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Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $1835.91 $2039.90
Rated 100 - I love the tobacco, berry, cigar box, toasty oak, ripe fruit and fresh mushroom flavors in this...
12 FREE
WA
100
VM
100
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $654.21 $726.90
Rated 98 - Wild aromas of mint, spearmint, cool chalk and dark fruits. Full-bodied, tight, linear and incredibly long...
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JS
98
WA
96
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $696.60 $774.00
Rated 97 - This grand wine is stylish and elegant. It is also powerful and dense with dark tannins and great...
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WE
97
DC
95
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $1134.81 $1260.90
Rated 100 - An utterly perfect wine from Alain Vauthier, the 2015 Château Ausone offers off the hook notes of crème...
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WE
100
JD
100
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $993.60 $1104.00
Rated 99 - Beautifully structured, this wine has elegance despite its heft and richness. It has the enticing acidity...
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DC
99
WA
99
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $1005.21 $1116.90
Rated 100 - #73 TOP 100 WINES OF FRANCE 2022. Like a bouquet of fresh flowers on the nose, as well as blackberries,...
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JS
100
WE
99
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $864.81 $960.90
Rated 99 - The flowers in the nose are spectacular with violets, lavender, and honeysuckle. Then there’s wet stone...
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JS
99
DC
98
Case only
Long-term Pre-Arrival
Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $700.50
Rated 95 - Is the 1999 Ausone the wine of the vintage? Dense purple color, a compelling bouquet of licorice,...
WA
95
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Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $755.39
Rated 98 - The 2001 Ausone has put on even more weight than I anticipated. The “wine of the vintage,” this...
WA
98
WS
95
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Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $564.14
Rated 95 - In many respects, the 2002 may be even more impressive than the 2003. A far more challenging vintage to...
WA
95
WS
92
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Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $757.78
Rated 100 - Amazing! The limestone soils of Ausone appear to have been the perfect foil for resisting the extreme...
WA
100
WS
96
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Red
1.5Ltr - Case of 6
Bottle: $1481.54
Rated 95 - Pretty aromas of crushed blackberry, with hints of ash and light earth. Full-bodied, with ultrafine...
WS
95
WA
94
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Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $1385.89
Rated 100 - I love the tobacco, berry, cigar box, toasty oak, ripe fruit and fresh mushroom flavors in this...
WA
100
VM
100
Case only
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Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $680.39
Rated 97 - Strength and elegance go together in this wine. It has a pure line of clear berry fruits that float above...
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97
WE
97
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Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $563.65
Rated 95 - While there is certainly plenty of wood here, the wine has weight and impressive concentration for the...
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95
WA
92
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Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $580.95
Rated 98 - Ruby/violet-colored, with a deep, intense nose of ripe fruits, underbrush, flowers, tapenade, and white...
DC
98
WA
98
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Red
750ml - Case of 3
Bottle: $744.94
Rated 98 - Ruby/violet-colored, with a deep, intense nose of ripe fruits, underbrush, flowers, tapenade, and white...
DC
98
WA
98
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Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $1086.55
Rated 100 - Incredible nose of currants and blueberries. Flowers too. Licorice. Such purity on the nose of Cabernet...
WS
100
JS
100
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Red
750ml - Case of 3
Bottle: $1014.72
Rated 100 - Incredible nose of currants and blueberries. Flowers too. Licorice. Such purity on the nose of Cabernet...
WS
100
JS
100
Case only
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Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $1008.55
Rated 99 - A big, bold wine with unbelievable power and concentration. Low yields and a dominance of Cabernet Franc...
WE
99
JS
98
Chateau Ausone

French Wine, Bordeaux

About Chateau Ausone

Château Ausone is a Bordeaux wine from Saint Emilion appellation, one of only two wines, along with Château Cheval Blanc, to be ranked Premier Grand Cru Classé (A) in the Classification of Saint-Émilion wine. The winery is located on the Right Bank of France’s Bordeaux wine region in the Gironde department, close to the town of Saint-Émilion.

Chateau Ausone has vineyards of 7.3 hectares (just under 18 acres) with an average age of the vines of 50 years. The planting of the vineyards is 50% Merlot and 50% Cabernet Franc. The vines are planted with a density of 6,000 plants per hectare. The vineyards are on rather steep slopes facing to the South. The slopes give perfect drainage but also bring some problems with erosion of the soil. The Southern exposure is ideal for ripening of the grapes. The soil and sub-soil of Chateau Ausone's vineyards are limestone. The soil characteristics of Ausone's vineyards are consistent through the entire property. The entire production is harvested by hand.

There are 2,000 cases of Chateau Ausone produced each year, on average. The fermentation takes from 21 to 35 days. The aging is always in 100% new barrels each year. The wines are barrel aged for at least 18 months (and sometimes nearly 2 years depending on the vintage) before bottling. During the barrel aging period, the wine is moved from barrel to barrel (racked) to remove sediment every 3 months. The wines are usually fine (clarified) with egg whites but left unfiltered before bottling. The Chateau has extensive caves in the limestone under the property.

With the influence of Michel Rolland beginning in 1995, the wines have started showing a great deal more fruit and extract in their youth. It remains to be seen how this will affect the aging that has been the hallmark of the wines from Ausone.

Chateau Ausone is a very old property with medieval historical significance. In it's more recent history, the wines from the chateau suffered from lower quality and a lessened reputation in the middle of the 20th century. Ausone began to return to it's historical position of greatness with the hiring of Pascal Delbeck in the 1970s. Delbeck was in charge of Ausone beginning with the 1976 vintage. As of 1995, he no longer played a role in the winemaking but remained in charge of the vineyards. The property had been owned for generations by a partnership of the Dubois-Challon family and the Vauthier family. In the mid 1990s, the Vauthier family gained sole ownership of Chateau Ausone. Alain Vauthier controls all aspects of the winemaking. He began using Michel Rolland as the consulting wine-maker beginning with the 1995 vintage.

The wines of Chateau Ausone are very powerful for a Saint Emilion. They generally require cellaring for at least 10 years to reach maturity and will often improve until 20 years from the year of the harvest. In their youth, these wines can be very tannic. As they age, the flavors of currant, raspberry and black cherry begin to come forward along with hints of spice. Some of the library wines that are nearly a century old still possess charm and a surprising youthfulness.