1983 Château Ausone
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Tasting notes
Full bottle just 1,282 g. Too old to have alcohol on the label. Very stinky cork. Pale rust red. Shaded towards a pale rim. Perfectly clean wine despite the malodorous cork. Fragrant and fully evolved with more fruit and body than the Ch Margaux 1983 served alongside. Really tasty and persistent. Even appetising! Drink dates are for those who understand fully mature wine. (JR)
Critic scores
Wine Spectator
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
The 1983 Ausone is a wine that I have tasted three times before and it always pales against the Cheval Blanc. It has a light, fully mature nose: oxtail, molasses, tobacco and Earl Grey aromas but little in the way of fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannin, foursquare and rather dour, an Ausone with the charm of an ugly power station. It should have aspired to something greater than this. If it were a colour, it would be beige. Tasted at the Ausone vertical in London.
Light bodied but wonderfully fresh and ethereal with a rich undertow of great St-Émilion terroir. Lifted and extremely refreshing with mellow sweetness on the nose. Hugely understated. Difficult to think of anyone making St-Émilion like this today. Very, very long. Easy to overlook. Last bottle of a case, needless to say, (JR)