France

Cabernet Sauvignon

Merlot

Cabernet Franc

Ch. Ausone

Chateau Ausone Premier Grand Cru Classe A Saint-Emilion Grand Cru

Bordeaux

Saint-Emilion Grand Cru

Deep ruby in colour, this delivers texture and flavoursome sappy fruits, clear winemaking skill that maintains estate signature. You feel the tightrope walk of minerality and fruit, and as in 2021 Ausone is at the very top of what was possible in the vintage. Cassis bud, peony, violet, cloves, jasmine flowers, chamomile, subtle complexity and layers that expand and build through the palate. The successful construction of this wine highlights what was so challeging to fully achieve with so many others in the vintage. Harvest 30 September 5 October, Philippe Baillarguet cellar master. 100% new oak.

Inside Bordeaux

Deep garnet-purple colored. Soars out of the glass with fragrant notes of black cherries, black raspberries, violets, and sassafras, with touches of forest floor and fragrant soils. The medium-bodied palate is wonderfully silky with seamless freshness supporting the delicate red berry and floral layers, finishing long and perfumed. Stunning.

by Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW

Density and well-cushioned fruit, another stunning vintage of a wine that somehow manages to make an effortless impression, edges of cloves and grilled sandalwood, full of nuance and capturing the aromatics depths and heights of the vintage, gorgeous. 100% new oak. Philippe Baillarguet cellar master, Vauthier family owners, organic certified in the vineyard.

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 Classé 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.

A blend of 65% Cabernet Franc and 35% Merlot, the 2021 Ausone has a deep garnet-purple color. It storms out of the glass with an initial burst of juicy black plums, blackberries, and Bing cherries, leading to an undercurrent of fragrant soil, wet slate, lilacs, and tar, with a touch of bay leaves. The light-bodied palate has impressive intensity and tension, featuring a frame of beautifully ripe, rounded tannins to support the tightly stacked black and red berry layers, finishing long and mineral-laced.  Around 16,000 bottles were made.

The 2020 Ausone, composed of 50% Merlot and 50% Cabernet Franc, is deep garnet-purple in color. After a shake or two, the nose erupts with the most gorgeous perfume of juicy blueberries, baked black plums, and black raspberries, followed by nuances of pencil shavings, iron ore, rose oil, and black truffles with a waft of cedar. The medium to full-bodied palate is taut with shimmery, energetic black and blue berry layers, framed by super-ripe, super fine-grained tannins and seamless freshness, finishing with epic length and a whole firework display of floral, mineral, and bright, pure fruit notes. This is incredible!

The 2019 Ausone, composed of 65% Cabernet Franc and 35% Merlot, is deep garnet-purple in color. It opens with notes of redcurrant jelly, black raspberries, and mulberries, followed by evocative scents of star anise, lilacs, and Oolong tea with a waft of iron ore. The medium to full-bodied palate is elegant, lively, and mineral-sparked, featuring bright, energetic fruit and a long ferrous finish.

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. 

Smooth texture, turmeric and clove exoticism, fleshy cassis and raspberry fruit studded with white pepper. A lovely sense of lyricism, this has an ethereal, moreish quality that makes it stand out in the vintage. These are the kind of years where Ausone proves just how far it can stand out from its siblings in the appellation, but this is starting to close down - I have had more expressive bottles of this vintage, and I recommend leaving it for a good three or four years from now. 80% new oak, harvested 23-29 September.

Hefty, structured tannins, dark chocolate, espresso and liqourice root. This is powerful, the quality and complexity in full evidence from beginning to end, unrolls in waves and uses its pummice stone and slate-edged structure to climb towards a mouthwatering finish. A wine that I have tasted twice in the past two months, and you feel it is both barely showing its hand, and yet aleady effortless asserting its brilliance. 40hl/ha, 80% new oak. Harvest October 10-19, 3.5ph.

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.

The 2014 Ausone is deep garnet-brick in color. A herbal waft of dried sage opens the nose, leading to a core of kirsch, redcurrant jelly, and crushed rocks with a touch of charcoal. The medium to full-bodied palate delivers bright red berry preserves flavors with herbal accents and a fine-grained texture, finishing long and lifted.

Medium garnet in color, the 2013 Ausone needs a bit of shaking to wake up notes of stewed black cherries, dried cranberries, and cassis, followed by wafts of cigar box, fried herbs, and cast-iron pan. The medium-bodied palate has minerals galore, with a firm, grainy texture and bags of freshness, finishing with great length.

Ruby colour, rose edging, smoked sandalwood and sweet black cherry, with a subtle build of power and concentration through the palate. This has juice and finesse, with edges of tobacco and rose petals, and a sharper nuance of fresh mint leaf. At a great moment to begin drinking, but has decades ahead. 100% new oak. A late harvest between October 9 and 17.

Vibrant ruby colour, liqourice on the attack, cloves, smoke, blackberry purree, plenty of depths and nuance here, with a saline limestone character that gives punch and grip through the palate. There is a creaminess as it opens, and this is less austere than some St Emilion limestone-domiant wines right now, with the Ausone magic starting to assert itself. 100% new oak.

This is precise, carved, confident, with palma violets, peonies and crushed roses floating out of the glass, luscious and yet carved, creamy fruits that are encased in steel. This one is nowhere near ready. A wonderful wine, huge persistency, with tannins that suggest decades ahead. This 2010 is still pretty reserved on the nose, even austere, but feels so effortlessly put together. Reminds me of the architectural angles that I was struck by during the 2010 vintage En Primeur tastings. Winemaker/cellar master Philippe Baillarguet, overseen by Pauline Vauthier and father Alain, 100% new oak for ageing.

Ausone captures the exuberance and joy of 2009 without ever putting a step over the line - get ready to reach for the superlatives. Still young at 15 years old, but all the finesse and nuance is in place, with huge depths to the berry fruit, plenty of anis and fennel spice, saffron and pumice stone, by turns soft then steely. Hard to think of a better St Emilion 2009, and I would bet on it continuing to deliver huge pleasure over the decades to come. Winemaker/cellar master Philippe Baillarguet, overseen by Pauline Vauthier and father Alain, 100% new oak for ageing.

Tasted during the Bordeaux Mentor Week at a tasting hosted by the Fondation Terroirs et Paysages Culturels (Ausone is a founding member of this group). The entire series of wine was exceptional, but this still managed to stand out head and shoulders above the rest. Just a total lesson in what depths and nuances can be achieved in an almost-20-year-old wine that has stayed true to its limestone terroir. It opens with creamy raspberry and cassis fruit, laced with white truffles, incenes and citrus, so elegant and poised, then performs a push and pull of acidity and tannins as it stretches out through the palate, narrowing to a saline-scrape of pummice stone and oyster shell. A wonderful moment to begin drinking, but it's going nowhere soon. 100% new oak, Alain Vauthier owner.

Solbær, lær, paprika, utrolig presis og ren nese, på smak, høy konsentrasjon, perfekt modne tanniner, kremete munnfølelse med luft, mer blåpreget frukt.

Category	Red wine
Vinmonopolet no.
Producer	Ch. Ausone
Vintages	2024
Country	France, Bordeaux, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru
Bottle	75 cl

Alcohol	%
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Sugar	g/l

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