Château Ausone, 1er Grand Cru Classé, St Emilion, 2006
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.
critic reviews
This is not a vintage that was immediately seductive, and took its time to come around, but it is now remarkably enjoyable, with fine but abundant tannins that are still very much in place. Reveals waves of liquorice and rose buds, incense, oyster shell and rich autumnal fruits. A conductor of limestone, as is always the case with Ausone, nuanced, classical and beautiful. 100% new oak for ageing, Alain Vauthier owner.
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.
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.