Retail Team | April 18, 2024
Perched at the precipice of Saint-Émilion’s lauded limestone plateau, the neatly terraced vineyards of Château Ausone occupy just about seven hectares. Total production annually hovers around 2,000 cases. Yet from this small, sheltered, hillside plot – “one of Bordeaux’s greatest terroirs,” in the words of Wine Advocate critic William Kelley – Ausone regularly produces powerhouse expressions of structure and longevity.
The Vauthier family has been a caretaker of the estate for centuries with Pauline, the winemaker since 2005, being the 11th generation to tend the soil. Since the 1990s, when the Vauthiers gained total control of growing and production, the wines have been on a brilliant run of success, leading to a surge of international demand that inevitably swamps Ausone’s minuscule production.
The vineyards are primarily planted to Cabernet Franc and Merlot, with a little Cabernet Sauvignon used in the famed second wine, Chapelle d’Ausone. With nearly half of Ausone’s production going into its second wine, few would dispute Chapelle’s position as one of Bordeaux’s best second wines.
Our current inventory is sure to be among the most cherished additions to any collection. The 2019 Grand Vin is a blockbuster effort of honed concentration and profound intensity. We are also excited to present three vintages of the stellar second wine that offer a slightly younger, more accessible taste of this tiny but mighty Right Bank crown jewel.
