CARILLON D'ANGÉLUS

The 2020 Le Carillon d'Angélus is another very pretty, expressive wine from the de Boüard family. Bright floral notes open first, showing off the wine's aromatic presence. Surprisingly elegant for the year, the Carillon impresses with its refined personality. Crushed flowers, sweet red berry fruit and cedar linger on the vibrant, persistent finish. Aging is 60% in new oak and 40% in stainless steel. Carillon continues to improve, some of that is likely attributable to a new cellar that was recently completed for this wine and the No. 3. Le Carillon is a blend taken from vineyards in three locations; Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes, the Cheval Blanc/Figeac sector and around the château. The 2020 is aging in 60% new oak and 40% steel. Drinking range: 2025 - 2040 Rating: 92-94 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Jun 2021)

The 2020 No. 3 d’Angélus offers light, fleshy red currant and smudged strawberry fruit tinged with leather on the nose. The palate is balanced with a slightly powdery texture, fine acidity and touches of graphite toward the finish, which shows more freshness than the aromatics at the moment. Fine. Drinking range: 2023 - 2027 Rating: 85-87 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (May 2021)

The 2020 Le Carillon D'Angélus bring things up a notch, offering wonderful purity of fruit as well as notes black cherries, cassis, graphite, and leafy herbs. Medium-bodied on the palate, it has wonderful tannins, nicely integrated acidity, and a clean, lengthy finish. It's a beautiful wine. Rating: 91-93 Jeb Dunnuck, www.jebdunnuck.com (May 2021)

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2020 Le Carillon d'Angélus (a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc) rocks up with ready-to-go scents of plum preserves, blackberry pie and mulberries, plus hints of spice cake, aniseed and unsmoked cigars. The medium-bodied palate has lovely freshness and an approachable, soft texture framing the crunchy black fruits, finishing long and savory. Drinking range: 2023 - 2038 Rating: 90-92 Lisa Perrotti-Brown, RobertParker.com (May 2021)

Rich, seductive and powerful with fleshy Merlot fruit, intense with a kick of spice. This is a fairly different blend than you would find in Carillon a few years ago, when there was more Cabernet Franc. Now, with new plots, you can expect it to be more Merlot-focused going forward, setting it clearly apart from the main estate wine. Yields around 40hl/ha. 3.5pH, 60% new oak. Drinking range: 2023 - 2038 Rating: 92 Jane Anson, Decanter (May 2021)

With a stunningly designed, new facility in which to make Carillon and also No.3, the quality of these two wines has become even more heightened and in 2020 Carillon takes flamboyance to a new level. With smoky oak notes on the nose and obvious exoticism on the palate, this wine has a grand flavour and it shows a firm set of tannins, too. Drawing on fruit from three distinct soil types there is a layering of flavour here which I have not seen before in this wine. A controlled extraction has meant that alongside the deep, black fruit notes there is freshness and elegance, too. Rating: 17.5+ Matthew Jukes www.matthewjukes.com (May 2021)

This is very fine and racy with refined tannins that are long and really precise. It’s medium-bodied with a lovely, creamy texture. Really long and bright. Rating: 94-95 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2021)