2018 Ausone
By Chateau Ausone
2018 Ausone from Chateau Ausone, Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux
The 2018 Ausone from Chateau Ausone stands as a testament to an exceptional vintage in Saint-Émilion, marked by a year of climatic challenges that concluded with a harvest bountiful in both quality and quantity. Having keenly observed the evolution of this esteemed chateau's output over decades, it is both a privilege and pleasure to discern the nuances of their latest offering.
The Symphony of the Season: A Vintage Refined
Unveiling the layers of the 2018 Ausone demands pausing to appreciate its composition: borne of a season where an initial wet start acquiesced to a flawless summer and autumn. This harmonious interplay between the elements has brought forth a wine that truly captures the essence of its prestigious terroir—a must-consider for investors who value pedigree and poise.
A Vintage's Voice: Tasting Notes for the Connoisseur
The 2018 vintage exhibits extraordinary balance, with opulent fruit aromas underscored by seductive notes of licorice and violets. On the palate, it delivers a luxurious tapestry woven with ripe plums, black cherries, and an undercurrent of graphite finesse. The wine's structure is formidable, yet there lies an elegance that elevates each sip to a memorable experience. Coursing through its veins is the unmistakable calcareous character of Saint-Émilion's limestone bedrock—a hallmark amplified by the year's optimal growing conditions.
Investment-Worthy Elegance
An animating discussion amongst investors often hinges on a wine's potential for both pleasure and portfolio. Rest assured, the 2018 Ausone demonstrates a profound capacity for ageing, promising returns on investment through maturation that aligns with the wine's innate grandeur.
In essence, the 2018 Ausone from Chateau Ausone exemplifies the prowess of Bordeaux's right bank in what was indeed a remarkable vintage. For those who seek to embellish their collection with a storied lineage and undoubted future significance, laying down several cases of this venerable elixir would be a move both shrewd and rewarding.
Current market price
$8,760.00
12x75cl
Highest score
100
POP score
262.5
Scores and tasting notes
The 2018 Ausone is a blend of 60% Cabernet Franc and 40% Merlot. Deep garnet-purple in color, rather predictably, the nose is almost completely shut-down on first sniff, taking considerable aeration to begin to reveal its jaw-dropping perfume of ripe black cherries, wild blueberries and plum preserves, leading to suggestions of candied violets, molten chocolate, licorice and crushed rocks with subtle cedar and pencil lead hints. The medium to full-bodied palate (14.5% alcohol) is so tightly wound and nuanced at this stage, it requires a lot of focus unravel all that is going on here. In short: a lot. The ripe, rich, black and blue fruit layers eventually give way to the beautifully cerebral earthy/minerally subtext, carried by fantastically well-knit tension, delivering an incredibly long, foundation-shaking finish. If the earth doesn't move when you drink this, you're probably not doing it right.
Lisa Perrotti-Brown - The Wine Advocate, 31 March 2021
This is really exotic with wild-fruit character that I have seldom encountered in Ausone. Full-bodied yet reserved and very tight. Amazing depth and purity of fruit. Incredible beauty. Sexy.
James Suckling - jamessuckling.com - April 2019
The 2018 Ausone is composed of 60% Cabernet Franc and 40% Merlot. The Merlot was harvested September 25 and 27, and the Cabernet Franc was harvested October 3, 8 and 9. Deep purple-black in color, it is an impenetrable wall to begin, unrelenting without persistent coaxing, at last uncoiling to offer glimpses at preserved plums, blueberry coulis, molten licorice and underbrush with emerging scents of lavender, iron ore, crushed stones, charcoal and Indian spices plus a waft of red roses. Full-bodied, rich, decadent and tightly knit, it offers layer upon layer of fruit, spice and mineral nuances with a firm frame of exquisitely fine tannins and bold freshness, finishing with epic length and heart-stopping beauty.
Lisa Perrotti-Brown - The Wine Advocate, 23rd April 2019
Pauline Vauthier is the 11th generation of the family to be producing wine here. It's always such an incredible wine, and as ever you can see that they are playing a different game from so many others. The juice, the slate, the minerality, the drip-drip-drip of freshly squeezed berries, spice and barely-there tannins, the sapidity on the finish. Amazing! Harvest ran from 25 September to 9 October. 3.6pH. 100% new oak.
Jane Anson - Decanter - April 2019
The 2018 Ausone is off the charts. Deep, sensual and mysterious, the 2018 is going to need many years to show the full breadth of its potential. And yet, there is so much there. Rich and concentrated on the palate, with phenomenal persistence, the 2018 is loaded with energy, tension and precision, offering a compelling interplay of opulence, saline intensity and structure. It is without question one of the wines of the vintage.
Antonio Galloni - Vinous - April 2019