Château Ausone 2020 - 1st Great Cru Class A
The Vauthier family has watched over the vineyard since 1690, with an unchanged passion for the land. Here, each one of them is purifying their hands in the cellars. Alain and his eldest daughter Pauline, the eleventh generation of winemakers, make wine today, faithful to the spirit of their forefathers.
Two millennia of culture do not lie: on the Ausone estate, nature concentrates its gifts to work on the wine. For here, gentleness reigns, like an invitation to the vine.
The jewel of the estate, Château Ausone is a work of finesse and elegance. A cathedral, it first draws a powerful and mineral profile of Cabernet Franc, then comes a fruit of Merlot: round, chiseled, pure. The palate resounds for a long time with finesse and freshness, ending with a finish of rare balance. A monumental wine, like a rampart of time: the years pass over it and sublimely love its character.
The estate also offers a happy prelude, the Chapel of Ausone. Made under the same conditions as its elder, its lesser evil is to be made from the young vines destined later to produce the great wine. Alongside the Cabernet Franc, the Merlot, more present, amplifies a crispness mixed with new touches of Cabernet Sauvignon. Elegance is always there, a motto of taste once again defended with passion.
Commentary: Château Ausone
Tasting notes of the 2020 vintage by Jean-Marc Quarin:
Dark, intense, beautiful and purple color. Very aromatic nose, fine, pure fruit, complex, noble and deep. Slightly vanilla touch on a background of very ripe raspberry. Velvety at the beginning of the mouth, complex in the middle, extremely melting, with a crazy aromatic and tactile grace, the wine advances slowly, juicy and deep. In the very last moments of the mouth, it marks a touch of austerity reminding the limestone as if the vintage had invited it to highlight its origin. This is a wonderful identity.
This is powerful and blows away much of the competition with its depth and layers. This needs you to pull up a chair, take a beat, and let the flavours unroll. There is so much density to the blueberry, bilberry and smoked raspberry fruits that they start out knitted down, then as the oxygen opens them up the body of the wine widens and becomes fleshier and creamier, adding chocolate and mocha notes.
The limestone scrape is there in spades through the finish, and this is a cleverly constructed wine. As ever Ausone is just a masterclass in how to take apart and then put back together a terroir. Great stuff. First year of official conversion to organic farming. 100% new oak, some in 30hl oak casks. Could go up after tasting in bottle, a potential 100 points.
Jane Anson, Decanter.com, mai 2021
Data sheet
- Designation
- Pauillac
- Year
- 2020
- Color
- Red
- Acceptance
- 50% Cabernet Franc, 50% Merlot.
- Alcohol level
- 14°7
- Apogee
- 2034 - 2075
Jean-Marc Quarin - Noté 99/100
Terre de Vin - Noté 98-99/100
Vinous / Neal Martin - Noté 97-99/100
Anthocyanes / Yves Castaing - Noté 98-100/100
Peter Moser / Fasltaff - Noté 97-99/100
Decanter / Jane Anson - Noté 99/100
