Bordeaux 2011 Primeurs: Top of The World
Both Ausone and Cheval Blanc have seen some significant developments in the last couple of years, although they are changes on a very different scale. At Ausone, the Vauthiers continue their very modest restoration and improvement of the little château and chai. The tasting almost always takes place in the latter (I do recall tasting in the château two or three years ago, but it was a one-off event), against a backdrop of the warm and honeyed wood and claret-red metalwork of the fermentation vats. The space has now been expanded, modestly so, and thus today it also accommodates a row or two of barrels. As for Cheval Blanc though……well, more on that later.
Ausone
The range of wines was limited to the six Vauthier cuvées this year, with Château de Fonbel, Château Simard, Château Haut-Simard and Château Moulin St-Georges presented alongside Ausone and the deuxième vin, Chapelle d’Ausone. There has in the past, on occasion, been a much broader range of wines made by Philippe Baillarguet, the maître de chai at Ausone, to taste as well. While it is always interesting to taste more widely it did tend to make the tasting somewhat more hectic than I would prefer, so I was content to focus my attentions on the five wines listed above this year.
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