As if the wine wasn’t spoofy enough, they’ve decided to spoof up the bottle too!
http://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2014/05/angelus-goes-for-gold-with-21-carat-bottle
“2012 is a truly great vintage”
It’s like everything they say and do is a spoof.
Wonder how much it costs to do that per bottle? More importantly, how much more will it cost the consumer?
Telling that they announced this in Hong Kong…
Another chateau-owner living in LaLa-land.
So with the 2012 vintage, in contrast to all other chateau who lowered their prices compared to 2011, Angelus (and Pavie) did bump up their prices significantly because they got promoted to Premier Grand Cru Classe A.
For sure, such promotion does not all of a sudden improve the quality of the wine. So what was it? Ah, of course, consumers were about to get a gold leaf logo, and they will pay dearly for that… How frickin stupid can you be…
Btw, one of the most Iconic wine labels in the world, that of Rousseau’s Chambertin, uses gold leaf as well… With the big difference that that is a wine you want to buy year in year out…
Angelus 1989 and 1990 were excellent wines. Just drank an '89 recently and thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it as a classic right bank Bdx Powerful, poised, long. Yum.
When did Angelus make a turn for the worse?
Read this book:
It will shed a whole new light on de Boüard…
There are court cases pending about the classification that saw Pavie and Angélus promoted to the same lofty heights as Cheval Blanc and Ausone…
Alex R.
Even the St. Emilion classification is a spoof!
An '86 Angelus I had was quite nice, and to be honest, so was the '06. The '09 was a complete Jabba the Hutt kind of wine though: a disgusting mass of shapeless flab.
The St. Emilion system is completely discredited.
De Boüard is not for nothing in this.
Alex R.
Yes, this gold bottle seems to clearly show how this classification means next to nothing in terms of quality. One of the fascinating things about the whole wine world are the mind-squeezing cross section of craft and business.
The business world demands profits and growth. It is utterly comfortable with marketing, packaging, and the battle for margins. Producers focused on the business aspect of their wines will do exactly what de Bouard has done. I respect him highly for fighting for the right to market his wine to drive the greatest value for his business. For those who buy wine for prestige, the label, the classification, and the gold bottle all are a highly attractive combination.
Doesn’t mean I will buy the wine, though! For those who don’t care about the wine business, or prestige, they are only hurt if a prestige wine falls out of their price range. The fortunate part of all this is that there are gorgeous (and mediocre) wines at just about every price point. It might take work to find them (and this board is a fantastic source for wine info by people who really care) but for those looking for artistry, the big business wines can be safely ignored.
Personally I find this change in Angelus unattractive. Whether buying blue jeans or wine, I’m not interested in paying more just for a label. But I will continue to look for bottles of the '89!