2010 Château Ausone, St Emilion, Bordeaux

  • Red
  • Dry
  • Full Bodied
  • Merlot (45%), Cabernet Franc (55%)
Ready - youthful (Drink 2024 - 2070)
Jancis Robinson MW
18.5/20
94-97/100
Robert Parker
98+/100
Robert Parker
98-100/100
Product: 20108008785

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2010 Château Ausone, St Emilion, Bordeaux

Description

A wine of huge density, but not weight; the palate is an explosion of fruit, acidity and it is very tight on the finish with evident, but fine-grained, tannins. The length, the best indication of quality in barrel samples shows it will be a true vin de garde. This is at the top of the St Emilion tree.
(55% Cabernet Franc, 45% Merlot)
Nick Pegna, Berry Bros. & Rudd
Colour Red
Sweetness Dry
Vintage 2010
Maturity Ready - youthful (2024 - 2070)
Grape List Merlot (45%), Cabernet Franc (55%)
Body Full Bodied
Producer Château Ausone

Critics reviews

Jancis Robinson MW 18.5/20
The 2010 Ch. Ausone is dark crimson with a bright crimson rim. Very serious nose – so different from the Chapelle! 55% Cabernet Franc, 45% Merlot. Lovely punch and scent on the nose and then real tight impact on the palate. Not the completeness of Pétrus but a very good vintage expression. Some warm berries triumph over terroir but this is sweet then tight and tough.

Extremely youthful. Very drying on the end. Cabernet Franc has dominated since 2005. Very rich and exuberant overall. Vivacious and not too, too dry on the finish. Less exaggerated than some other recent vintages.
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com
94-97/100
The 2010 Ch. Ausone is very sappy and intense, offering racy red licorice, red currant and violet notes, with nice taut acidity and a long, minerally finish. Combines power and austerity, with excellent drive. For those who like backbone in their wines.
(Jan 2011)
Robert Parker 98+/100
The 2010 Ausone struck me as another brilliant, potentially perfect wine, which should come as no shock to people who have been following Vauthiers work over the last decade or more. Backward and intense, this wine offers up notes of crushed chalk/rock minerality interwoven with blueberry, black raspberry and cassis as well as some graphite and vanillin. It is incredibly rich but at the same time precise, fresh and vivacious. This is a super wine, but it will require enormous patience from its potential suitors. Forget it for a decade and drink it over the following 50+ years.
Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (Feb 2013)
Robert Parker 98-100/100
Alain Vauthier’s wines have been so remarkable since he acquired full control of Ausone that readers probably feel I have thrown my critical wits away. However, the proof is in the tasting, and the 2010 Ausone is unquestionably extraordinary. There are 1,500 cases of this beauty, which exhibits an inky/blue/purple color as well as an exotic, seamless bouquet of incense, Asian spices, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. Full-bodied with a striking liqueur of minerality as well as a magical combination of complexity, substance and nobility, it reveals softer tannins than I expected for this vintage, so perhaps it will be more accessible in its youth than recent Ausone vintages have tended to be. It is another prodigious effort from Vauthier that should be drinkable in 6-8 years and keep for a half century.
Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (Jan 2011)

About this wine

Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc is widely planted in Bordeaux and is the most important black grape grown in the Loire. In the Médoc, it may constitute up to 15% of a typical vineyard – it is always blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and is used to add bouquet and complexity to the wines. It is more widely used in St Émilion, where it adapts well to the cooler and moister clay soils.
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Saint-Emilion

Saint-Emilion

First officially classified in 1954, St-Émilion is one of Bordeaux's largest winemaking appellations, producing more wine than Listrac, Moulis, St Estèphe, Pauillac, St Julien and Margaux combined. Many of the region's finest vineyards can be found atop the steep limestone slopes of the village itself, although a fledgling band of garagiste producers are eschewing terroir to make small-batch, deeply-concentrated wines from their homes.
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Château Ausone

Château Ausone is a wine estate in St Emilion on the Right Bank of Bordeaux. It takes its name from the poet Ausonius, who is thought to have owned a villa where the estate stands today – just outside the medieval village of St Emilion. Ausone’s vineyards sit atop St Emilion’s limestone plateau and extend in terraces down the côtes. There are just over six hectares of vines planted today, mostly Cabernet Franc along with Merlot. The team practice organic and biodynamic viticulture though without certification.
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