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.

Michel de Boüard de Laforest, historian, chartist and rector of the Academy of Caen explored the origins of his family. The earliest reference he found to his family tree was with Georges Boüard, born in 1544, a Bourgeois and Jurat of the city of Bordeaux. At the end of the 18th century in 1782, Jean de Boüard de Laforest, a King’s bodyguard, settled in Saint-Emilion. His daughter, Catherine Sophie de Boüard de Laforest, married Charles Souffrain de Lavergne in 1795 and set up home on the Mazerat estate, which belonged to her husband.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Maurice de Boüard de Laforest inherited the estate. He extended it, adding in particular a 3-hectare (7½-acre) enclosure named Angélus in 1920. He left it to his sons in 1945. Jacques and Christian de Boüard de Laforest continued their father’s work and that of previous generations. The property was classified in 1954. They extended it further until by 1985 it exceeded 20 hectares (50 acres). At this time, Hubert de Boüard de Laforest, Jacques’ son, took over the management of the estate and was joined in 1987 by his cousin Jean-Bernard Grenié, Christian’s son-in-law and later by his daughter, Stéphanie de Boüard-Rivoal in 2012 and by his nephew Thierry Grenié de Boüard in 2016.