This is really intense and powerful with fantastic energy and character. So much dark berry and walnut character. Full and chewy. Yet polished. Second wine of Ausone.

Starting with the second wine of Ausone, the 2015 Chapelle d'Ausone checks in as roughly 45% each of Cabernet Franc and Merlot, with the balance Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s a screaming good wine offering notes of black raspberries, licorice, smoked earth, and exotic flowers. With fabulous opulence, full-bodied richness, ripe tannin, and a stacked mid-palate, it’s a serious wine that will benefit from short-term cellaring and keep for two decades.

A great value way to enjoy the precision and elegance of Ausone at a considerably lower price, this is a serious wine in its own right. Dense core of ripe, strawberry and plum characters. Smoky, mineral and pure. Intense, sweet hit of fruit, round, soft, supple but energetic palate. Considerable depth, complexity and finesse. (45% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Franc, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon.)

A second label produced mainly from the younger vines at Château Ausone, the 2015 Chapelle d'Ausone is a blend of 45% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon aged in French oak barrels, 85% new, for 20 months. Deep garnet-purple in color, it appears broody to begin, offering glimpses at black berry preserves and crème de cassis notions with nuances of cigar box, Chinese five spice, menthol and chocolate box. Full-bodied, firm and grainy with a taut structure and packed with youthful, muscular fruit, it finishes on a compelling mineral note.

9,000 bottles this year (more than the usual 7,000-8,000), using 10% Cabernet Sauvignon along with the Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Fragrant, elegant nose. Lovely texture. Little sweetness then really fine, matted tannins. Seductive but structured as well.

The 2015 Chapelle d'Ausone is a blend of 45% Cabernet Franc, 45% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon picked between 29 September and 15 October, matured in 85% new oak for 20 months. Pauline Vauthier commented that it was relatively easy to parse the lots between grand vin and deuxième vin this year. The nose is a little broody at first, a touch of mintiness coming through the black cherry and cassis scents. The palate is medium-bodied with a touch of dark chocolate on the entry, plenty of cassis fruit, fine tannin with a gentle grip towards the finish that feels a little more structured than recent vintages. This will probably offer 8-10 years' pleasure, possibly more.

Black! Good freshness on the nose. Very sweet start - fermented blackcurrant pastilles - and finishes a little dry at the moment.
Drink 2023-2032