Château-Angelus Saint-Émilion 2005

Following the stunning fragrance of acacia flowers, blueberries, espresso and graphite, this prodigious wine hits the palate with amazing blue and black fruits, sweet tannin, a full-bodied mouthfeel, incredible purity, texture and length. Little is left to chance or imagination in this compelling effort. It is a quintessential style of l'Angélus, only more concentrated and dense than usual. The tannins are sweet and well-integrated, so this is a wine that one can drink despite its infancy at age 10, but it will keep for 40-50 years.

Black purple in color, with coffee, blackberry and currant on the nose. Full-bodied, with supervelvety tannins and a long aftertaste of toasty oak and ripe fruit. Very close to the 2000. Superb. Best after 2018.

Barrel sample. A spicy, densely sweet wine, all ripe purple fruits bursting out of a straitjacket of tannins, with the wood flavors quite dominant at this stage. The wine is firm, but the fruit is so big that the dryness is lost.