Community Tasting Notes 59

• oxwombat Likes this wine: 92 points

  November 16, 2023 - Opened at Octavium in HK. Slow-oxed for several hours before being served as the first in a flight.
  
  Darker than I expected, and though there was a good black fruit coming out I think this is still in a broody phase. It didn't open up too much more with air, in the glass or otherwise during fresh pours, and I think that this just needs a bit more time to come together. Quite dense and clearly there's more to unfurl.
  
  Would revisit in 3+ years to see where it's at. I think this will stay at a good level for many years but sometimes these can turn corners suddenly, hence don't leave it too long before checking-in again.

  Comment

• LeVinDix20 Likes this wine: 95 points

  May 1, 2023 - Vin avec aromes de fruits noirs et bien équilibré. Contrairement aux millésimes plus récents (post 2000), qui démontrent un profil aromatique avec plus de définition et un déroulé en bouche plus longitudinal et ciselé (style rive gauche), ce Ausone 1998 adopte un profil plus typique des vins de la rive droite qui sont plus ample et gras en bouche. L'équilibre affiché par ce vin est manifeste: à la fois moyennement corsé, gourmand et velouté (pour un Ausone), ce millésime ne démontre néanmoins aucune lourdeur car le niveau d'acidité sous-jacent participe à maintenir une belle fraicheur. Il y a cependant un seul petit bémol qui empêche la note de monter plus haut: il y a une légère note d'astringence qui apparait en finale dans pratiquement chacune des bouteilles que j'ai goûtées (laquelle astringence pourrait passer inaperçue lorsque le vin est accompagné d'un repas). Ceci découle de la présence d'un faible pourcentage de tanins secs et anguleux, ce qui peut laisser supposer que les raisins de quelques rangs de vigne n'ont pas réussi à atteindre leur maturité phénolique. En conclusion, à mon goût, ce vin a maintenant atteint une parfaite maturité (et celle-ci se maintiendra pendant les 15-20 prochaines années), et, hormis la petite astringence qui peut apparaître en finale, celui-ci offre toutes les qualités que l'on souhaite retrouver dans un grand vin de St-Émilion de cette époque.

  Comment

• Cailles wrote: 92 points

  December 18, 2022 - 16x Right Bank Bordeaux 1998: Almost 25 years later, it’s a great time to check in on the wines of the much lauded right bank vintage. All wines tasted single blind. A few observations: A) most wines showed quite open with a melted tannin structure, but still good tension across the board. B) The highlight was rather on the structural side (elegance and finesse in most wines), than on the aromatic depth side, which was limited, also due to… C) …the fact that there is limited tertiary expression yet. Most wines will need at least another 5 to rather 10 years to reach their peak. D) An average rating of 91.9pts in my book and 92.0pts for the group shows that despite a few highlights, the reception was mixed overall. E) Best wines today were Angelus (group average 94.9pts), Valandraud (94.4) and Cheval Blanc (94.0). I would put L’Evangile (rated 95pts) in the top category too but the group (average 92.6) was less enthusiastic.
  
  TN: Shy, greenish, even slightly corky nose at frist. Fortunately, with time these faulty notes disappeared and some dark fruit and coffee notes came forward. Right from the start the palate shows beautiful, fine red fruit, some red berries and then more and more coffee notes. Medium+ length. Impeccable structural frame. This showed promising although not overly deep and open. Maybe the long decant took away a bit of the expression, maybe the wine is still in a dormant phase.
  
  Decanting: Decanted for probably 6+ hours. Not sure if it was too long. I would go for max 2 hours.
  
  Group score: 93.9
  Group rank: 4th out of 16 reds

  Comment

• alamoave Likes this wine: 93 points

  December 8, 2022 - Decanted for 5 hours. Not enough. Tightly wound, but potential is clearly there. Wait on this one - I will put my remaining bottles on a 2-year rotation.

  Comment

• La Sprezzatura wrote: 92 points

  November 26, 2022 - 1998 Horizontal Bordeaux Right Bank Tasting (private) (Essen'z): All wines were tasted single blind and were decanted before tasting. 14 right bank bordeaux and 2 pirates. All wines were from the vintage 1998.
  
  General observations:
  Unfortunately, the tasting was below my expectations. The was no real "wow-effect" at any wines as I had with the left bank tasting 1982-1990 we had a year ago. So I had to find out, that, me, personally, I like more the aged left than the aged right banks. In the end, Ridge Montebello (pirate) ended even up being the wine of the night for me.
  
  _______
  
  TN:
  no notes

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Pro Reviews 12

Wine Definition

• Vintage 1998
• Type Red
• Producer Château Ausone
• Varietal Red Bordeaux Blend
• Designation n/a
• Vineyard n/a
• Country France
• Region Bordeaux
• SubRegion Libournais
• Appellation St. Émilion Grand Cru
• UPC Code 000002263168

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 22 (1%)
• In Cellars 1,381 (72%)
• Consumed 511 (27%)

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