This has a beautifully nuanced yet deep flavour, showing the tight pared-back salinity and juice of limestone alongside fleshy blackberry fruits. There are firm but flexible tannins, it has grip and tension and frankly all the things that you want from a Chapelle, giving a generous hint of what you can expect from Ausone itself. First year of official conversion to organic farming. 3.66pH. 100% new oak.

Unusual blend in Chapelle d'Ausone this year because it is dominant Cabernet Franc, making it one to look out for in future verticals. Starts off with real austerity, opening to waves of floral peony and violet, before it softens and widens into creamy vanilla-spiced raspberry and blackberry fruits. Such a beautiful wine, one to get hold of. Exceptional grip, nuanced with pared-back salinity. 100% new oak, Pauline Vauthier winemaker with cellar master Philippe Baillarguet. First year of official conversion to organic farming.

The second wine of Château Ausone, the 2020 Chapelle D'Ausone is based on 60% Cabernet Franc, 35% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon aged 20 months in barrel. It's saturated purple hue is followed by a rockstar nose of ripe darker cherries, blackcurrants, smoked tobacco, graphite, and toasted spices, with high class oak nicely integrated. Round, supple, and incredibly sexy, it has silky tannins and is unquestionably a brilliant wine with more than a touch of Ausone character. It's going to keep for two decades, offering tons of pleasure for the majority of its life.

Flowers, leafy herbs, mint, espresso, cherries, plums and a hint of blueberries come alive in the aromatic profile. But, the best is yet to come with its array of minerals, rocks, stones and salt-tinted red and black fruits that cross your palate with length, lift, precision, purity and soft, smooth-textures. It is difficult to believe that this is their second wine. Drink from 2025-2040. Read more at:https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/wine-tasting-note/?vintage=2020&wine=Chapelle%20d%27Ausone

The 2020 Chapelle d'Ausone has ample toasty oak on the nose, which continues to shade the black fruit underneath. Yet it coheres in the glass, finally allowing the terroir to shine through. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins and a fine bead of acidity. It's very harmonious, with a precise and persistent finish. There's wonderful mineralité and tension here—superb. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. -- Neal Martin

The 2020 Chapelle d'Ausone contains more Cabernet Franc (60%) than the grand vin this year and 5% of Cabernet Sauvignon too. Revealing aromas of cherries, red berries, incense and cloves, it's medium to full-bodied, perfumed and precise, with a satiny attack and a saline finish. - William Kelley