2004 Ausone
France
Saint Emilion
Bordeaux
Red
65% Cabernet Franc, 35% Merlot (2024 vintage)
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2024 - 2034
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Alain Vauthier reported yields in the low 33-hectoliters-per-hectare range in 2006, in large part because he carried out three separate green harvests beginning at the end of June. He picked the merlot between September 21 and 30 and brought in the cabernet franc on September 30 and October 1. Following a selection in the vines, he also uses a vibrating sorting table after the fruit has been destemmed to eliminate any remaining bits of stems. Vauthier now owns two-hectoliter tanks that can quickly chill the must to 6oC. Incidentally, Vauthier declined to show the 2005, which was being fined and was in an awkward stage. This wine was a knockout last spring.
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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.
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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.
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