property promoted to Premier Grand Cru Classe “A” in 2012.
The De Boüard family first came to Saint-Émilion when Jean de Boüard de Laforest, a king’s bodyguard, settled in the village. However, the true birth of this estate, as it is now, took place in 1909 when Maurice de Bouard de Laforest inherited the vineyard and purchased a 3.5 hectare parcel of vines known as ”L’Angélus”. He purchased another 13 hectares of vines and the family continued this acquisition, with the estate now being comprised of 39 hectares. The family also owns other vineyards in Bordeaux, including Château La Fleur de Boüard in the Lalande de Pomerol and Ch. de Francs in the Côte de Francs appellation.
Neighbors include Château Canon and Jonathan Maltus’s Le Dôme. The vineyard of Angélus is situated in a natural amphitheater which is overlooked by the three Saint-Emilion churches. This means that in the center of this site, the sounds from the Angélus bells were amplified each time they rang, reminding all the men and women working in the vineyards to take a few seconds out of their day to pray, and it is this that has come to be represented on the beautifully distinctive label of the wine. Angélus has risen to become one of the leading estates in Saint-Emilion and one of the finest wines in all of Bordeaux. Regularly praised by critics, it excels year upon year, delivering exceptional quality and has been described by Robert Parker as “one of the great, shining success stories and superstar estates of Saint-Emilion and all of Bordeaux”.
Until 2022, Angélus was one of the region’s top, Premier Grand Cru Classé “A” estates (alongside Ausone, Château Cheval Blanc and Château Pavie). It was promoted along with Château Pavie to this top rank in 2012, however the estate decided to leave the classification in 2022 (following Ausone and Cheval Blanc, who left in 2021) and will now be classified as a Saint-Emilion Grand Cru.
