Château Ausone 2007
Review of the Estate
Chateau Ausone is a Bordeaux wine from Saint-Émilion appellation, one of only four wines, to be ranked Premier Grand Cru Classè (A) in the Classification of Saint-Émilion wine. Chateau Ausone is located on the Right Bank of France's Bordeaux wine region in the Gironde department, close to the town of Saint-Émilion.
Chateau Ausone also produce a second wine named Chapelle d'Ausone.
Placed on the western edge of 11th century village Saint-Émilion, with elevated vineyards facing south on steep terraces in ideal situation, Chateau Ausone takes its name from Decimius Magnus Ausonius (310-395 AD), a statesman and poet from Bordeaux who owned about 100 acres (0.40 km2) of vineyard. It is believed by some that Chateau Ausone is on the foundations of his villa.
The modern estate can be dated to the 18th century, when it was owned by Jean Cantenat. Later, under the ownership of the Lafargue family,Chateau Ausone was inherited by Edouard Dubois who steered the chateau through the difficulties of the late 19th century, and in 1916 added the adjacent Chateau Belair to their estate. The chateaux were run separately, although both age their wine in the Ausone cellars, caves in the limestone cliffs beneath the town of Saint-Émilion. After Dubois died in 1921, his widow Heylette Dubois-Challon and Dubois' children of a previous marriage who married into the Vauthier family took control over Chateau Ausone.
Despite being one of the great names of Bordeaux, Chateau Ausone fell into decline until Pascal Delbeck was appointed winemaker in 1976.
For several years Chateau Ausone was jointly owned by the Dubois-Challon and Vauthier families. Alain Vauthier became managing director of Chateau Ausone, while Heylette Dubois-Challon won the right to live on the chateau until her death in 2003.
Michel Rolland was appointed consultant oenologist in 1995.
Vineyard
Surface area: 17.3 acres
Grape Varieties: 50% Merlot, 50% Cabernet Franc
Average age of vines: 50 - 55 years
Density of plantation: 6,000 - 7,8000 vines per hectare
Average yields: 35 hectoliters per hectare
Average cases produced: 1,800 per year
Plateau of maturity: 5 - 100 years
Château Ausone 2007 Reviews / Tasting Notes
Neal Martin - The Wine Advocate
Point Score: 92
Tasted blind at Farr Vintners 2007 Bordeaux tasting. The 2007 Ausone has a high-toned bouquet, a little flashy in style compared to its peers with touches of salted licorice coming through with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins and fine acidity. This is more cohesive and mild-mannered than the feisty aromatics, with good depth and a caressing, quite plush finish. It is a fine Saint Emilion, though it does not quite possess the breeding of the Cheval Blanc 2007 that was tasted alongside. Tasted March 2015.
Wine Spectator
Point Score: 90-93
Complex aromas of rose, mineral, blackberry and licorice follow through to a full body, with fine, racy tannins and a medium-long finish. Racy and stylish. Score range: 90-93
Stephen Tanzer - Vinous
Point Score: 91-93
Bright medium ruby. Dark berries, graphite and violet on the perfumed nose and palate. Suave, creamy and seamless, with terrific inner-mouth energy to the concentrated fruit flavors. Boasts wonderful volume and sweetness for the vintage. Not at all a blockbuster-and less structured and youthfully aggressive than the 2006-but shapely and long on the aftertaste, with rather suave tannins. This is likely to give pleasure much earlier than the 2006 and 2005.