Chapelle d'Ausone, St Emilion Grand Cru, 2009
The second wine from Ausone is produced from 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc in 2009. This is extraordinarily complex for a second wine; the bouquet is magnificent, offering notes of minerals, slate, seriously high toned violets, cloves, damsons and a panoply of perfumed purple and crimson fruit. This is utterly seductive, bursting with fruit yet tight knit, structured and with laser precision. Utterly harmonious.
critic reviews
Beautiful deep plum colour, a totally gorgeous 2009, silky and supple in its tannic structure, knitted together but you can hardly see a single stitch. Easy to drink now, but no rush - expect intensity and concentration among the sweet ripe fruits, juicy, sappy, tingling minerality, delivering exactly what you want 2009 to do. Winemaker/cellar master Philippe Baillarguet, overseen by Pauline Vauthier, 11th generation of the family, working with her father Alain, 100% new oak for ageing.
Bright ruby. Cool, complex aromas of cassis, licorice, Thai basil, fresh herbs, gingerbread and coconutty oak. Bright and firm, even a bit youthfully ungiving, but juicy and penetrating, with an exhilarating note of Asian spices. Very tight and firm on the long, vibrant back end. A second wine with a very strong personality of its own.