WTN: 1994 Angelus

Here's a wine that was really good 7 years ago, but got even better with time. I think further cellaring will only increase the pleasure. It went from a fairly primary but very big wine to one that is now showing some additional complexity. One of the better '94s from a challenged vintage. It's got plenty of fruit to stand up to the tannins.

• 1994 Château Angélus - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru (8/4/2009)
  Dark red to rim. Nice rich forward nose of dark fruits, cassis, cherry, leather, roasted meats, and a bit of cigar box. Very full-bodied, muscular, even brawny palate feel, still pretty tannic but not at all bitter, wtih plenty of rich deep cassis fruit and some of the complex leather and tobacco characters coming forward from the nose. Finishes strong. Drinking well now, has the fruit to hang in there with the tannins and make old bones. Excellent-outstanding.
  
  
• 1994 Château Angélus - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru (8/22/2002)
  outstanding, great nose from the start, but got much better with
  time, pretty tannic and closed on the palate, but opened beautifully
  after an hour in the decanter, and kept getting better in the glass,
  perfect match with lamb chops

Posted from CellarTracker

[David M. Bueker]

Surprising that a 1994 is still getting better. I would have pegged most (if not all) of them as peaking within 15 years & perhaps being on the downslope now.

David, in general I would agree about the '94s. A lot of them are already showing thinned fruit and the tannins have taken over. The '94 Angelus, I think, is an exception, where they got enough ripe fruit to go the distance.

[David M. Bueker]

Glad one stood out from the crowd. I have not had any of the first growths for about 5 years, but even some of the good ones (e.g. Barton, Pontet Canet) are starting to dry up.

I have found the 94s to have great staying power.

This was proved at my expense when I opened up a 94 Lafite for a visting winemaker from California.

It needs another ten years.

All the best,
Alex R.

[David M. Bueker]

Chalk one up for the 1st growths.

The Las Cases is another one that could handle a lot more time.

Latour is another '94 that needs more time and should turn out quite well. More evidence that one can not apply vintage generalizations uniformly to all wines.

[David M. Bueker]

Although shouldn't wines like Latour, Lafite, Las Cases, etc be excellent year in and year out? Vintage generalizations make a lot more sense when we are discussing properties that cannot afford the financial sacrifice of draconian selection and state of the art equipment (i.e most of them).

My note from a 94 horizontal earlier this year:
1994 Angelus - drinking quite well now, though there's enough
structure to hold. Smoky, mineral, black currant and plum, very good
and my second favorite of night. B+/A-

My notes from the same night, the 1994 horizontal:

Fabulous nose. Thick, brawny, smooth, rich with black notes. Beautiful. Very complete, balanced, drinking well.
A-

As I recall it was also my second favorite wine of the night. It was the group's second favorite, finishing behind unanimous WOTN Haut Brion and well above Lafleur and Mouton etc.

This wine is a winner.

Although shouldn't wines like Latour, Lafite, Las Cases, etc be excellent year in and year out? Vintage generalizations make a lot more sense when we are discussing properties that cannot afford the financial sacrifice of draconian selection and state of the art equipment (i.e most of them).

Hmm, depends on what you mean by should. For what they cost, and given their financial position, the first growths should be able to produce a better wine than less well-off neighbors who don't have that advantage. But there are limits, so in a bad year I don't expect the first growths to acheive what they can do in a great year. Not that '94 was a total wash-out, but it waasn't a great year by a long shot.

Good years.
Bad years.
Yes.
But...
Knowing wine is finding the good wines in the "bad years" and thumbing your nose at the pundits.
Plus they're less expense and frequently (but, as seen above, not always) more early-maturing.

Want to play it safe?
Fair enough.
But I, for one, doubly enjoy the great pleasures afforded by lesser-known wines and vintages that have been damned across the board.

Alex R.

Good years.
Bad years.
Yes.
But...
Knowing wine is finding the good wines in the "bad years" and thumbing your nose at the pundits.
Plus they're less expense and frequently (but, as seen above, not always) more early-maturing.

Want to play it safe?
Fair enough.
But I, for one, doubly enjoy the great pleasures afforded by lesser-known wines and vintages that have been damned across the board.

Alex R.

Good points, Alex. I've done this with many a "bad" vintage, too, even having some considerable success with quite a few from 1994.