x
  • Country ranking ?

    112
  • Producer ranking ?

    3
  • Decanting time

    4h
  • When to drink

    now to 2040
  • Food Pairing

    Skirt Steak with Pomegranate Sauce

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The 2010 Ausone struck me as another brilliant, potentially perfect wine, which should come as no shock to people who have been following Vauthier's work over the last decade or more. Backward and intense, this wine offers up notes of crushed chalk/rock mineralilty interwoven with blueberry, black raspberry and cassis as well as some graphite and vanillin. It is incredibly rich but at the same time precise, fresh and vivacious. This is a super wine, but it will require enormous patience from its potential suitors. Forget it for a decade and drink it over the following 50+ years. 

One of the other perfectionist, compulsive producers in St.-Emilion is Alain Vauthier, who is now capably assisted by his daughter.

Score: 98+ Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (205), March 2013

Alain Vauthier's wines have been so remarkable since he acquired full control of Ausone that readers probably feel I have thrown my critical wits away. However, the proof is in the tasting, and the 2010 Ausone is unquestionably extraordinary. There are 1,500 cases of this beauty, which exhibits an inky/blue/purple color as well as an exotic, seamless bouquet of incense, Asian spices, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. Full-bodied with a striking liqueur of minerality as well as a magical combination of complexity, substance and nobility, it reveals softer tannins than I expected for this vintage, so perhaps it will be more accessible in its youth than recent Ausone vintages have tended to be. It is another prodigious effort from Vauthier that should be drinkable in 6-8 years and keep for a half century.

Score: 98/100 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (194), May 2011

Tasted blind at the Southwold Bordeaux 2010 tasting. The Ausone 2010 has an intoxicating bouquet with outstanding definition and precision, a light marine influence of seaweed and brine that becomes more accentuated with time. The palate is very precise with fine tannins, quite sharp dark blackberry and wild strawberry fruit, a dash of white pepper sprinkled over the back palate that builds to an elegant spicy finish. Not the "biggest" wine against its peers, but it oozes class. This is an intoxicating Saint Emilion from Alain Vauthier and his team. Tasted January 2014.

Score: 97 Neal Martin, RobertParker.com, February 2014

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The Story

Ausone owes its unique quality and longevity to a magic marriage of situation and soil. The steep slopes of the vineyard are arranged like an amphitheatre, facing southeast, which gives perfect exposure and maximum protection, and the soil is a mixture of clay and sand on limestone. When old vines and the ability to pick the entire vineyard quickly, due to the small size, are added to the recipe the result is something special. Ausone grows in bottle in a highly individual way, expanding and becoming more ample, although always retaining its scent and finesse.

Ausone has only 7.3 hectares of vines and its vineyards (Merlot 50%, Cabernet Franc 50%) flourish on a steep, south-east facing slope, protecting them from cold north winds and westerly rain. Those vines at the top of the slope thrive on limestone (the `St.Emilion plateau') whilst those further down benefit from a clay/loam topsoil (the 'Côtes').

Ausone struggled during the 1950s and 1960s, but with the hiring of new régisseur Pascal Delbeck in 1976, the estate returned to producing wines worthy of its outstanding historic reputation. Recently Ausone has been at the very peak of its form and with the ubiquitous Michel Rolland now acting as consultant, it is now producing ultra-rich, lush, exotically fruity wines that require a minimum 10 years of bottle ageing.

 

History Château Ausone is a very old property with medieval historical significance. In it's more recent history, the wines from the château suffered from lower quality and a lessened reputation in the middle of the 20th century. Ausone began to return to it's historical positon of greatness with the hiring of Pascal Delbeck in the 1970's. 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 1990's, the Vauthier family gained sole ownership of Château Ausone. Alain Vauthier controls all aspects of the winemaking. He began using Michel Rolland as the consulting wine-maker beginning with the 1995 vintage

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Vintage 2010

Drought and cool temperatures contribute to optimal ripeness

The sum of summer temperatures in 2010 was close to that of summer 2009 (962°C compared to 982°C), but significantly colder than those of 2005, which totaled 1052°C. These cool temperatures had a substantial influence on the balance of our wines, preserving a good level of acidity and an attractive aromatic freshness.

Very little precipitation (only 267 mm) from March to August 2010 generating a drought of similar intensity to that of 2005, when only 227 mm of rain fell.

Another characteristic of the 2010 vintage is the low temperatures especially during the first three weeks of August, which allowed good acidity levels to be preserved in the grapes while maintaining an attractive aromatic freshness.

 

 

 

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Latest Pro-tasting notes

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Written Notes

Tasted in April 2011. Plenty of chocolate and dark cherries silky tannins, was sensual, fleshy, very sophisticated, mega long on the palate with fat ripe tannins and perfect balance. Extraordinary stuff. 

  • 98p

The 2010 Ausone exudes aromas of violets, cigars, plums, and blackberries and has an exuberant and lifted palate with velvety firm tannins. This is a perfect Ausone, better than the 2009, more concentrated yet with greater lifted acidity and intensity. A truly gorgeous wine, it has an amazing finish and great depth, suggesting it will keep for decades. 55% Cab Franc, 45% Merlot. 100 points

  • 100p
Ruby, floral, pure, refined and layered as few, difficult to grasp all the nuances, incredible freshness, superb acidity, ripe tannins, gorgeous texture and balance, a wine for meditation. 94-96 This will be really special for those very few that can both afford it and understand it fully! I hope I will be lucky enough to taste it again someday.
  • 95p
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Information

Origin

St.Emilion, Bordeaux

Vintage Quality

Outstanding

Value For Money

Very good

Investment potential

Excellent

Fake factory

None
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