Description

Red Wine: 1979 | Chteau Ausone | Saint-Emilion

The nose leaps like a jack-in-the-box with vibrant kirsch, liquorice and wild strawberry scents, like a kid jumping out from a hiding place and shouting ‘Bet you werent expecting that!’

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Producer: Chteau Ausone

Vintage: 1979

Size: 750ml

ABV: 12.3%

Varietal: Bordeaux Blend Red

Country/Region: France, Bordeaux

The nose leaps like a jack-in-the-box with vibrant kirsch, liquorice and wild strawberry scents, like a kid jumping out from a hiding place and shouting ‘Bet you werent expecting that!’ The palate is medium-bodied with vibrant red berry fruit infused with blood orange and tangerine. This feels so lively and vivid with just a hint of piquancy on the finish.

Producer Information

Chteau Ausone is a highly regarded wine estate in the Saint-milion region of northeastern Bordeaux. Its red wines are viewed many as some of the greatest of the appellation (and of the wider region as a whole). Although it was once one of the prestigious few Saint-milion producers with Premier Grand Cru Class A status and one of only two estates (the other being Chteau Cheval Blanc) to hold this status since the inception of the classification in 1955 it, along with Cheval Blanc and others, famously withdrew from the ranking in 2022. Nonetheless, it is still regarded by many as one of the greatest wines of the appellation (and of wider Bordeaux). The wider estate is relatively small compared to other top rated Bordeaux chteaux, and its seven-hectare (17-acre) vineyard is planted almost entirely to Cabernet Franc and Merlot. A small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon appears in its second wine, Chapelle d’Ausone. The estate is named for the Fourth Century Roman poet Decimius Magnus Ausonius, who owned extensive property in Bordeaux, including some vineyards. However, the modern chteau and estate, which sit on a highly coveted spot just south of Saint-milion town on the edge of the Saint-milion plateau, date back to the 18th Century.Ausone and its neighbor Chteau Blair-Monange were owned by the same family for most of the 20th Century and shared Ausone’s cellars. Despite its centuries-old history, Ausone has only been owned by three different families, though not always without contention: in the 1990s, a legal feud regarding inheritance plagued the estate. Ausone’s vineyard is on an elevated southeast-facing slope that is uncommonly steep for the region. Sheltered to the north and the west, the vineyard was spared from the devastating effects of the 1956 frosts that ruined vines and vintages in many other parts of Bordeaux.Since the 1990s, Ausone has consistently received high critical praise, peaking with 100 points from US wine critic Robert Parker for the 2000 vintage. A very limited production of fewer than 2000 cases annually makes Chteau Ausone one of the most expensive and sought-after Saint-milion wines.