Chapelle d'Ausone 2018

The 2018 Chapelle D'Ausone is another second wine that can easily compete with most estates’ top wines. Coming from a blend of 50% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon that will spend 20 months in oak, it tastes like a mini Château Ausone with its beautiful limestone minerality and sweet black fruits, spice, and graphite aromas and flavors. Full-bodied, concentrated, with building structure, it’s a serious second wine that’s going to benefit from 3-5 years of bottle age and keep for two decades.

(50 Merlot, 40 Cabernet Franc, 10 Cabernet Sauvignon) | 100% new oak for 20 months | Merlot was harvested on 25th and 27th September, Cabernet Franc was harvested on 3rd, 8th and 9th October and the Cabernet Sauvignon was harvested on 9th October One of the grandest second wines of the vintage, this is built for the long haul and it is majestic and very long. The oak is massive, but the fruit can cope with this impact and the finish is heroic, too. Closed and unyielding on the palate, this is a wine for long term ageing.

The 2018 Chapelle d'Ausone is made of 50% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Deep garnet-purple in color, as impenetrable as this wine's big-brother grand vin wine is, this is the precocious, show-off younger sibling. It comes skipping out of the glass with bright, cheery scents of redcurrant jelly, black raspberries, stewed plums and Black Forest cake, giving way to suggestions of rose oil, dusty soil and garrigue. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is jam-packed with juicy black and red berry layers, framed by beautifully ripe, finely grained tannins and tons of freshness, finishing long and perfumed. Delicious right now, if money's no object, buy this and the grand vin. The 2018 Ausone is going to take a good few years to come around, but this second wine offers a true enough taste of that epic feast of a wine to come. 2022 - 2040.

This is a very tight and structured second wine with blueberry, spice and light hazelnut character. It’s full of volume, but shows underlying firmness and brightness. Lovely length.

The 2018 Chapelle d'Ausone is made of 50% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. The Merlot was harvested on September 25 and 27, the Cabernet Franc on October 3, 8 and 9, and the Cabernet Sauvignon was harvested on October 9. Deep purple-black in color, it is a little reticent to begin, unfurling slowly to reveal notes of Black Forest cake, mincemeat pie, candied violets and Chinese five spice plus waves of charcuterie, black olives, mossy bark and cast iron pan. Full-bodied with a fantastic line of freshness lifting the dense layers, it has a very plush, silt-like texture and a very long, mineral-laced finish.