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You probably remember I am a great fan of 1998 Bordeaux, but only Right Bank and Pessac-Leognan. Well, here is another beauty and it shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg! It’s drinking beautifully now with very fine aromas of chocolate and beer. It’s full body, with ultra-fine tannins and a juicy, succulent finish. Drink now. Decanting an hour would help.James Suckling | 92 JSAn opaque blue/purple color is accompanied by a sensational bouquet of melted fudge, plums, Asian spices, blackberries, and prunes. Smoky, barbeque-like spices also emerge with airing. Full-bodied, super-extracted, rich, pure, and mouth-saturating, this large-scaled effort can be consumed with pleasure, but it will age for two decades. Anticipated maturity: 2002-2020.Robert Parker | 92 RPIntense aromas of black olive and blackberry, with a hint of grilled meat. Full-bodied, with chewy tannins and a long, rich finish. Very powerful and rich. Just starting to come around.--’88/’98 Bordeaux blind retrospective (2008). Drink now.Wine Spectator | 92 WS

Delivers blueberry and blackberry aromas, with hints of dark chocolate. Full-bodied, featuring chewy, rich tannins and a beautiful velvety texture. This is superb. Really structured.Wine Spectator | 95-98 WSThis is always made with the young vines. Full-bodied, with super velvety tannins and gorgeous mineral, dark berry and spice character. Lovely velvet texture. Amazing quality for a second wine. Best in 2017.James Suckling | 96 JSRich and smooth, with some juicy character, the fruit with black cherries, licorice and sweet jam. At the level of many top wines, this is the second wine Château Ausone.Wine Enthusiast | 92-94 WERepresenting nearly half of the production, this estate’s second wine, the 2009 La Chapelle d’Ausone, is an extraordinary effort. Better than many of the grand vins made during the 1970s and 1980s, it is an equal part blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc revealing an inky/blue/purple color along with notes of incense, blueberries, raspberries and crushed rocks (which give the wine a distinctive minerality). Medium to full-bodied as well as exceptionally pure, broad and opulent, it should drink well for two decades or more.Robert Parker | 92 RPBright ruby. Cool, complex aromas of cassis, licorice, Thai basil, fresh herbs, gingerbread and coconutty oak. Bright and firm, even a bit youthfully ungiving, but juicy and penetrating, with an exhilarating note of Asian spices. Very tight and firm on the long, vibrant back end. A second wine with a very strong personality of its own.Vinous Media | 91 VM(La Chapelle d’Ausone) The second wine of Ausone is a very classy and thoroughly modern wine that will drink well with five or six years of bottle age. The nose is deep and complex, as it offers up scents of black cherries, cocoa, vinesmoke, fresh herbs, espresso, soil and new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and tangy, with a really impressive base of soil for a more modern styled wine. The finish is long and shows just a bit of firm tannin that will want resolution. A extremely impressive second wine. (Drink between 2016-2035)John Gilman | 87-90 JG

Soft red fruit and fresh coffee. Some chocolate and spice. Beautifully textured fruit on the palate with a bright acidity and velvety tannins. Very long and smooth finish. So enjoyable already. Best ever from here? Better in 2015.James Suckling | 92 JSThis has a really nice graphite frame that drives the core of fig, plum and boysenberry fruit authoritatively, with dense ganache, espresso and tar on the finish. The grip is keeping things tight now, but this should meld in the cellar, as the underlying feel is energetic. Best from 2015 through 2025. — JMWine Spectator | 92 WSThis is one of the better, more supple Fombrauge wines to date, with a better integration of toasty oak than I have usually seen at this stage of this wine’s development. The grapes were picked late, with the harvest finishing on October 22, and that has given the wine wonderful ripeness and plenty of chocolaty espresso notes intermixed with incense, black cherries and black currants. The oak is subtle, and the wine full-bodied, attractive, deep, round and generous. Drink it over the next 10-12 years.This significant estate in St.-Emilion, with one of the biggest, if not the largest, vineyards in Bordeaux, has produced a wine composed of 80% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc and 8% Cabernet Sauvignon.Robert Parker | 91 RP