Chateau Ausone
Just outside the medieval walls of Saint-Emilion, on the right bank of the Bordeaux area, this tiny vineyard of just 7 Ha has been named after Ausonius (ca 310 – 395 AD), a Roman poet from Bordeaux. Although Ausonius had a vineyard near St.-Emilion and Roman ruins are found at Ausone, it is not sure if Ausonius had anything to do with the château.
The wine is one of the four “Premier Grand Cru Classés” of the St.-Emilion Classification. The spectacular location, the limestone caves and the extremely old vines with an average of 65+ years old, make this château a well worth visit. Since the production is minuscule, the wine is almost impossible to find on the wine-market.
The château was owned by the Dubois family since the late 19th century, but from 1921 on, the Vauthier family also became co-proprietors of the estate. In the mid 1990’s the Vauthier family bought out Madame Dubois-Challon.
The vineyards are planted with Merlot (50%) and Cabernet Franc (50%) and the annual production is only 20.000 – 23000 bottles, which makes it rarer than Pétrus! The terroir from Ausone gives the wine its minerality, elegance and finesse, but it has a tremendous aging potential and top vintages are capable of lasting 50 - 75 years.
Most of the vintages are aged in 100% new oak. Although the quantity is small, they even produce a second wine called “La Chapelle d’Ausone”. An average of only 7000 bottles is produced annually. Top vintages for Château Ausone are: 1928, 1929, 1949, 1955, 1959, 1961, 1964 and 1990. But after 1999 only two vintages scored under the 95 Parker points. So since then almost every vintage can be named as top where 2003 and 2005 scored 100 Points.
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