2012 Le Carillon De L’Angelus Saint Emilion

The Angélus style results from the combination of bold decisions on vine varieties and an outstanding terroir. It is this unique character born of the south-facing Saint-Emilion slopes with its large proportion of Cabernet Franc that we are so pleased to meet over and over again as the vintages pass by. It is also a composition re-crafted every year in a continuous quest for excellence.

A great terroir is more complex than you might think. It is not just the land, the earth, its natural capacity to drain away water and retain humidity – limestone or clay – the proportion of different elements in it that make it warm or cold soil, rich or poor ground, well-balanced or lacking. It is also the way it is exposed at the head of a valley, on a slope or at the foot of a hill, which creates little places that can be absolutely outstanding.

The vineyard at Angélus grows in a natural amphitheatre on a south-facing slope of Saint-Emilion and at its foot, where the summer temperatures are concentrated and where growth starts earlier. The soil is naturally drained by the slope. A good distribution of limestone and clay provides a regular supply of water and minerals. The 8- to 20% proportion of clay makes these areas of land warm and early. The vines’ rootstocks are ideally suited to this terroir and the vine varieties are distributed according to the soil types: Merlot on the hill, where there is more clay and Cabernet Franc on the sandy clay-limestone soils at the foot of the hill.