Details
Château Ausone
Going into the cellars of Ausone in the old days was like going into dream world. My first tasting from barrel in 1976 left an indelible imprint on my senses : the moment the great oak door grated open and a smiling, bushy-bearded, almost biblical character lit a candle to usher us to the rows of barrels, I was totally spell-bound. And the smell of those black-fungused walls, gleaming from the damp in the candlelight in this great cavern that was the cellar, has stayed with me forever. I am certain it accounts for a lot of the aroma of old Ausones, many of which I have since drank, for, since 1995 when it was completely peeled away from the walls and renovated, it has been altogether absent from the wines.
That was for the 1975 vintage, a particularly difficult one to taste so young, seemingly possessing enough of something - not fruit, just a vague form of sweetness - but hiding it under a wall of tight, tough tannins. We were tasting the bones of a stern vintage in its infancy before it had acquired any flesh at all : something of a challenge for the débutant I was. And that is how the wine remained for years, inflexible and taut, with a few gleams of ripeness occasionally peeping through the hardness. Five years ago, it was still hard but had more of the beguiling softness that we had detected forty years previously and didn't seem to have finished delivering it : Not a great wine, old but subtle.
That bearded character was none other than Pascal Delbeck, the winemaker and estate manager who had been put in place by Heylette Dubois-Chalon. She shared Pascal's uncompromising vision of finesse in wine. He hated over-ripeness and abhorred over-extraction, two phenomena that were just beginning to creep into the trendier Saint Emilions. There was absolutely nothing trendy about Pascal. But I loved sharing tastings with him and his comments were like poetry.There are no longer many like him around. But this vision of the way wine ought to be was not all that Madame shared : she also shared ownership of the estate with the Vauthier family and, after the young Alain Vauthier came onboard in 1976, there followed a long period of difficult cohabitation, Pascal remaining the winemaker with his traditional approach and Alain wishing to modernise. The six middle vintages of this catalogue come from this unsettled period, sandwiched by one (1975) from the previous period and one (1998) shortly after a 1995 court case gave Alain full control.
All of these « middle period » wines were similar to the 1975, hard at first, only showing their fruit progressively (and we must not forget that half the vineyard is planted to Cabernet Franc, that give a less friendly tone to the fleshier Merlot), and appeal to the more serious drinkers: hedonists, abstain ! The '81, the '86 and the '89 are clearly stronger ; the '83 and the '88 a little on the light side. For the '85, I beg to challenge the critics who talk so disparagingly about it. For me it is the ultimate reserved, non-aggressive and stern-structured wine, with the haunting taste of Earl Gray tea. I continue to drink it on those occasions when I don't want the wine to take over and am totally satisfied by it. Just don't serve it in wine bars to millenials !
By the time the 1998 came to be made, with Vauthier now in full control, the vineyard being re-managed, the cellar all tidied up, new vats installed and Michel Rolland having been brought in as consultant, the wine became radically different showing the brighter, riper and fleshier style, which has continued into the 00s and 10s, producing, I have to admit, totally fabulous wines that now consistently wine our annual « Southwold » blind tastings....but for me the nostalgia, and those dear old bottles from the 80s in my cellar, remains.
Château Ausone 1975
Saint-Emilion, 1er grand cru classé
In original six-magnum wooden case. Corroded capsules. Badly bin-soiled and damaged labels, two stained. Levels: base of neck
4 magnums per lot
Going into the cellars of Ausone in the old days was like going into dream world. My first tasting from barrel in 1976 left an indelible imprint on my senses : the moment the great oak door grated open and a smiling, bushy-bearded, almost biblical character lit a candle to usher us to the rows of barrels, I was totally spell-bound. And the smell of those black-fungused walls, gleaming from the damp in the candlelight in this great cavern that was the cellar, has stayed with me forever. I am certain it accounts for a lot of the aroma of old Ausones, many of which I have since drank, for, since 1995 when it was completely peeled away from the walls and renovated, it has been altogether absent from the wines.
That was for the 1975 vintage, a particularly difficult one to taste so young, seemingly possessing enough of something - not fruit, just a vague form of sweetness - but hiding it under a wall of tight, tough tannins. We were tasting the bones of a stern vintage in its infancy before it had acquired any flesh at all : something of a challenge for the débutant I was. And that is how the wine remained for years, inflexible and taut, with a few gleams of ripeness occasionally peeping through the hardness. Five years ago, it was still hard but had more of the beguiling softness that we had detected forty years previously and didn't seem to have finished delivering it : Not a great wine, old but subtle.
That bearded character was none other than Pascal Delbeck, the winemaker and estate manager who had been put in place by Heylette Dubois-Chalon. She shared Pascal's uncompromising vision of finesse in wine. He hated over-ripeness and abhorred over-extraction, two phenomena that were just beginning to creep into the trendier Saint Emilions. There was absolutely nothing trendy about Pascal. But I loved sharing tastings with him and his comments were like poetry.There are no longer many like him around. But this vision of the way wine ought to be was not all that Madame shared : she also shared ownership of the estate with the Vauthier family and, after the young Alain Vauthier came onboard in 1976, there followed a long period of difficult cohabitation, Pascal remaining the winemaker with his traditional approach and Alain wishing to modernise. The six middle vintages of this catalogue come from this unsettled period, sandwiched by one (1975) from the previous period and one (1998) shortly after a 1995 court case gave Alain full control.
All of these « middle period » wines were similar to the 1975, hard at first, only showing their fruit progressively (and we must not forget that half the vineyard is planted to Cabernet Franc, that give a less friendly tone to the fleshier Merlot), and appeal to the more serious drinkers: hedonists, abstain ! The '81, the '86 and the '89 are clearly stronger ; the '83 and the '88 a little on the light side. For the '85, I beg to challenge the critics who talk so disparagingly about it. For me it is the ultimate reserved, non-aggressive and stern-structured wine, with the haunting taste of Earl Gray tea. I continue to drink it on those occasions when I don't want the wine to take over and am totally satisfied by it. Just don't serve it in wine bars to millenials !
By the time the 1998 came to be made, with Vauthier now in full control, the vineyard being re-managed, the cellar all tidied up, new vats installed and Michel Rolland having been brought in as consultant, the wine became radically different showing the brighter, riper and fleshier style, which has continued into the 00s and 10s, producing, I have to admit, totally fabulous wines that now consistently wine our annual « Southwold » blind tastings....but for me the nostalgia, and those dear old bottles from the 80s in my cellar, remains.
Château Ausone 1975
Saint-Emilion, 1er grand cru classé
In original six-magnum wooden case. Corroded capsules. Badly bin-soiled and damaged labels, two stained. Levels: base of neck
4 magnums per lot
Special notice
On lots marked with an + in the catalogue, VAT will be charged at 7.7% on both the premium as well as the hammer price.
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