2001 | Château Ausone | Saint-Emilion

You have to love the beautiful plum, berry and vanilla character in this wine. Full-bodied, with fine tannins and a long finish. Very refined and beautiful.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: The 2001 Ausone has put on even more weight than I anticipated. The “wine of the vintage,” this inky/purple-colored 2001 boasts a provocative, floral perfume of crushed stones, raspberries, blackberries, creme de cassis, licorice, and smoke. What makes it so sensational are the layers of flavor and nuances that unfold as the wine sits in the glass as well as on the palate. This is an extraordinarily intense effort, but remarkably elegant and well-balanced. It ideally needs another decade of cellaring; it should last for 4-5 decades! Alain Vauthier is a perfectionist, which is evidenced by what he has produced over the last half dozen vintages at Ausone. Kudos to readers lucky enough to find a bottle or two ... and live long enough to enjoy them in their prime.

Producer Information

Château Ausone is a highly regarded wine estate in the Saint-Émilion region of northeastern Bordeaux. Its red wines are viewed many as some of the greatest of the appellation (and of the wider region as a whole). Although it was once one of the prestigious few Saint-Émilion producers with Premier Grand Cru Classé A status – and one of only two estates (the other being Château Cheval Blanc) to hold this status since the inception of the classification in 1955 – it, along with Cheval Blanc and others, famously withdrew from the ranking in 2022. Nonetheless, it is still regarded by many as one of the greatest wines of the appellation (and of wider Bordeaux). The wider estate is relatively small compared to other top rated Bordeaux châteaux, and its seven-hectare (17-acre) vineyard is planted almost entirely to Cabernet Franc and Merlot. A small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon appears in its second wine, Chapelle d'Ausone. The estate is named for the Fourth Century Roman poet Decimius Magnus Ausonius, who owned extensive property in Bordeaux, including some vineyards. However, the modern château and estate, which sit on a highly coveted spot just south of Saint-Émilion town on the edge of the Saint-Émilion plateau, date back to the 18th Century. usone and its neighbor Château Bélair-Monange were owned by the same family for most of the 20th Century and shared Ausone's cellars. Despite its centuries-old history, Ausone has only been owned by three different families, though not always without contention: in the 1990s, a legal feud regarding inheritance plagued the estate. Ausone's vineyard is on an elevated southeast-facing slope that is uncommonly steep for the region. Sheltered to the north and the west, the vineyard was spared from the devastating effects of the 1956 frosts that ruined vines and vintages in many other parts of Bordeaux. Since the 1990s, Ausone has consistently received high critical praise, peaking with 100 points from US wine critic Robert Parker for the 2000 vintage. A very limited production of fewer than 2000 cases annually makes Château Ausone one of the most expensive and sought-after Saint-Émilion wines.

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