Chateau d'Angludet 2002, Margaux CBE

Medium ruby; tight garnet rim. Perfumy and classy 'spa' nose, with the 'rancio' of blackberry, plum fruit, smoke and wood. Red fruits on the palate. Fresheer than its 2001, this 2002 inishes nicely: medium length, dry finish with balanced fruit and wood; the right alcohol; tamed, dense tannins; slowly evolving with discreet charm. This claret has the structure of a classified growth at a great price(thanks to the scores from Robert Parker et al. and from James Suckling).

In a recent Olympian type of tasting, 5 very seasoned wine tasters scored this 2002 Angludet 3rd(weighted average score 88.68), beating a host of betterknows such as Boyd Cantenac, Centenac Brown, Siran, La Gurgue, Dauzac, Ferriere, Marquis de Terme, Monbrison, Marjolla and others. THis 2002 Angludent loses marginally to Durfort Viviens(87.15), du Tertre(87.08).

Robert Parker admits: "This is an unqualified sleeper of the vintage, a beautifully opulent, rich, dense, ruby/purple-colored wine with sweet cassis fruit intermixed with some licorice and resiny notes. Quite full-bodied, pure, with good, sweet fruit covering moderate levels of tannin, this is a beauty and an undeniable bargain for a wine of this quality. In fact, I’m not sure that it’s not even better than my rating. Anticipated maturity: now-2015." (04/05)

A good vintage for this Cru level like Margaux. Needs 40mins full decanting. Neighbouring vineyards are prestigious: Giscours, Brane-Cantenac, Kirwan. On pebbly stones on which no grass growth is possible. One of our first bottles of fine claret 30 years back.