2005 Chapelle d'Ausone
Buying options
Tasting Notes
The second wine of Ausone, the Chapelle d’Ausone, usually represents about 50% of the production from this tiny historic vineyard. The 2005 has a dense minerality, sweet blueberry and blackberry fruit, and plenty of flowers and crushed rock in a full-bodied, stunningly concentrated style. Amazingly, this second wine is probably better than many of the great Ausones from the 1940s, 50s, 60s, 70s and early 80s! Drink it over the next 30+ years.
Critic Scores
Average Score
Wine Spectator
Robert Parker, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
There is no better second wine being made in Bordeaux today than Chapelle d'Ausone and Alain Vautheir has never produced a better Chapelle d'Ausone than he did in the 2005 Bordeaux vintage. This wine will beat several big names in a blind tasting. Licorice, minerals, stone, black raspberry liqueur and fresh boysenberries make up the perfume. On your palate, this rich, full bodied, intense wine ends with an intense, deep, spicy, ripe, sweet, black and red fruit filled finish. This is still young today, but it can be enjoyed with an hour of air. Else, if you can wait, give it another 3-5 years and drink it over the next 2 decades. Savvy buyers who picked this up as a future scored a really nice St. Emilion wine.
Good deep red. Musky redcurrant, coffee and game on the nose, complicated by smoky oak and minerals. Supple on entry, then a bit closed in the middle palate, offering hints of graphite and flowers. Finishes broad, sweet and aromatic, with uncanny persistence for a second wine.
Delivers very pretty aromas of toasty oak, coffee, licorice and blackberry. Full-bodied, with loads of ripe fruit and vanilla and coconut character. Rich, fruit-forward and very, very chewy. A fabulous second wine from Ausone. Best after 2012. 540 cases made.
About the producer
Ch. Ausone is one of Bordeaux’s most respected estates. At this small property, perched atop a hill overlooking the town of Saint-Emilion, the Vauthier family produces some of the finest wines in the region.