Hubert de Bouard says Angelus blend to include more Cabernet Franc

En Primeur 2013

(Image credit: En Primeur 2013)

Hubert de Bouard has said he expects the amount of Cabernet Franc in the flagship wine of Chateau Angelus to gradually increase in the next few years, partly because of the benefits it yields during ageing.

Chateau Angelus

Hubert de Bouard described his admiration for Cabernet Franc during a recent vertical tasting of Chateau Angelus wine in London. He added that he was looking to ‘increase it step by step’ in the final blend of the St Emilion estate’s first wine.

He highlighted the 2012 Angelus vintage, which contained 45% Cabernet Franc versus 55% Merlot, as an example of what Cabernet Franc can do – describing the variety’s contribution to the wine as ‘like cashmere in the mouth’.

Merlot was around 60% of the blend in most of other vintages in the tasting, which encompassed 2000 and then 2005 to 2012 inclusive. Only 2010 equalled 2012 for Cabernet Franc levels.

Angelus has 15 hectares of Cabernet Franc, of which 10ha are more than 65 years old. ‘It needs to be at least 25 years old before it can give great wines,’ said de Bouard, who also acts as a consultant to other Bordeaux estates and wineries in several other countries.

Bordeaux’s ‘most difficult’ grape

‘It is the most difficult grape in Bordeaux, because it is sensitive to mildew and is fussy about exactly the right amount of clay in the soil, needing no more than 15% and not less than 10%,’ he said.

Despite the challenges, de Bouard believes that Cabernet Franc gives his wines ‘freshness, spice and a long finish’. He said he dislikes over-ripe Merlot, which ‘has a maximum of ten years then the wine is brown and dead, whereas Cabernet Franc helps with ageing’. He cited Cheval Blanc 1947 as evidence of this.

De Bouard added that he also prefers to ferment Cabernet Franc in concrete due to its thermal inertia. The grape is very sensitive to temperature changes, he said.

Chateau Angelus blends for the wines tasted:

2012: 55% Merlot 45% Cabernet Franc
2011: 60% Merlot 40% Cabernet Franc
2010: 55% Merlot 45% Cabernet Franc
2009: 60% Merlot 40% Cabernet Franc
2008: 58% Merlot 42% Cabernet Franc
2007: 62% Merlot 38% Cabernet Franc
2006: 62% Merlot 38% Cabernet Franc
2005: 62% Merlot 38% Cabernet Franc
2000: 60% Merlot 40% Cabernet Franc

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Written by Caroline Gilby MW

Caroline Gilby MW is a freelance writer and consultant, specialising in Central and Eastern Europe. Among others, she currently contributes to Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book, The Oxford Companion to Wine, and the World Atlas of Wine, and has previously written for Dorling Kindersley’s Wines of the World, The Wine Opus, and Tom Stevenson’s Wine Report. Prior to her career as a writer, Gilby spent seven years as a senior wine buyer at Augustus Barnet off-licences, where she became the first major buyer to import Hungarian wines to the UK. She initially studied plant biology, in which she holds a doctorate, but abandoned life behind the microscope for a career in wine soon after winning the Decanter-Macallan Malt Whisky Taster of the Year Award while still a student. Gilby passed her MW in 1992 and has been visiting and tasting the wines of Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Romania for over 20 years.