2018 Chapelle d'Ausone, St Emilion, Bordeaux

  • Red
  • Dry
  • Full Bodied
  • Merlot (70%), Cabernet Sauvignon (20%), Carménère (10%)
Not ready (Drink 2028 - 2060)
Julia Harding MW
16.5/20
Jeb Dunnuck
93-95/100
Jane Anson MW
93/100
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW
94/100
Antonio Galloni
94/100
Neal Martin
94/100
James Suckling
95/100
Product: 20188013613

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2018 Chapelle d'Ausone, St Emilion, Bordeaux
Colour Red
Sweetness Dry
Vintage 2018
Maturity Not ready (2028 - 2060)
Grape List Merlot (70%), Cabernet Sauvignon (20%), Carménère (10%)
Body Full Bodied
Producer Château Ausone

Critics reviews

Julia Harding MW 16.5/20

50% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Barrel sample.

Black core, purple rim. Intense, dark fruited and expressive on the nose. There's the lovely pencil-shavings character of Cabernet Franc and the generosity of Merlot. Very ripe cassis but not overripe. Deep and full in the mouth, slightly sweet and sour at the moment, needing time to mesh. The finish has juicy freshness and a smooth, deep tannin texture—Chewy and juicy on the finish. 

Drink 2024 - 2030

Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2019)
Jeb Dunnuck 93-95/100

The 2018 Chapelle D'Ausone is another second wine that can easily compete with most estates’ top wines. Coming from a blend of 50% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon that will spend 20 months in oak, it tastes like a mini Château Ausone with its beautiful limestone minerality and sweet black fruits, spice, and graphite aromas and flavors. Full-bodied, concentrated, with building structure, it’s a serious second wine that’s going to benefit from 3-5 years of bottle age and keep for two decades.

Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (May 2019)
Jane Anson MW 93/100

20 months in barrel, 100% new oak, as per Ausone, but pure limestone so it just sucks it up. Normally 20,000 bottles of Ausone and 5-6,000 bottles of Chapelle. A high Silver. And a yield now up to around 37-40hl/ha.

You definitely get the brushed damson fruits and slight grilled notes of oak, but it is oh-so carefully handled, and just gives the most gorgeous blend; 80% young vines up to 10 years old planted at 12,000 vines per hectare), plus some lots that didn't make it into the first wine. That makes this an extremely successful Chapelle with just so much personality and depth. Such incredible precision here to the freshly crushed mint leaves. This is an expensive second wine, but it absolutely delivers the 'wow' factor.

Drink 2025 - 2040

Jane Anson MW, Decanter.com (Nov 2020)
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW 94/100

The 2018 Chapelle d'Ausone is made of 50% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon.

Deep garnet-purple in colour, as impenetrable as this wine's big-brother grand vin wine is, this is the precocious, show-off younger sibling. It comes skipping out of the glass with bright, cheery scents of redcurrant jelly, black raspberries, stewed plums and Black Forest cake, giving way to suggestions of rose oil, dusty soil and garrigue.

Medium to full-bodied, the palate is jam-packed with juicy black and red berry layers, framed by beautifully ripe, finely grained tannins and tons of freshness, finishing long and perfumed. Delicious right now; if money's no object, buy this and the grand vin. The 2018 Ausone will take a good few years to come around, but this second wine offers a true enough taste of that epic feast of a wine to come.

Drink 2022 - 2040

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate (Mar 2021)
Antonio Galloni 94/100

Chapelle d'Ausone might very well be the best second wine in Bordeaux in 2018, and it is certainly a lot more compelling than many top cuvées. Inky, deep and voluptuous, the Chapelle shows all of the natural suppleness of Merlot to great effect. Soft curves and silky tannins round things out in style. It is a drop-dead gorgeous beauty from the Vauthier family. Simply magnificent.

Drink 2025 - 2038

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (Mar 2021)
Neal Martin 94/100

The 2018 Chapelle d’Ausone was poured after the La Clotte, though in retrospect, I would have reversed the order because the aromatics here are more backward and sultry. They uncurl to reveal black cherries, briar, crushed rock/basalt and very light violet scents, all incredibly well-focused. The palate is medium-bodied, sporting another silky, satin-like texture from the Vauthier family. Offering wonderful weight and density allied with amazing focus and poise, this is a brilliant Second Wine that is so delicious that it pains me to advise that it deserves 3 to 4 years in a bottle. The citric/blood orange aftertaste knocks you off your feet. Superb.

Drink 2024 - 2040

Neal Martin, Vinous.com (Mar 2021)
James Suckling 95/100

A red with blackberry, blueberry, iodine, muscle shell and hot stone character on both the nose and palate. It’s full-bodied and very tight with a compact palate of beautiful fruit with a minerally undertone. It is very long and polished—fine yet structure.

Try after 2025

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (Mar 2021)

About this wine

Merlot

The most widely planted grape in Bordeaux and a grape that has been on a relentless expansion drive throughout the world in the last decade. Merlot is adaptable to most soils and is relatively simple to cultivate. It is a vigorous naturally high yielding grape that requires savage pruning - over-cropped Merlot-based wines are dilute and bland. It is also vital to pick at optimum ripeness as Merlot can quickly lose its varietal characteristics if harvested overripe.
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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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