Château Ausone

Château Ausone is St-Émilion at its most rarefied: barely seven hectares of vines on the limestone slopes directly beneath the medieval town, on a site named for the Roman poet Ausonius, who is said to have kept a villa here. The Vauthier family, owners across generations, farm an unusual encépagement in which Cabernet Franc shares the lead with Merlot, giving a wine of extraordinary perfume, minerality and longevity — produced in quantities so small that it ranks among the scarcest of all great Bordeaux. Chapelle d'Ausone, the second wine, is itself a rarity.