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The Château Ausone is a mythical name in the Saint-Émilion vineyard, charting its course off the beaten track and embodying a style that's uniquely its own. It's a Domaine that owes its name to the Latin poet Decimus Magnus Ausonius, also a professor and political advisor in the Late Roman Empire, who was born in Bordeaux in the year 309.
In the 1960s and 1970s, two families fought over the estate, the Dubois-Chalon and the Vauthier families, particularly over how to run the vineyard and vinifications. Alain Vauthier finally took over the reins in 1995, and from 1998 onwards, Château Ausone regained its place among the most prestigious wines of Bordeaux.
In the first edition of the Saint-Émilion classification in 1955, Château Ausone achieved the privileged position of Premier Grand Cru Classé "A". It retained this distinction up to and including the 2021 vintage. At the beginning of 2022, Domaine chose to withdraw from the classification, the next edition of which was due to be made official in September of the same year. Thus, from the 2022 vintage, the label of Château Ausone will mention only the appellation Saint-Émilion Grand Cru.
The Château Ausone is located on a 7-hectare south-facing vineyard mid-slope of the Saint-Émilion hillside, on limestone soils covered with a superficial layer of gravel. The grape varieties are 55% Cabernet franc and 45% Merlot. The wines are aged for 16 to 18 months in French... See more ...
The 2017 vintage is an unusual year. The vines will start to grow in spring in a relatively homogeneous way with mild temperatures. The season then unfolds in a remarkable way with a drought that sets in at the end of June. The month of August will allow an ideal ripening on a rather late back season, and in spite of some rain in September, it will not disturb the ripening of the grapes, which will be rich and concentrated at the time of the harvest.
The color is a beautiful dark purple with garnet reflections.
The nose reveals a beautiful intensity marked by aromas of small black fruits, wild berries, truffle and peppery spices.
The attack is very subtle, the wine evolves on a silky and delicate texture before densifying and revealing all its fleshiness and refinement. It gradually reveals flavors of raspberry, black currant cream and tannins of an elegant construction. Juicy, it ends its course on a most noble, long and persistent finish.
Food and wine pairing:
Château Ausone 2017 deserves a proper gourmet menu to be fully enjoyed or failing that, high quality food. Enjoy it with a country terrine as a starter, roast suckling lamb with porcini mushrooms accompanied by forest apples, a cheese such as morbier with truffles or mimolette, and a Grand Cru chocolate dessert. As for other dishes, it will also go very well with roast beef, stuffed Bresse poultry or rabbit chasseur with mustard.
Ageing potential and tasting:
This wine will probably reach its qualitative peak between 2030 and 2035, and successive tastings should be made to measure its evolution as well as its qualitative peak.
To be served at room temperature, taking care, if possible, to open the bottle and decant it 5 to 6 hours before tasting.
The bottles will be kept in the cellar protected from light, lying down, at an optimal hygrometric degree of 70%.
