Château Ausone

Château Ausone is a Bordeaux wine from Saint-Émilion appellation, one of only four wines, along with Château Angélus, Château Cheval Blanc and Château Pavie to be ranked Premier Grand Cru Classé (A) in the Classification of Saint-Émilion wine. The winery is located on the Right Bank of France’s Bordeaux wine region in the Gironde department, close to the town of Saint-Émilion.

The winery also produces a second wine named Chapelle d'Ausone.

History

Placed on the western edge of 11th century village Saint-Émilion, with elevated vineyards facing south on steep terraces in ideal situation, Ausone takes its name from Decimius Magnus Ausonius (310–395 AD), a statesman and poet from Bordeaux who owned about 100 acres (0.40 km²) of vineyard. It is believed by some that Château Ausone is on the foundations of his villa.

The modern estate can be dated to the 18th century, when it was owned by Jean Cantenat. Later, under the ownership of the Lafargue family, the vineyard was inherited by Edouard Dubois who steered the château through the difficulties of the late 19th century, and in 1916 added the adjacent Château Belair to their estate. The chateaux were run separately, although both age their wine in the Ausone cellars, caves in the limestone cliffs beneath the town of Saint-Émilion. After Dubois died in 1921, his widow Heylette Dubois-Challon and Dubois' children of a previous marriage who married into the Vauthier family took control over the estate.