Ausone 2013 (750ML)

Probably the wine of the vintage, once again. Only 9,000 bottles of the 2013 Ausone were produced, as crop size was 50% of normal. However, proprietor Alain Vauthier and his daughter certainly have proven a truly great wine can be produced in some of the most trying conditions Bordeaux wine producers have had to deal with over the last 20 years. Yields were only 22 hectoliters per hectare and the final blend was 55% Cabernet Franc and 45% Merlot. The haunting aromas of wet rocks, spring flowers, blue and black fruits and forest floor are followed by an incredibly dense, attractive wine with sweet tannin, stunning concentration and texture, medium body and a depth that is essentially unreal in a vintage such as this. The wine is a superb example of great winemaking under the most difficult circumstances...93-95 WA 08/14

91 Points, Neal Martin, Vinous Media: "The Ausone 2013 was one of the superior wines from the challenging growing season like few others. I remember Pauline Vauthier telling me that it was thanks to 10 hot days in July that any greenness was eradicated. From a bottle tasted in Bordeaux, it repeated its performance from barrel. The bouquet is simple for Ausone, still driven by the Merlot rather than the Cabernet Franc, fleshy and quite rounded on the palate with impressive freshness, if not quite delivering the complexity and sensuality one often finds with Ausone." 3/18

93 Points, James Suckling: "Very perfumed and pretty on the nose with cherry, flowers and chalk. Medium to full body, very fine tannins and a crazy finish of fruit and sea salt. Lively and intense. Better in 2018. Only 9,000 cases made." 2/16