Wine Advisor
Ausone 2006
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The inky/blue-colored 2006 Ausone possesses a striking perfume of minerals, flowers, blackberries, and blueberries. Even though 100% new oak is utilized in the wine’s upbringing, there is no hint of wood in the aromas or flavors. Despite its fabulous texture, medium to full body, size, richness, and profound depth of flavor and nuance, it is surreal in its lightness and delicacy. Prospective purchasers should be aware that the 2006, a legend in the making, will require 10-12 years of cellaring. Anticipated maturity: 2016-2050. Obsessive perfectionist proprietor Alain Vauthier’s extraordinary attention to detail in both the vineyard and cellar has resulted in virtually perfect wines in vintage after vintage. Ausone is a 50-year wine, and generations to come will regard them with almost mythical acclaim.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Tasted blind at Southwold ’06 Bordeaux tasting. This has a very fragrant, sensuous bouquet with kirsch, black cherries and cassis all interlaced with a sorbet like freshness and vitality. Good definition: enthralling clarity and precision. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, very poised and feminine in style with blackcurrant, cassis and black plum. Understated but very focused, sensual and natural on the finish. Great persistency, really coats the mouth in effervescent fruit that electrifies the senses. Wonderful. Tasted January 2010.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Tasted at Ausone. This is a gorgeous Ausone, although not quite up to the 2000 or 2005. A deep limpid purple hue. The nose is intense and floral with blackberry, cassis and violets, with less pronounced Cabernet Franc than other vintages. A rounded sensuous full-bodied palate with grippy tannins, a minerally core but just losing a little focus and precision towards the finish. This will be a medium-term Ausone, more sumptuous in style and more approachable. Tasted April 2007.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
One of the handful of candidates for wine of the vintage is the 2006 Ausone. In fact, while tasting it, I was thinking, is there any estate in Bordeaux that, since 1998, has made as many legendary wines as proprietor Alain Vauthier has at his beloved Ausone? Boasting an inky/blue/purple color as well as an extraordinary, precise bouquet of minerals, flowers, blueberry liqueur, and black currants, this wine possesses fabulous fruit and great intensity, but what makes it so special is its precision, focus, and almost ethereal lightness despite substantial flavor intensity and depth. It is a ballerina with density and power. The abundant noticeable tannin is sweet and, not surprisingly, very finely grained. It should be cellared for a decade, and consumed over the following half century.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Tasted at Bordeaux Index's annual 10-Year On tasting in London.The 2006 Château Ausone has a fragrant bouquet compared to the 2006 Pavie, fomenting more secondary aromas such as smoke, cigar box, potpourri and a smear of Seville orange marmalade. The palate is very refined on the entry, rounded and supple in the mouth. It clearly does not have the density and weight of the Pavie, but it exerts an insistent grip in the mouth and the tannins have symmetry on the finish. It is a very fine Ausone, although Alain Vauthier has overseen better vintages in recent years. Tasted January 2016.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Bright medium ruby. Brooding, pure aromas of blackberry, blueberry, boysenberry, espresso and minerals. Wonderfully dense yet weightless, with a penetrating calcaire energy to its sappy black fruit and mineral flavors. This has filled out impressively since its early days in barrel but is still just at the beginning of its evolution. The slowly mounting, compellingly long finish saturates the palate with flavor, and the substantial tannins are amazingly sweet and fine-grained. My early candidate for wine of the vintage: this fills the mouth with perfume but its fruit of steel suggests that it will last a very long time. I won't be around to drink this beauty at its peak.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
(55% cabernet franc and 45% merlot) Musky aromas of black raspberry and espresso. Suave and sweet on entry, then dense and pure in the middle palate, with superb energy and intensity to its perfumed flavors of dark berries, violet, licorice, minerals and crushed stone. This has a compelling sugar/acid balance but less flesh than some recent vintages of Ausone. The juicy finish features superb length and spine, but this extremely primary wine is dominated by its structure today and a bit hard to view.
About the Producer
Located in the Saint-Emilion appellation on the right bank of Bordeaux, France, Chateau Ausone is one of only four Saint-Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classe A estates in the appellation and one of the eight most prestigious estates in Bordeaux. The 7.25 hectares of vineyards at Château d'Orson are oriented to the east or south-east, allowing the vineyards to enjoy the full sun and to be protected from the north-west winds. The vineyard's proximity to the Dordogne, which is regulated by the river, provides an ideal microclimate for the grapes to grow, and the fact that the vineyard was not seriously affected by the severe frosts of 1892 and 1956 is testament to the terroir. While Merlot is the dominant wine in the Saint-Emilion appellation, Cabernet Franc is the preferred wine at Château d'Ausone, with Cabernet Franc planted in the vineyard, supplemented by some Merlot and a very small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon, which is used only for the secondary wines (Chapelle d'Ausone, Saint-Emilion). 'Ausone, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, France). The average age of these vines is 52 years, with the oldest vines, planted in the early 20th century, being up to 100 years old and planted at a density of 6,500-12,000 vines per hectare. The soils are predominantly calcareous clay and limestone, which is the main reason for the minerality of the red wines of Château Ausone, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classe, France. The organic and biodynamic approach to vineyard management and winemaking at Château Ausone is a commitment to producing wines that express the full character of the terroir. In the vineyards, the staff takes care of the vines, planting fruit trees and aromatic plants, allowing insects, birds and even bats to come and go, in order to release the vitality of the soil and promote the harmony of the entire vineyard ecosystem. During the harvest, the grapes are very carefully selected and only healthy grapes of optimum ripeness are used to make the wine. During the winemaking process, the treated grapes are first subjected to Cold Maceration to extract the pigments and flavours from the skins. Next, alcoholic fermentation takes place in large traditional oak barrels, followed by Malolactic Fermentation in small French oak barrels. After this, the estate's main wines are aged in 100% new oak barrels for up to 24 months, adjusted to the characteristics of the vintage. The wines are aged in the estate's natural limestone cellars, where the humidity and temperature are stable and provide excellent conditions for the wines to age. The wines of Château d'Orson have always been known as "the poet's wine", with a deep colour, very pure aromas of dark fruit, liquorice, flowers and crushed stone, full-bodied but not too heavy, and with great potential for ageing. Robert Parker once said: "If patience is not your virtue, there is no point in buying a bottle of Ouzo". The quality of Château Ouzon's wines has been consistent, with the best vintages including 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2012, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2001, 2000 and 1998, to name but a few. In addition, the estate's secondary wine was born in 1995 from a selection of Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon from the young vines of the estate. Thanks to the limestone soils of the estate, this wine is rich in mineral flavours, with aromas of black cherry, blackberry, cassis and flowers, a full-bodied wine with velvety tannins and a long, impressive finish. With Robert Parker and James Suckling scores of over 90 points in almost all vintages, this wine has long ageing potential.
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