• Chateau Ausone 2017 has the best ‘price per point’ profile of any modern Ausone.  It looks significantly undervalued at current prices.

• Ausone 2017 scores 98 pts from Wine Advocate, yet vintages around it are much more expensive. 

• Ausone is many connoisseurs’ top pick in the whole of Saint-Émilion, yet its performance has lagged behind the other big names in recent years.  It is due a period of ‘catch up’.

• Ausone 2017 will be preferred for drinking ahead of other recent vintages, giving it a strong market bid over the next 12-18 months.

• Ausone is by far the scarcest top wine in Saint-Émilion

• By leaving the Saint-Émilion classification, Ausone can re-position itself as a cut above officially classified wines (joining Pétrus, Le Pin etc. in a league of its own).

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Château Ausone 2017 – Best ‘Price per Point’ Ratio

Ausone 2017 has the best ‘price per point’ ratio of recent ‘investment grade’ vintages of Ausone.  It looks significantly undervalued at current levels:

Ausone 2017 is scored (Wine Advocate) only 2 points off perfection at 98 points, but prices of other physical vintages around it are +27% to +84% more expensive!  Experience teaches us that this type of anomaly doesn’t last, and the undervalued wine gets bid up over time. 

The Ausone 2021 (scored 97-100 points) seems certain to be released well above the current price of the Ausone 2017, and allocations will be eagerly fought over.  So why is 2017 available at a discount to that price? (With a 98 points score already assured and with almost 5 years of ageing already).

Ausone is Due for a ‘Catch Up’

We have been watching the lacklustre price action of Ausone over recent years.  Ask most connoisseurs of Saint-Émilion and they will tell you that Ausone has the best terroir in the appellation and makes the most luxuriant wine. 

But in price terms, Ausone has lagged amongst the top Saint-Émilion châteaux since 2008.  Obviously, a higher release price by Ausone perhaps leaves less room for appreciation, but our view is that this underperformance is overdone and Ausone is likely to see a period of relative outperformance over the coming years.

Over the last five years, the price of Château Figeac 2005 has shot up an eye-watering +400%.   Château Ausone 2005, by contrast, is up by ‘only’ about +40%.   This price action has closed the gap between ‘the rest’ and Ausone significantly, and (we believe) has left Ausone looking relatively attractive.  

Drinking Window Opens Soon for Ausone 2017

The perception is that 2017 will be an early drinking vintage right across Bordeaux.  As we saw a decade earlier with 2007, this can be very beneficial for price action because drinking clients gravitate towards purchasing these vintages as they enter their drinking windows.

Of the last six vintages (including 2021), Ausone 2017 is the most accessible; and it will start hitting its optimal drinking stride as soon as 2024 (according to Neal Martin).  This will start to put a firm bid into the market for this vintage over the next 12-18 months and drinking clients, the ‘on trade’ etc. start to position themselves.                                  

Ausone is the ‘Scarcest’ of the Big Names in Saint-Émilion

Château Ausone is a tiny estate of just 7 hectares, on a steep slope with a 15%-20% gradient.  The terroir is a unique combination of clay and Asteria limestone, which gives the wine its fabulous mineral structure. 

What is striking is how much less Ausone is made than at the other ‘big six’ Saint-Émilion estates:

Ausone is far scarcer than its top neighbours, producing just a third of the wine of even Cheval Blanc! 

We really notice this scarcity during En Primeur, when we always have to allocate Ausone rigorously and many clients are disappointed.  This again underlines how important it is to snap up secondary market offers on the rare occasions when they become available.  

Ausone will Shine outside the Official Classification

In August 2021, the classification at the top of Saint-Émilion was thrown into turmoil by the news that Château Cheval Blanc and Château Ausone would be leaving.  Chateau Angélus subsequently announced its departure. 

So, from this year (2022), the new classification of top Saint-Émilion will / might look like this:

Our view is that the move to ‘unclassified’ status will only help Ausone (and Cheval Blanc and Angélus).  Ausone’s global ‘brand’ is so strong that it needs no official recognition.  Ausone will join Pomerol neighbours Pétrus and Le Pin in having no official classification, and this will give it freedom to position itself well above officially classified estates.

Whether it is in Super Tuscany, Pomerol or even in regions like Napa Valley, we believe that official classification can have as much an effect of ‘levelling down’ as levelling up, and hence the move by Ausone and Cheval Blanc / Angélus to leave official classification will only increase their relative prestige as the undisputed ‘top dogs’ of Saint-Émilion. 

In conclusion, we believe that the future for Château Ausone as an independent estate is very bright indeed, and we are looking forward to a period of renewed price growth.  The Ausone 2017 looks like a fantastic way to express this view. 

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