Château Ausone 2008

Bettane & Desseauve

About the domain :

The Château Ausone vines are located on a limestone knoll, with a small part on a plateau with a shallow layer of soil, and the majority on the adjacent, south-facing slope with much deeper soil. This duality is an undeniable asset that the current owner, Alain Vauthier, has succeeded in magnifying. For the past twenty years, Ausone?s harmonious constitution and refined texture have justified its long-standing reputation as the best wine in the appellation, and sometimes in the whole of Bordeaux. Its longevity in bottle is extraordinary.

Guide Hachette des vins

About the domain :

Named after the Latin poet who lived in Saint-Émilion in the 4th century, Ausone was established in the 14th century on a vineyard dating back to Roman times. Since the Middle Ages, only three families have succeeded one another, until Alain Vauthier, the current owner and distant heir of Pierre Chatonnet, who settled here in 1690. Thanks to this family continuity, a mythical cru has remained at the top (classified A as early as 1959). Thanks also to its unique terroir: 7 ha (including a high proportion of Cabernet Franc) on the edge of the clay-limestone plateau of Saint-Émilion, surrounded by a belt of rocks that shelters it from the wind. In its two new underground cellars, a wine with astonishing ageing potential is born, made since 2007 by Pauline Vauthier (Alain's daughter) with the help of Philippe Baillarguet, cellar master.

Robert Parker - Wine Advocate

About the domain :

RVF - La Revue du Vin de France / Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France

About the domain :

From just 7 hectares ideally situated at mid-slope, with a rare collection of Cabernet Franc from massal selection (which accounts for at least half of the final blend), Ausone produces a wine that is both deep and chiselled, innervated by great freshness and endowed with extraordinary velvety texture. It only reveals its full potential after ten to fifteen years' cellaring, and then, in great vintages, shows itself capable of evolving over several decades. Under the wise and visionary guidance of owner Alain Vauthier, all vintages since 1998 have been particularly successful, with a special mention for the legendary 2005, which reaches a level of absolute perfection. Unfortunately, the château's wines are almost impossible to find and fetch stratospheric prices. Since 2005, with the arrival of Pauline Vauthier as winemaker, the style of Ausone, like that of the other Saint-Emilion estates belonging to the Vauthier family, has slowly evolved towards greater crispness and a focus on the fruit's brilliance (thanks in particular to a reduction in the percentage of new barrels used for ageing, 85 instead of 100%).