Description
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 2019 vintage was aged for 22 months carefully. 80% was aged in exceptionally fine-grained new oak from the Vosges forest, 20% aged in large volume foudres. The production of this cuvée has been small from the beginning. There were just 9 barriques of the 2016, 5 of the 2018, and less than 5 of the 2019.No 2017 will be produced due to frost damage.
There are less than 800 bottles and a few larger format bottlings of the 2018.
Critical Acclaim
100 points The Wine Cellar Insider
“Produced from 100% old vine, Cabernet Franc, the aromas of smoked roses is what you initially notice before finding tobacco leaf, cherries, black raspberries, mint, menthol, and cigar box scents. The wine offers striking purity, similar to eating the berries off the vine. On the palate, the wine is supple, fresh, elegant, and refined, with silky textures, finesse, and depth. The red fruits continue expanding, taking on additional notes of herbs, tobacco, and cigar wrappers in the long, seamless finish. This is a benchmark wine for Cabernet Franc. 20% of the wine is aged in new, French oak barrels, with the remaining 80% aging in fourdres. Only 5 barrels were produced. Each bottle is packaged in its own, numbered box. 14.5% ABV, 3.7 pH.” – Jeff Leve (7/14/2013),Drink: 2030-2055
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