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Chateau Ausone
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Location:
Ausone is in the middle of the Saint
Emilion appellation. It is on a hill directly south
of the picturesque town of Saint Emilion.
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Second Wine: Chateau
Ausone produces a second wine called Chapelle d'Ausone.
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Classification:
Grand Cru Classé A (The highest rating for a Saint Emilion.)
Chateau Ausone is the best of the best with regard to Saint Emilion.
It is the Petrus of it's appellation.
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Vineyards: Chateau
Ausone has vineyards of 7.3 hectares (just under 18 acres) with
an average age of the vines of 50 years. The planting of the vineyards
is 50% Merlot and 50% Cabernet Franc. The vines are planted with
a density of 6,000 plants per hectare. The vineyards are on rather
steep slopes facing to the South. The slopes give perfect drainage
but also bring some problems with erosion of the soil. The Southern
exposure is ideal for ripening of the grapes. The soil and sub-soil
of Chateau Ausone's vineyards are limestone. The soil characteristics
of Ausone's vineyards are consistent through the entire property.
The entire production is harvested by hand.
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Production and
Vinification: There are 2,000 cases of Chateau
Ausone produced each year, on average. The fermentation takes
from 21 to 35 days. The aging is always in 100% new barrels each
year. The wines are barrel aged for at least 18 months (and sometimes
nearly 2 years depending on the vintage) before bottling. During
the barrel aging period, the wine is moved from barrel to barrel
(racked) to remove sediment every 3 months. The wines are usually
fine (clarified) with egg whites but left unfiltered before bottling.
The Chateau has extensive caves in the limestone under the property.
With the influence of
Michel Rolland beginning in 1995, the wines have started showing
a great deal more fruit and extract in thier youth. It remains
to be seen how this will affect the aging that has been the hallmark
of the wines from Ausone.
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History:
Chateau Ausone is a very old property with medieval
historical significance. In it's more recent history, the wines
from the chateau suffered from lower quality and a lessened reputation
in the middle of the 20th century. Ausone began to return to it's
historical positon of greatness with the hiring of Pascal Delbeck
in the 1970s. Delbeck was in charge of Ausone beginning with the
1976 vintage. As of 1995, he no longer played a role in the winemaking
but remained in charge of the vineyards.
The property had been owned for generations by a partnership
of the Dubois-Challon family and the Vauthier family. In the mid
1990s, the Vauthier family gained sole ownership of Chateau Ausone.
Alain Vauthier controls all aspects of the winemaking. He began
using Michel Rolland as the consulting wine-maker beginning with
the 1995 vintage.
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Drinkability:
The wines of Chateau Ausone are very powerful for a Saint Emilion.
They generally require cellarning for at least 10 years to reach
maturity and will often improve until 20 years from the year of
the harvest. In thier youth, these wines can be very tannic. As
they age, the flavors of currant, raspberry and black cherry begin
to come forward along with hints of spice. Some of the library
wines that are nearly a century old still possess charm and a
surprising youthfulness.
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