CHÂTEAU AUSONE
2015 1er Grand Cru Classé Saint Emilion
50% Cabernet Franc, 50% Merlot. Immediate floral lift to the fruit. A rich fine entry, a tiny point of sweetness in a fine emulsion of silk-fine tannins shot through with fruit. Pretty exciting. Very primary, not giving much away at present, it looks set to be a great Ausone. Rating: 95-96 L&S (Apr 2016)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
The 2015 Ausone has a superb bouquet that soars from the glass, revealing finely delineated black cherry, sage, cedar and licorice aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, silky-smooth texture and hickory-tinged red fruit with a harmonious, fine-boned finish that suggests this will benefit from another couple of years in bottle. This was a second impressive showing. Tasted blind at the 2015 Bordeaux Ten-Year-On tasting at Farr Vintners. Drinking range: 2027 - 2050 Rating: 95 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jun 2025)
Enticing from the first moment, with undeniable depths of blackberry and damson fruit, given definition by bitter black chocolate, pencil lead and liqourice. A gorgeous wine that manages to tame the more exuberant edges of the vintage. Beautifully expressive, with a creamy texture that is pretty irresistable, and a brush of peony flowers and gunsmoke as it opens up that showcase the limestone soils and the Cabernet Franc dominance. 85% new oak, 3.6ph. Drinking range: 2025 - 2045 Rating: 97 Jane Anson, Decanter (Jun 2022)
The 2015 Ausone has a detailed, precise bouquet whose intense, graphite-infused black fruit gains intensity with each swirl. This is very sophisticated and compelling. The poised, medium-bodied palate delivers filigreed tannin, perfect acidity and an extraordinarily persistent finish that outclasses almost everything around it. This is outstanding and surely represents one of the wines of the vintage. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting. Rating: 98 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jul 2019)
Outrageously good winemaking from Alain Vauthier and his team, expressing this special terroir to (near) perfection. Fine, floral and well balanced, with chalky minerality, palate caressing tannins, stylish (85% new) oak and the sort of finish that makes you want to skip down the street whistling. One of the wines of the vintage. Drinking range: 2025 - 2040 Rating: 97 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (May 2016)
Dark crimson with some purple. Real class and concentration on the nose - all vineyard, surely. Brisk yet very opulent. Lots of drive and no oak in evidence. Very fine. Very long. Drinking range: 2025 - 2042 Rating: 18.5 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2016)
50% each Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Suave texture but so much power behind. Fine, fragrant nose of pure berry fruit then real density and depth on the palate. Layered fruit and tannins but finely etched. Clean, long and persistent. Drinking range: 2025 - 2045 Rating: 96 James Lawther MW, decanter.com (Apr 2016)
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. Rating: 100 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2016)
The 2015 Ausone is a blend of 50% Cabernet Franc and 50% Merlot this year, cropped at 30 hl/ha between 29 September and 2 October for the Merlot and 8-10 October for the Cabernet Franc. Matured in 85% new oak, it has a very intense bouquet of small dark cherries, cassis, violets and incense, a hint of blood orange originating from the Merlot tucked underneath. The palate is medium-bodied with svelte tannin, seamlessly integrated oak. It is an intense Saint Emilion with a superb arching structure on the finish, while maintaining sufficient freshness from start to finish. It grips the mouth a little more than some of its peers, implying that it will need longer in bottle, but it will be worth the wait. Patience advised for this great Ausone courtesy of Alain and Pauline Vauthier. Drinking range: 2025 - 2060 Rating: 95-97 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2016)
The 2015 Ausone is the embodiment of class. A seamless, mind-blowing wine, the Ausone boasts extraordinary purity and finesse. The flavors are deep and unctuous throughout, and yet the wine is remarkably vivid. A host of sweet floral notes and exotic spices are fused into the eternal finish. In 2015, Ausone is as good as it gets. Readers who can find the 2015 should not hesitate, as it is truly magnificent. All I can tell readers is that it took the most extraordinary discipline to spit this wine during my tasting. It is every bit that profound. The 2015 is 50% Cabernet Franc and 50% Merlot that will spend 20 months in French oak, 85% new. The Merlot was brought in between September 29 and October 2, while the Franc came in between October 8 and 10. Rating: 97-100 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Apr 2016)
The blend this year is 50% Cabernet Franc and 50% Merlot. Pauline Vauthier found top quality in both varieties in this vintage, and so a blend of equal parts seemed a natural choice. The alcohol is between 14.1% and 14.3% in the grand vin, which accounts for 66% of the crop, a fairly standard figure for this domaine. This has an incredibly perfumed nose, the Cabernet Franc coming through with a real confident thrust, all violets, pencil graphite, and crushed blackcurrants, with a fine and very straight definition. The palate is full of creamed plum fruit, a plus kirsch character, very intense in terms of flavour, but not broad or fat. The style here is linear, framed, very correct, with a very ripe frame of tannins, precise and upright, pure but firm, which linger in the finish, along with the very bright, precise, fresh fruit character. A beautiful finish here, so defined, yet rich, sweet and characterful. Undoubtedly one of my top wines of the vintage, and a great, vineyard-defining Ausone in the making. If you can afford it, you are very lucky indeed. Rating: 18.5-19.5/20 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2016)
Château Ausone
Unquestionably one of the biggest names of the Right Bank, this is also one of the oldest chateaux in the whole of Bordeaux. Situated at the edge of the limestone plateau on the approach to the village of Saint Emilion, at an altitude of 75 metres, Ausone dominates your view as you drive in to the village, with its beautiful stone gateposts, steeply sloping vineyards, and dry stone walls. Underneath the chateau are kilometre upon kilometre of stone quarries, the smallest of which (at 1,800m2) is the wine cellar. This was excavated back in the 16th century (most of the stone in Saint Emilion ended up building either the village itself, or the handsome limestone buildings in central Bordeaux). Further underground are stone vaults dating back 500 years! The humidity in the cellars is at well over 90%, meaning that they rarely have to perfrom ouillage (topping up), and the angel's rarely get their share! Above ground there is also the Magdeleine chapel (hence the name of the second wine of the estate, Chapelle d'Ausone), which again adds to the sense of mystique on visiting Ausone. They are currently renovating the chapel, and also creating a small room for receiving visitors (although don't hold your breath that this will ever be a centre for wine tourism - the Vaultier family are very discreet, and it is tough to get an appointment here). One of the smallest of all the top estates in Bordeaux, at just over seven hectares (smaller than its Saint Emilion rival Cheval Blanc, smaller even than Petrus in neighbouring Pomerol, but twice the size of le Pin), vines have been cultivated here since the time of Roman poet Ausonius. I'm not sure anyone is suggesting that Ausonius actually owned this vineyard, but it is likely to have been named in his honour.
Please make sure that you have read the terms of this offer which are different from those of the main website. If you are unclear as to what is involved in primeur purchases please do call us, but see the 'practical notes' below.
Ordering
Prices are per case as listed 'in bond London'.
Pre-Orders are a firm commitment from you to buy the wines you order on release, subject to the price being below the upper price of the estimated band on our website. You may also set your own upper price limit, lower or higher than ours. Pre-orders will be fulfilled subject to availability. Providing this firm commitment to us effectively gives you priority.
Wines listed on the website (after any pre-orders and allocations have been fulfilled) can be ordered in the usual way via the website order form or by email or telephone 020 7221 1982, always subject to stock remaining.
Confirmation
All orders will be confirmed by email and are contractually binding unless written cancellation is received within seven days of the confirmation date, apart from pre-orders which are binding if the release price is below the top estimate or other price you have set.
Invoices are raised at the In Bond price, excluding any duty and VAT which will become payable at the prevailing rates on arrival of the wine if required duty paid.
Payment is required on sight of invoice, by cash, cheque, debit card or credit transfer. We reserve the right to charge 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.
Delivery
- Shipment to our bond (LCB Creek Road) and insurance are included in the in bond price.
- Delivery is free to Lea and Sandeman / Elephant storage accounts, both duty paid and in bond.
- Other deliveries (In Bond and Duty Paid) are also free subject to a minimum order from the offer of £1000, orders below this total will be charged £16.50+ VAT when the wine invoices are issued. We will group deliveries and this is a charge for your entire purchases, not a per-case charge.
- Delivery for 2016 Bordeaux primeurs will probably be completed by October 2019, but we make no guarantee as to specific delivery times, and some of the Sauternes may be later.
Practical notes - how it works
We start a sale in each customer's name and add all their primeur orders to one sale which is invoiced at the end of the campaign (or when the customer wishes) for immediate payment. We and our customers find that having a single invoice for the vintage is the simpler option, but do please note that confirmed orders are still binding as above even if the final invoice has not been issued.
When the wine is shipped, unless previously specified we will assume that delivery is to be to bonded storage with Elephant Storage, but in any case, we will contact you requesting any alternative instructions. If you have another bonded delivery address you would like the wine to go to, please tell us at the time of ordering. If the wines are required duty-paid we will issue invoices at the rates prevailing at the time for the excise duty (currently £25.98 per case) and the VAT (currently at 20%) on the total of the wine cost and the duty.
Half-bottles, Magnums and larger bottles.
One of the additional advantages of buying en primeur is being able to order the wine in the bottle size you want. Even if a wine is only listed in one size, you can order any bottle or case size you want if the property supplies it, but you must order the case/bottle size you require and check that the correct size has been invoiced.
Additional charges are as follows:-
- +£15 per case of 24 half-bottles
- +£15 per case of 6 Magnums (2 bottles equivalent, 1.5 litres each)
- +£35 per individually boxed Double Magnum (4 bottles equivalent, 3 litres)
- +£45 per individually boxed Imperial (8 bottles equivalent, 6 litres) for Salmanazars, Balthazars, Nebuchadnezzars and Melchiors please enquire for availability and price.