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1981 Château Ausone |
| Vintage | 1981 |  Label 1 of 20   | |
| Type | Red | ||
| Producer | Château Ausone | ||
| Variety | Red Bordeaux Blend | ||
| Designation | n/a | ||
| Vineyard | n/a | ||
| Country | France | ||
| Region | Bordeaux | ||
| SubRegion | Libournais | ||
| Appellation | St. Émilion Grand Cru |
| Community Tasting History |
Community Tasting Notes (average 89.7 pts. and median of 89 pts. in 8 notes) | |
| Tasted by Finare Vinare on 11/7/2009 & rated 91 points: (388 views) | |
| Tasted by loverboy on 7/24/2009 & rated 87 points: Very consistent to my previous note. Light brownish with mineral and muddy feeling. Very few fruits. 87-88 (633 views) | |
| Tasted by Mistress of Wine on 4/26/2009 & rated 90 points: Bottle in good shape, with good fill and cork. In contrast to the 1982 Canon of the same evening, this had lost most of its fruit, though there was still a whiff of stewed fruit, mostly prune, on the nose. The taste was all secondary and tertiary for us , and was variously described as earth, tobacco, pine cedar, camphor (usually me after looking at a lot of camphor trunks last summer!), mineral, brine. Clearly showing its age, but nonetheless retained nice complexity and finish. This accompanied all the cheeses well, including surprisingly a gorgonzola dolce. A real pleasure to have two wines at such different stages of their evolution in the same evening. (678 views) | |
| Tasted by noppakit s. on 12/22/2008 & rated 89 points: 6 months passed by....Another time with Ausone 1981.... To drink this wine after La Mondotte 1997 and Cos 2005 is making me captured the different between the life of wine. Seems like Ausone 1981 is too old at a start. Then becomes more fresh, mineral, strawberry fruit, honeydew... still very nice aroma of new oak. Medium-bodied, sweet, soft in texture but not the tannin. Still tannic due to the unusual of vintage. Strange but nice to know the cheracter. The aftertaste is nice too, smooth and getting fine like a Burgundy wine…drinking very nice for a fine fine day Drink now - 2020..............88-89/100.................. (731 views) | |
| Tasted by noppakit s. on 7/6/2008 & rated 89 points: My 3rd bottle within' 5 years and now.... It goes into the dark side, Haut-Medoc charecter, but still showing the deep, clean and cool fresh earth, mud, mineral. So pity to drink this wine after many good bottles of great Burgundy. Anyway, it's a nice Ausone with the remarkable amazing aftertaste, good impact, deep, spread and long-finished. The Dark Side of the Moon so...next testing of Ausone 1981... I wish it wouldn't rain down like this anymore.... Drink now - 2017..........................89+/100............................. (773 views) | |
| Tasted by loverboy on 7/4/2008 & rated 87 points: Well stored bottle. Nice ruby color, pure nose of mineral, floral, but the fruits wasn't just there anymore. Way passed it's prime. (741 views) | |
| Tasted by trankin on 4/26/2007 & rated 95 points: SOBER tasting - dinner w/ Spouses (Equus): Wow - this is a gorgeous wine. Black fruits on the nose, developing in the glass. Nice black fruits and earthen notes - my TN's are rather weak as I was just enjoying this too much. (1112 views) | |
| Tasted by chbeaumont on 1/21/1996: paler; soft, diffuse, metallic, later capsicum note; loose knit, easy going but really attractive, extended finish. 14. [B***, C 15, P 82 Guessed this]. (505 views) |
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About red wine
The variety Red Bordeaux Blend on CellarTracker implies any blend using any or all of the five traditional Bordeaux varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec. As such, this is used worldwide, whether for wines from Bordeaux, Meritages from California and Canada, some Super-Tuscan wines etc. Vins de France (Office National Interprofessionnel des Vins ) | Pages Vins, Directory of French Winegrowers | French Wine (Wikipedia) Vins Bordeaux (Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux) | Simple Bordeaux primer Libournais (Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux) Saint Emilion Grat Classified Growth, Classified Growths, Grands Crus Classes, GCC In 1954, while the "Graves" growths had just published their own classification, the wine syndicate of Saint-Emilion, composed by wine growers, brokers and wine traders with the approval of the INAO - Institut National des Appellations d'Origine (A.O.C), decided to work on a classification for the wines of Saint Emilion. Initially, four grades were defined. These were reduced to two - First Great Classified Growth (A and B) and Great Classified Growth - in 1984. As of Medoc's 1855 historical grading, the Saint-Emilion Great Classified Growth classification is not only based on qualitative criteria by tasting the wines on a ten years period previous to the assessment, but also on commercial considerations such as: - sales price levels - national and international commercial distribution - the estate's reputation on the market Properties who don't manage to join the club of about sixty Classified Growths are given the denomination of Great Growth ("Grand Cru"), while the remaining wineries of the A.O.C are simply reported as "Saint-Emilion". It is to be noted that the owners must officially apply to appear in the official classification. Thus for example the famous Chateau Tertre-Roteboeuf, whose quality and reputation would easily justify to be listed among the First Great Classified Growths, does not appear here by the will of its owner, François Mitjaville. The Saint-Emilion Great Growth classification was revised in 1969, 1985, 1996 and 2006. The only two guaranteed vintage (A.O.C) who can apply to the classification are the "Saint-Emilion Grand Cru" and "Saint-Emilion" areas. By grading 61 properties, the 2006 revision confirmed many growths from the former classification, but also caused a number of surprises and a few inevitable disappointments. Many observers thought that the impressive progression of Perse's Chateau Pavie since 1998 would be rewarded by an upgrade into the First Great Classified Growths (A) category, but finally such was not the case. Among the estates promoted to the First Great Classified Growths  category are Chateau Troplong-Mondot and Pavie-Macquin, whose efforts made since the Nineties fully justify their new grade. It should be noted that no First Great Classified Growth was relegated to the lower Great Classified Growth class.
Promoted growths from the status of Great Growth ("Grand Cru") to Great Classified Growth ("Grand Cru Classe") are: Chateaux Bellefont-Belcier, Destieux, Fleur Cardinale, Grand Corbin, Grand Corbin-Despagne and Monbousquet.
The demoted growths from the status of Great Classified Growth to Great Growth are: Chateaux Bellevue, Cadet Bon, Faurie de Souchard, Guadet Saint-Julien, La Tour du Pin-Figeac (Belivier), La Tour du Pin-Figeac (Moueix), Lamarzelle, Petite Faurie de Soutard, Tertre Daugay, Villemaurine and Yon-Figeac. If the recent samples of some of the above mentioned properties may justify their current downgrade, there are great chances that estates like Bellevue, Tertre Daugay or Yon-Figeac will be upgraded to their previous rankings by the next revision in 2016 as the progresses noted after 2000, but not entering in the range of vintages (1993 - 2002) appointed for the criteria of selection for the 2006 classification, are noticable.
The two following estates have completely disappeared from the Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classification: Curé-Bon-la-Madeleine (integrated meanwhile to Chateau Canon) and La Clusière (integrated meanwhile to Chateau Pavie).
Finally, no estate considered as "garagiste" has integrated the classification. Valandraud, Mondotte, Le Dome, Bellevue-Mondotte or Magrez-Fombrauge have, for the least, the potential to be ranked as Great Classified Growths. In sight of the very fine quality reached by the above mentioned estates in recent vintages as well as all the innovative wine making methods used by the "garagistes", it remains to be seen whether the authorities will dare to cross the line in 2016..?
Les Vins de St. Émilion (Syndicate Vitocole de Saint-Emilion) |
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