1982

Château Ausone

AOP - Appellation d’Origine Protégée (AOC)

Château Ausone

Description

1982 Château Ausone 1er Grand Cru Classe A St-Emilion AOC, Château Ausone

John Gilman:97/100
Prior to this bottle, I had never tasted a pristine example of the 1982 Ausone. As I alluded to in the introduction, some importers seem to have been more scrupulous shipping this wine than others, and I was never fortunate with the 1982 prior to our vertical tasting in February. Happily, this most recent bottle was imported by Château and Estate and was in perfect form, so I was finally able to sample the magic of this wine, which was the most famous wine in Bordeaux during the period of barrel sampling of the ’82 vintage! The bouquet is deep, pure and still youthful, offering up a mix of black cherries, plums, gamebird, a brilliant blade of limestone, nutskin, bonfire, dark chocolate and a topnote of cigar smoke. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and broader-shouldered than the 1983 paired up with it, with great building complexity, a plush core of fruit, excellent soil signature, ripe, buried tannins and marvelous mineral drive on the very, very long and complex finish. Though this too is a fairly powerful vintage of Ausone, it is more precise and classically inclined than the 1989, and it ultimately will be
the superior vintage of Ausone. 

Stephen Tanzer:
The bottle in the blind flight showed rather autumnal aromas and an element of old wood on the nose; modest volume and sweetness; and some unabsorbed acidity on the back end. Second bottle: Full healthy red with a hint of amber. Cool, laid-back aromas of cherry, minerals and menthol. Dense with extract but extremely dry, even tough. The tannins seem astringent for the vintage. I rated this bottle 89(+?). With my third bottle I finally hit the jackpot: Much fresher, more minerally aromas show superb purity and clarity. Then very youthfully unevolved in the mouth, with vibrant dark fruit and mineral flavors. Finishes impressively long, with firm tannins that avoid dryness.
Drink 2010 through 2030.