Château Ausone, 1er Grand Cru Classé, St Emilion
    Château Ausone

    Château Ausone, 1er Grand Cru Classé, St Emilion, 2006

    97/100
    Inside Bordeaux
    97/100
    Vinous
    Available Vintages
    Broking
    1. 2006

      12x75cl

      DP

      £5,203.07

    Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

    It seems Alain Vauthier can do no wrong. At least that is what our palates tell us: from his most modest property, through Fonbel and Moulin St Georges, all the way up to the great Ausone, his 2006's reflect pure ripe fruit and honest winemaking of the highest standard. Ausone itself is a huge wine, massively complex and multi-layered on the nose, with super-rich blackcurrant, crushed berries, minerals and coffee, and equally explosive on the palate, building seamlessly through a plethora of flavours to finally deliver the longest finish of any wine in this vintage. Tannins as smooth as any one can possibly imagine, such profound and elegant terroir, a return to brilliant redcurrant fruit half way through the final descent, and so it continues. This is a remarkable wine and a contender for wine of the vintage.

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    Critic Reviews

    97/100
    Jane Anson,
    Inside Bordeaux
    Tasted during the Bordeaux Mentor Week at a tasting hosted by the Fondation Terroirs et Paysages Culturels (Ausone is a founding member of this group). The entire series of wine was exceptional, but this still managed to stand out head and shoulders above the rest. Just a total lesson in what depths and nuances can be achieved in an almost-20-year-old wine that has stayed true to its limestone terroir. It opens with creamy raspberry and cassis fruit, laced with white truffles, incenes and citrus, so elegant and poised, then performs a push and pull of acidity and tannins as it stretches out through the palate, narrowing to a saline-scrape of pummice stone and oyster shell. A wonderful moment to begin drinking, but it's going nowhere soon. 100% new oak, Alain Vauthier owner.
    drinking window 2024 - 2040
    date of review 12/2024
    97/100
    Stephen Tanzer,
    Vinous
    Bright medium ruby. Brooding, pure aromas of blackberry, blueberry, boysenberry, espresso and minerals. Wonderfully dense yet weightless, with a penetrating calcaire energy to its sappy black fruit and mineral flavors. This has filled out impressively since its early days in barrel but is still just at the beginning of its evolution. The slowly mounting, compellingly long finish saturates the palate with flavor, and the substantial tannins are amazingly sweet and fine-grained. My early candidate for wine of the vintage: this fills the mouth with perfume but its fruit of steel suggests that it will last a very long time. I won't be around to drink this beauty at its peak.
    date of review 05/2009

    product details

    Specifications

    Country:
    France
    Region:
    Bordeaux
    Appellation:
    St Emilion
    style:
    Red Wine
    Grape Variety:
    Merlot Cabernet
    abv:
    13.5%

    allergen information

    This product may contain sulphites. Full allergen information is available upon request, please call our Customer Relations Team on +44 (0)20 7484 6430.