2003 Ausone

The hugely endowed 2005 Ausone is likely to be nearly immortal, but it may also require 15 to 20 years of cellaring before it becomes approachable. (So if you buy this-and it's going to be pricey!-be prepared to bequeath it to your descendants.) Alain Vauthier brought in a bit of slightly shriveled merlot on September 17, then harvested the bulk of his merlot between September 22 and 26; the cabernet franc was picked on October 1 and October 6. The wine is outsized in all of its parts, with higher IPT and alcohol than either 2003 or 2000 (in 2005, the cabernet franc came in with 14.5% potential alcohol, noted Vauthier, who said that the blend is 14.3% now but will finish at around 14%). As Vauthier has added no fertilizers for a long time, the pH of Ausone is always on the low side: 3.62 in 2005. Interestingly, the merlot had a lower pH than the cabernet franc in 2005-a testament to the great ripeness of the later-picked franc. There has been no better wine made in Bordeaux over the past seven or eight years than Ausone.

Alain Vauthier is now turning out a wine-of-the-vintage candidate virtually every year, and the 2004 will be no exception. Vauthier brought in his merlot on October 4 and 5, then harvested the cabernet franc between October 12 and 14, just before some serious rain fell. One of the keys to the high quality of 2004 here is the yield of 32 hectoliters per hectare. Following a 10% saignee but no chaptalization, the young 2004 is 13.7% alcohol, with a pH of 3.7 and slightly lower acidity than the estate's supernal 2003. I note that my scores for the past three vintages of Ausone are nearly identical to those for Latour; these two properties have in common great terroir and tireless attention to detail in the vineyards and in the winery.

Alain Vauthier's 2003 may well turn out to be the single right-bank wine that's at the quality level of the best Medoc wines of this extreme vintage. Vauthier began his harvest on September 15, then brought in his superb cabernet franc during the last week of the month. He told me that the blend today is close to 14% alcohol, and that the cabernet franc was even riper than the merlot. The yield here was just under 30 hectoliters per hectare, and the IPT was 77, vs. 72 for the 2000. Unlike many of his colleagues, who sought to protect their grapes from the broiling sun in 2003, Vauthier carried out his normal leaf-pulling at veraison He felt that it was important to get the grapes used to the sun, "like someone who starts his summer at the beach in April." And he also did his normal green harvesting, to eliminate grapes that were green or grilled. Vauthier considers 2003 to be a great vintage, with outstanding longer-term potential. In comparison, he told me, 2002 is a fruitier style of Ausone, while the 2001 is austere and classic.