Château Ausone 2000 (12-bottle case) - SOLD
Château Ausone 2000 (12-bottle case) - SOLD
Vintage: 2000
Classification: Premier Grand Cru Classé "A"
Country: France
Region: Bordeaux | Saint-Émilion
Grape Varieties: Cabernet Franc | Merlot
Price: £13,860 - SOLD
Château Ausone is steeped in history.
It is named for its first owner, the statesman and poet Decimus Magnus Ausonius (c.310-c.395), who planted vineyards here. It is speculated that Château Ausone rests on the foundations of Ausonius’s villa.
Despite this long and illustrious history, it was only in the 1970s that Ausone began to reassert itself as one of the foremost estates in the Saint-Émilion region. In 1976, Pascal Delbeck was hired by the then joint-owner Heylette Dubois-Challon – the widow of Jean Dubois – to oversee winemaking at Ausone. Upon the death of Dubois-Challon in 2003, ownership of Ausone reverted entirely to Alain Vauthier, great-nephew of Jean Dubois, who prides himself on maintaining a remarkable standard of consistency and quality.
Château Ausone is one of only four wines to be ranked “Premier Grand Cru Classé (A)” in the classification of Saint-Émilion wine.
The wines of Ausone are unusually powerful for wines from the Saint-Émilion region. Usually they must be cellared for at least 10 years before reaching maturity and will then continue to improve in complexity for at least a further 10 years. When the wine is young its tannins are very prominent but, as time passes, they begin to mellow and the wine displays flavours of currant, raspberry and black cherry, with a hint of spice.