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2021 Château Ausone, St Emilion, Bordeaux

  • Red
  • Dry
  • Full Bodied
  • Merlot
Not ready
Product: 20218008785
2021 Château Ausone, St Emilion, Bordeaux

Description

Cabernet Franc 65%, Merlot 35%

This delivers exactly what you’d expect from a wine produced from 65% Cabernet Franc grown on St Emilion’s limestone slopes in a cool vintage. It is taut with the tension of a violin string, humming with bright notes and sinewy tannins. Yet behind the structure there is a compelling fruitiness, juicy with mouth-watering red berry and cool stone. Its austere style may make it seem a bit aloof, but there is a composed, steely will about the wine. Without the flesh of a warmer year, Ausone has found a different voice: it’s almost surly in its granitic expression, yet still conjures up a sense of sweetness from the purity of its cool red-and-blue fruits. This is an extraordinary wine. Drink 2030-2050.

Our score: 18.5/20

Berry Bros. & Rudd, April 2022

Colour Red
Sweetness Dry
Vintage 2021
Maturity Not ready
Grape List Merlot
Body Full Bodied
Producer Château Ausone

About this wine

Merlot

The most widely planted grape in Bordeaux and a grape that has been on a relentless expansion drive throughout the world in the last decade. Merlot is adaptable to most soils and is relatively simple to cultivate. It is a vigorous naturally high yielding grape that requires savage pruning - over-cropped Merlot-based wines are dilute and bland. It is also vital to pick at optimum ripeness as Merlot can quickly lose its varietal characteristics if harvested overripe.
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Saint-Emilion

Saint-Emilion

First officially classified in 1954, St-Émilion is one of Bordeaux's largest winemaking appellations, producing more wine than Listrac, Moulis, St Estèphe, Pauillac, St Julien and Margaux combined. Many of the region's finest vineyards can be found atop the steep limestone slopes of the village itself, although a fledgling band of garagiste producers are eschewing terroir to make small-batch, deeply-concentrated wines from their homes.
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Château Ausone

Château Ausone is a wine estate in St Emilion on the Right Bank of Bordeaux. It takes its name from the poet Ausonius, who is thought to have owned a villa where the estate stands today – just outside the medieval village of St Emilion. Ausone’s vineyards sit atop St Emilion’s limestone plateau and extend in terraces down the côtes. There are just over six hectares of vines planted today, mostly Cabernet Franc along with Merlot. The team practice organic and biodynamic viticulture though without certification.
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