The vineyard of Château Angélus is situated in a natural amphitheatre overlooked by the three Saint-Emilion churches. In the middle of this special site, the sounds were amplified and the angelus bells could be heard ringing in the morning, at midday and in the evening. They cadenced the working day in the vineyards and villages, calling the men and women to stop their labours for a few minutes and pray. The great French impressionist painter, Jean-François Millet immortalised this moment of prayer in his magnificent work “The Angelus”, which is now on show in Paris’ Musée d’Orsay.
The Angelus devotion has a long history originating in 11th-century monastic custom, but the ringing of a noon bell is attributed to Pope Callistus III, who ordered a prayer for protection against the Turkish invasions of the 1400’s. The bell on the Château Angélus label recalls the call to prayer and the moment of devotion.
Less than a kilometre from the famous Saint-Emilion bell tower, situated on the much-vaunted south-facing “foot of the hill”, Angélus has been the life work of eight generations of the Boüard de Laforest family. In the first-ever classification of Saint-Emilion wines in 1954, Château Angélus was a Grand Cru Classé. Already at the time, it benefitted from a solid reputation, which helped it survive the Bordeaux wine crisis of 1973 and take part in the oenological renewal of the 1980’s. This was the context in which Hubert de Boüard de Laforest, a graduate oenologist from Bordeaux University, took advantage of this marvellous wine’s illustrious past, while being resolutely turned towards the future and launched and continued to implement an ambitious, innovative policy in favour of achieving excellence in wine growing and making.
“Here in Saint-Emilion at Angélus on our ancestors’ land, vines and wine are like a religion, a passion shared by the whole family. It is our fierce ambition to continue this passionate, family history by safeguarding at Angélus the identity of the great wines of the south-facing slopes of Saint-Emilion and favouring the Cabernet Franc variety. We also firmly intend to move this great estate into the third millennium and benefit from its rich technological innovation.”
The vintages roll by one after another, but are never the same. This is the appeal of a great estate, continuously changing and challenged by unpredictable weather. Every one of these years contributes to the history of Angélus. “Our thoroughness makes us want to achieve excellence. That’s why our label is a symbol of dreams and trust.” Hubert de Boüard de Laforest. Buy French red wine Chateau Angelus online at VINO&VINO wine store and enjoy free delivery in Yerevan.
