2015 CHÂTEAU AUSONE 1er Grand Cru Classé Saint Emilion Château Ausone, Lea & Sandeman

CHÂTEAU AUSONE

2021 1er Grand Cru Classé Saint Emilion

Grapes Merlot, Cab Franc
Colour Red
Origin France, Bordeaux
Sub-district Saint Emilion & Satellites
Village Saint Emilion
Classification 1er Grand Cru Classé
ABV 13%

A blend of 65% Cabernet Franc, harvested 4-6 October, and 35% Merlot, harvested on 30 September, the 2021 Ausone is deep purple-black colored. The nose absolutely pops with bright, super-fresh notes of redcurrants, juicy raspberries, blackberries, and violets, plus suggestions of plums, baking spices, lavender, and tar with a touch of pencil shavings. Medium-bodied, the palate has a concentrated, well-sustained mid-palate of electrically charged red berry layers with loads of mineral accents and fine-grained tannins, delivering incredible tension and energy on the long, energetic vintage. This is an absolute triumph in this vintage.
Only La Clotte, Chapelle d’Ausone, and Ausone were shown as barrel samples during Primeurs this year because the production of the other wines, due to frost and mildew, was so low there was not much to sell. “We worked a lot,” Pauline Vauthier told me. “We did BIG selection. The yields were so low we produced very few bottles. We had to adapt our technique of winemaking for this vintage. This year, Chapelle d’Ausone is a very unusual blend because all the good Merlot was used for Ausone.” In the end, Pauline said they will make around 16,000 bottles of Ausone (vs. 20,000 in an average year) and just 2,000 bottles of Chapelle (vs. 8000 in an average year). “We prefer to have fewer bottles but good wine. This standard is necessary for our customers. Ausone has to be good no matter the vintage,” she said. When I asked Pauline if she performed any saignée or chaptalization, she said, “No. We could have increased the alcohol by 0.5 degrees, but we didn’t do it.” The resulting alcohol is 12.8%. The wine is elegant, intense, and beautifully balanced with all the energy of a toned, muscular young thoroughbred. Nicely done. Drinking range: 2029 - 2059 Rating: 95-97 Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Independent (May 2022)


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Jukesy is good on this - totally chimes with how we found it.. '65 Cabernet Franc, 35 Merlot. 100% new oak. 12.5% alc. 15000 bottles produced. The Merlot was harvested on the 30 September and the Cabernet Franc was harvested on the 4-6 October. This is a wonderfully suave and cultured Ausone with a quietness and composure that is compelling. The nose is floral and slightly spicy over a core of classic Ausone wild red and black fruit and it is delivered sotte voce with the palate following in a similar vein. The finish is as civilised as it gets, with discreet levels of tannins hidden beneath the flowing crimson gown of fruit. It seems so calm and restrained that you wonder where the classic Ausone power and majesty is to be found, and the answer is on the nose. If you don’t spend some time on the perfume, you will miss everything – the whole story, the plot line, the set-up, the truth. While the finale will happen in a couple of decades time, the cast is complete. If you read the statistics above, just as in any situation, then you might conclude that this is a powerful, oaky, concentrated wine. This could not be further from the truth – it is sensational and as considered, calm and sophisticated as any the very finest in vintage.' Rating: 19+ Matthew Jukes www.matthewjukes.com (Jun 2022)

Violet edging, jewel red depths. There is austerity on the tannins here, but also great depths through the palate, with controlled but juicy loganberry and raspberry fruits, and waves of saffron, creamy red-fruit puree, crushed rock, cold ash and salt-cracker salinity. Subdued, with hidden power and complexity. A tough year for this stable of wines - or rather proof of their exceptionally high standards, making a half production of Simard, no Haut Simard, tiny amounts of Fonbel and almost certainly no Moulin St Georges. The last year that Ausone will be recorded as a Premier Grand Cru Classé A, before publication of the new ranking in September 2022. Harvest September 30 to October 6, 100% new oak. In conversion to organic farming since 2020, Philippe Baillarguet cellar master. Average vine age 55 years. Drinking range: 2028 - 2044 Rating: 95 Jane Anson, www.janeanson.com (May 2022)

Full-bodied, but so elegant and fresh, with a silky, elegant tannin texture. Very deep and expansive. Lots going on already with plenty of perfume. Blueberries, cloves, lavender and some wild-berry notes. Dark cocoa, too. Some espresso character at the end. Wonderful interplay of spices and fruit. Long. It keeps going. Rating: 96-97 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (May 2022)

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.

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