Ausone
About Château Ausone
Château Ausone vies with Cheval-Blanc to be Saint-Émilion’s most prestigious estate. Named after the Roman poet Ausonius who once resided in this area, Ausone is one of four Premier Grand Cru Classé (A) wines in the classification of Saint-Émilion (along with Angélus, Cheval Blanc and Pavie).
Quite possibly the oldest winemaking estate in the entire region, the vines of Château Ausone occupy the same site as a villa owned by the Roman poet and proconsul Ausonius nearly 2000 years ago. The connection to the current name is clear to see, but the Vauthier family have owned these hallowed vineyards for several centuries into the 12th generation with Pauline.
Viniculture
Ausone stands tall over the town of St-Émilion itself, with a mere seven hectares of entirely classified vines – making it the single smallest First Growth in any appellation, on any Bank. Clinging precariously to steep, ancient slopes comprised of clay and limestone with particularly shallow soil cover, it has been said that Ausone is one of few properties in the region where one can simply tell from the sight of its terroir that the wine is exceptional. There are Cabernet Franc vines that are more than 100 years of age (planted 1906).
Striking chunks of limestone are immediately obvious, and it comes as no surprise to learn that such is the extent of said geological influence that there are deep quarries running beneath the vines. Actively worked between the 13th and 19th centuries, the dormant mines are now used by the Vauthiers to store oak barrels at a temperature of 12 degrees and a steady year-round humidity of 97% – in fact so effective are these limestone cellars that a dehumidifier had to be installed!
Aside from producing some of the greatest, rarest wine on Earth, Ausone’s terroir is exceptional for its consistency. Vintage after vintage, both the Grand Vin and the second wine excel whilst others stumble – the latter representing a minuscule 10% of the total production of an already dramatically small amount.
Product Name | Region | Qty | Score | Price | |||||
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|
Bordeaux | 1 | 98.0 |
Inc. VAT
£2,145.62 |
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|
Bordeaux | 1 | 100 (JS) |
Inc. VAT
£2,924.42 |
|||||
James Suckling (100)Incredible nose of currants and blueberries. Flowers too. Licorice. Such purity on the nose of Cabernet Franc. Full body, incredible structure, with fabulous tannins and a long, long finish. Built out of stone. The prefect Ausone. Try after 2022. |
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|
Bordeaux | 1 | 99 (WE) |
Inc. VAT
£2,679.62 |
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Wine Enthusiast (99)98-100. Very concentrated and wonderfully perfumed wine. It has great balance and acidity, intense freshness. The superb fragrance of the Cabernet Franc has made a gorgeous wine, black fruited and likely to age for decades. |
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|
Bordeaux | 1 | 100 (JS) |
Inc. VAT
£2,145.62 |
|||||
James Suckling (100)A mindbinder of a wine with pure fruit and so much fine tannins and mineral character. It’s hyper tight and super polished. The palate starts off slowly and ends with a bang. Amazing endless finish. What an energy. |
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|
Bordeaux | 1 | 100 (WI) |
Inc. VAT
£2,070.02 |
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The Wine Independent (100)The 2016 Ausone is a blend of 50% Cabernet Franc and 50% Merlot and it has a deep garnet-purple color. It is incredibly closed to begin, offering glimpses of juicy blackberries, plum preserves, and cedar chest, before unfurling to offer a whole array of exotic spices, sandalwood, violets, and notes of crushed rocks, plus a touch of smoked meats. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is so closed and tightly knit to start off, delivering peeks at mineral, floral, and opulent spice accents, with a rock-solid structure of grainy tannins and bold freshness, finishing with epic length. It needs a good 8 years+, but should cellar for at least 40 more! |
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|
Bordeaux | 2 | 98 (WA) |
Inc. VAT
£1,623.62 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (98)The deep garnet-purple colored 2017 Ausone is a blend of 55% Cabernet Franc and 45% Merlot. It sashays out of the glass with gregarious scents of baked red and black plums, wild blueberries and boysenberries plus touches of violets, espresso, licorice and melted chocolate with wafts of iron ore and tilled soil. Medium-bodied, the palate is an exercise in poise, featuring beautifully ripe, silken tannins and bold freshness to support the fragrant multi-layers, finishing very long and very minerally. |
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|
Bordeaux | 1 | 100 (WI) |
Inc. VAT
£2,049.62 |
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The Wine Independent (100)The 2018 Ausone is deep garnet purple in color. There is oak to begin, giving way to a great core of baked black plums, chocolate-covered cherries, licorice, and incense, plus Indian spices and violets. Full-bodied, it is rich, concentrated, and decadent in the mouth, with a fantastic backbone of freshness and velvety tannins, finishing very long and layered. |
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|
Bordeaux | 1 | 99 (DC) |
Inc. VAT
£1,809.62 |
|||||
Decanter (99)This is powerful and blows away much of the competition with its depth and layers. This needs you to pull up a chair, take a beat, and let the flavours unroll. There is so much density to the blueberry, bilberry and smoked raspberry fruits that they start out knitted down, then as the oxygen opens them up the body of the wine widens and becomes fleshier and creamier, adding chocolate and mocha notes. The limestone scrape is there in spades through the finish, and this is a cleverly constructed wine. As ever Ausone is just a masterclass in how to take apart and then put back together a terroir. Great stuff. First year of official conversion to organic farming. 100% new oak, some in 30hl oak casks. Could go up after tasting in bottle, a potential 100 points. |
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|
Bordeaux | 2 | 97-100 (WA) |
Inc. VAT
£1,700.54 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (97-100)A blend of 65% Cabernet Franc and 35% Merlot, the 2021 Ausone is a strong candidate for the title of wine of the vintage. Wafting from the glass with aromas of wild blueberries and raspberries mingled with rose petals, violets, exotic spices, vine smoke and blood orange, it's full-bodied, seamless and sensual, with a satiny attack that segues into a deep, layered mid-palate of breathtaking precision and intensity without weight. Built around bright acids and ultra-refined tannins and concluding with a resonant, perfumed finish, this profound young Ausone represents the essence of this great limestone terroir. I am not in the habit of drinking six-month-old Bordeaux cask samples, but this is one wine that would have sorely tempted me to make an exception to that rule if my appointment at the estate hadn't been one of the first of the day! |
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|
Bordeaux | 1 | 98-100 (JA) |
Inc. VAT
£2,590.94 |
|||||
Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (98-100)Intense and concentrated, with fennel, aniseed and liqourice root. Where Chapelle d'Ausone celebrates a wave of opulence in the vintage, this focuses more clearly on black tea, slate, intense black chocolate. Precise and well cut, this is creamy and exuberant without sacrificing elegance and balance. Amazing depths of flavour and grip. A true En Primeur sample where you know you are a long long way from this being ready to drink. The first year, incidentally, of not Premier Grand Cru Class A, although the ranking has not been featured on the label since 2012. No irrigation at Ausone. 100% new oak. Harvest September 5 to 27. 7.25ha. Conversion to organic farming since 2020, Philippe Baillarguet cellar master, Pauline Vauthier owner and winemaker. Potential 100. |
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|
Bordeaux | 1 | 94 (WE) |
Inc. VAT
£848.42 |
|||||
Wine Enthusiast (94)93-95 The second wine of Château Ausone is sumptuous, full of ripe black fruits, spice and a rich, deep texture. It is very powerful, although also packed with the 2010 hallmark acidity. |
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|
Bordeaux | 1 | 95 (VN (NM)) |
Inc. VAT
£545.42 |
|||||
Vinous - Neal Martin (95)The 2016 Chapelle d’Ausone offers intense black cherries, raspberry coulis and marmalade aromas on the nose, manifesting more delineation in the glass over the course of 10–15 minutes. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grained tannins, very pure black fruit and tangible mineralité and tension on the finish. This is pure class, a wine of nobility and deliciousness. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. |
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|
Bordeaux | 1 | 94 (VN (AG)) |
Inc. VAT
£738.62 |
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Vinous - Antonio Galloni (94)The 2019 Chapelle d'Ausone is dense, powerful and beautifully layered in the glass. Wild red cherry, plum, exotic spice, dried flowers, mocha, rose petal and espresso are some of the many notes that give the bouquet its beguiling personality. There's real textural intensity and resonance here. As has been the case for some time, Chapelle d'Ausone is superb. If anything, it suffers from the perception of being a 'second wine.' It is that only in name. |
Product Name | Region | Qty | Score | Price | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Bordeaux | 1 | 98.0 |
In Bond
£1,780.00 |
|||||
|
Bordeaux | 1 | 100 (JS) |
In Bond
£2,429.00 |
|||||
James Suckling (100)Incredible nose of currants and blueberries. Flowers too. Licorice. Such purity on the nose of Cabernet Franc. Full body, incredible structure, with fabulous tannins and a long, long finish. Built out of stone. The prefect Ausone. Try after 2022. |
|||||||||
|
Bordeaux | 1 | 99 (WE) |
In Bond
£2,225.00 |
|||||
Wine Enthusiast (99)98-100. Very concentrated and wonderfully perfumed wine. It has great balance and acidity, intense freshness. The superb fragrance of the Cabernet Franc has made a gorgeous wine, black fruited and likely to age for decades. |
|||||||||
|
Bordeaux | 1 | 100 (JS) |
In Bond
£1,780.00 |
|||||
James Suckling (100)A mindbinder of a wine with pure fruit and so much fine tannins and mineral character. It’s hyper tight and super polished. The palate starts off slowly and ends with a bang. Amazing endless finish. What an energy. |
|||||||||
|
Bordeaux | 1 | 100 (WI) |
In Bond
£1,717.00 |
|||||
The Wine Independent (100)The 2016 Ausone is a blend of 50% Cabernet Franc and 50% Merlot and it has a deep garnet-purple color. It is incredibly closed to begin, offering glimpses of juicy blackberries, plum preserves, and cedar chest, before unfurling to offer a whole array of exotic spices, sandalwood, violets, and notes of crushed rocks, plus a touch of smoked meats. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is so closed and tightly knit to start off, delivering peeks at mineral, floral, and opulent spice accents, with a rock-solid structure of grainy tannins and bold freshness, finishing with epic length. It needs a good 8 years+, but should cellar for at least 40 more! |
|||||||||
|
Bordeaux | 2 | 98 (WA) |
In Bond
£1,345.00 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (98)The deep garnet-purple colored 2017 Ausone is a blend of 55% Cabernet Franc and 45% Merlot. It sashays out of the glass with gregarious scents of baked red and black plums, wild blueberries and boysenberries plus touches of violets, espresso, licorice and melted chocolate with wafts of iron ore and tilled soil. Medium-bodied, the palate is an exercise in poise, featuring beautifully ripe, silken tannins and bold freshness to support the fragrant multi-layers, finishing very long and very minerally. |
|||||||||
|
Bordeaux | 1 | 100 (WI) |
In Bond
£1,700.00 |
|||||
The Wine Independent (100)The 2018 Ausone is deep garnet purple in color. There is oak to begin, giving way to a great core of baked black plums, chocolate-covered cherries, licorice, and incense, plus Indian spices and violets. Full-bodied, it is rich, concentrated, and decadent in the mouth, with a fantastic backbone of freshness and velvety tannins, finishing very long and layered. |
|||||||||
|
Bordeaux | 1 | 99 (DC) |
In Bond
£1,500.00 |
|||||
Decanter (99)This is powerful and blows away much of the competition with its depth and layers. This needs you to pull up a chair, take a beat, and let the flavours unroll. There is so much density to the blueberry, bilberry and smoked raspberry fruits that they start out knitted down, then as the oxygen opens them up the body of the wine widens and becomes fleshier and creamier, adding chocolate and mocha notes. The limestone scrape is there in spades through the finish, and this is a cleverly constructed wine. As ever Ausone is just a masterclass in how to take apart and then put back together a terroir. Great stuff. First year of official conversion to organic farming. 100% new oak, some in 30hl oak casks. Could go up after tasting in bottle, a potential 100 points. |
|||||||||
|
Bordeaux | 2 | 97-100 (WA) |
In Bond
£1,407.50 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (97-100)A blend of 65% Cabernet Franc and 35% Merlot, the 2021 Ausone is a strong candidate for the title of wine of the vintage. Wafting from the glass with aromas of wild blueberries and raspberries mingled with rose petals, violets, exotic spices, vine smoke and blood orange, it's full-bodied, seamless and sensual, with a satiny attack that segues into a deep, layered mid-palate of breathtaking precision and intensity without weight. Built around bright acids and ultra-refined tannins and concluding with a resonant, perfumed finish, this profound young Ausone represents the essence of this great limestone terroir. I am not in the habit of drinking six-month-old Bordeaux cask samples, but this is one wine that would have sorely tempted me to make an exception to that rule if my appointment at the estate hadn't been one of the first of the day! |
|||||||||
|
Bordeaux | 1 | 98-100 (JA) |
In Bond
£2,149.50 |
|||||
Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (98-100)Intense and concentrated, with fennel, aniseed and liqourice root. Where Chapelle d'Ausone celebrates a wave of opulence in the vintage, this focuses more clearly on black tea, slate, intense black chocolate. Precise and well cut, this is creamy and exuberant without sacrificing elegance and balance. Amazing depths of flavour and grip. A true En Primeur sample where you know you are a long long way from this being ready to drink. The first year, incidentally, of not Premier Grand Cru Class A, although the ranking has not been featured on the label since 2012. No irrigation at Ausone. 100% new oak. Harvest September 5 to 27. 7.25ha. Conversion to organic farming since 2020, Philippe Baillarguet cellar master, Pauline Vauthier owner and winemaker. Potential 100. |
|||||||||
|
Bordeaux | 1 | 94 (WE) |
In Bond
£699.00 |
|||||
Wine Enthusiast (94)93-95 The second wine of Château Ausone is sumptuous, full of ripe black fruits, spice and a rich, deep texture. It is very powerful, although also packed with the 2010 hallmark acidity. |
|||||||||
|
Bordeaux | 1 | 95 (VN (NM)) |
In Bond
£446.50 |
|||||
Vinous - Neal Martin (95)The 2016 Chapelle d’Ausone offers intense black cherries, raspberry coulis and marmalade aromas on the nose, manifesting more delineation in the glass over the course of 10–15 minutes. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grained tannins, very pure black fruit and tangible mineralité and tension on the finish. This is pure class, a wine of nobility and deliciousness. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. |
|||||||||
|
Bordeaux | 1 | 94 (VN (AG)) |
In Bond
£607.50 |
|||||
Vinous - Antonio Galloni (94)The 2019 Chapelle d'Ausone is dense, powerful and beautifully layered in the glass. Wild red cherry, plum, exotic spice, dried flowers, mocha, rose petal and espresso are some of the many notes that give the bouquet its beguiling personality. There's real textural intensity and resonance here. As has been the case for some time, Chapelle d'Ausone is superb. If anything, it suffers from the perception of being a 'second wine.' It is that only in name. |