FLOAT 100 · Wine · No. 92
Chateau Ausone 2010
On a limestone hillside said to have belonged to a Roman poet, one family made about 1,500 cases of 2010, a wine Robert Parker called unquestionably extraordinary and potentially perfect.
- Maker
- Chateau Ausone
- By price in wine
- 28 of 100
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Create a free account- Producer
- Chateau Ausone, St-Emilion, Bordeaux
- Classification
- Premier Grand Cru Classe A of St-Emilion at the time of the 2010 vintage
- Vineyard
- About 7 hectares (Wikipedia gives 7.3 ha, or 18 acres) on steep limestone and clay slopes
- 2010 blend
- 55% Cabernet Franc, 45% Merlot
- Production
- About 1,500 cases of the 2010, per Robert Parker
- Yield
- 26 hectoliters per hectare, per Jancis Robinson
- Harvest
- Picked between October 5 and 15, 2010
- Aging
- About 20 months in 100% new French oak
- Owners
- The Vauthier family; Alain Vauthier with his daughter Pauline
A poet's name on a hill
Chateau Ausone takes its name from Decimius Magnus Ausonius, a poet and statesman born in Burdigala, the Roman city that became Bordeaux, around 310 AD. He taught rhetoric for 30 years, tutored the future Emperor Gratian, was made consul in 379, and retired to his estates near Bordeaux, where he wrote poetry about wine and the river Moselle. His writings are cited by historians as early evidence of large-scale winegrowing around Bordeaux.
Whether the estate really stands on Ausonius's land cannot be proved. What is known is that the lower part of the property holds the remains of a Roman villa, with mosaics naming it the Villa du Palat. The chateau sits just outside the village of St-Emilion, reached either by a short climb up a steep hill or by a twisting lane too narrow for two cars to pass.
The vineyard covers about 7 hectares in a natural amphitheater facing mostly southeast, on slopes with grades of 15 to 20 percent and a plateau that rises to 85 meters. The soil is clay and limestone over the bedrock limestone of the area, which tasters credit for the wine's mineral character. Some Cabernet Franc vines are more than 100 years old; the oldest were planted in 1906, beside the cellars cut into the rock.
One family, one long feud
Ausone has been owned by very few families. In the 20th century it passed to Edouard Dubois, who also added the neighboring Chateau Belair in 1916. After his death, his widow Helyette Dubois-Challon and his children, who married into the Vauthier family, shared control. The estate was run for years by the manager Pascal Delbeck, appointed in 1976, with Alain Vauthier working alongside him.
In the mid-1990s, after a long and bitter court battle between the two halves of the family, the Vauthiers bought out the Dubois-Challon shares and Alain Vauthier took charge. A takeover bid by the French billionaire Francois Pinault was rumored in 1997. Vauthier cut yields, introduced strict selection, launched the second wine La Chapelle d'Ausone in 1995, and began moving the malolactic fermentation into new oak barrels the same year.
In 2002 he brought in the consultant Michel Rolland to help with blending, a contract the estate let lapse in 2013. Since then the blend has been made in-house by Alain Vauthier, his daughter Pauline, and the longtime cellar master Philippe Baillarguet. Under Delbeck, the estate often made around 2,500 cases a year; under Vauthier it makes perhaps 1,500 in a great year, and less in a hard one.
2010: a second great year in a row
Bordeaux had just made a celebrated 2009, and few expected another vintage of the century. The 2010 season began badly: cool weather and rain in early June made the Merlot flower unevenly, and June had 102 hours of sunshine against 293 the year before. Then came a dry summer and a sunny August, September and October with cool nights, letting the grapes ripen slowly. Sugar, alcohol and tannins all ran high, but so did acidity, which gave the best wines unusual balance.
At Ausone the grapes were picked between October 5 and 15. Only about two-thirds of the crop went into the grand vin; the rest became La Chapelle d'Ausone. The 2010 is 55% Cabernet Franc and 45% Merlot, aged for about 20 months in new oak, and Jancis Robinson recorded a yield of 26 hectoliters per hectare, low even by the estate's standards.
Critics placed it among the summits of the vintage. Robert Parker scored it 98 out of 100 in 2011, wrote that there were 1,500 cases of what he called an unquestionably extraordinary wine, and raised it to 98-plus in 2013, suggesting it might prove perfect. James Suckling and Tim Atkin each gave it 98, James Lawther 19.5 out of 20, and Jane Anson 99 when she retasted it in 2024. A 2020 Wine Advocate retasting by Lisa Perrotti-Brown came in lower, at 96, describing leather, iron ore and dried herbs, a sign of how slowly the wine is evolving.
How to know it
Ausone's style is unlike most Bordeaux: tasters single out a crushed-rock minerality from the limestone, pure fruit and firm but ripe tannins. Young bottles of the 2010 were described as backward and introverted, with notes of crushed chalk, incense, blueberries and Asian spice. The wine is built for decades; one critic suggested drinking it between 2022 and 2060.
The bottle of the period carries St-Emilion Grand Cru and the Premier Grand Cru Classe status on the label. That status no longer appears: in 2021 Ausone announced it would not take part in the next St-Emilion classification, as did Cheval Blanc, and the estate stopped using the rank on its labels with the 2022 vintage. A 2010 is therefore among the bottles that still carry the old top-tier designation.
Production is tiny next to the great Medoc estates. With roughly 1,500 cases of the 2010, Ausone made a fraction of what a first growth of the left bank makes in a year, and the second wine, made from the declassified lots, is a separate bottling with its own label.
On the market
The 2010 sells by the single bottle through fine-wine merchants. In October 2026 a U.S. merchant listed one 750ml bottle at $2,300.00. Older vintages of Ausone are seldom seen because so little is made, and bottles from 1965 to 1994 are widely considered disappointing next to those made since Vauthier took over.
The estate has kept expanding in St-Emilion while staying small at its core. The Vauthier family also owns Chateau Moulin St. Georges, Fonbel, Simard and Haut Simard, and in 2014 bought the neighboring Chateau La Clotte. A multi-year restoration of the chateau and its tiny old chapel was finished in 2017.
The numbers
- Vineyard
- About 7 ha (Wikipedia: 7.3 ha)
- 2010 production
- About 1,500 cases
- 2010 blend
- 55% Cabernet Franc, 45% Merlot
- Robert Parker / Wine Advocate
- 98 (2011), 98+ (2013)
- James Suckling
- 98
- Jane Anson
- 99 (2024)
- Jancis Robinson
- 18.5/20
Timeline
Ausonius, the poet whose name the estate bears, serves as Roman consul.
Edouard Dubois adds the neighboring Chateau Belair to the family holdings.
The first official St-Emilion classification ranks Ausone in the top tier, Premier Grand Cru Classe A.
Pascal Delbeck is appointed to run the estate, with Alain Vauthier working alongside him.
The second wine, La Chapelle d'Ausone, debuts and malolactic fermentation moves into new barrels.
Michel Rolland is appointed consultant oenologist.
The 2010 crop is picked between October 5 and 15.
Robert Parker scores the 2010 Ausone 98 and counts 1,500 cases.
Parker raises the 2010 to 98-plus after tasting it again.
Ausone ends its contract with Michel Rolland; blending moves in-house.
The Vauthier family buys the neighboring Chateau La Clotte.
Restoration of the chateau and its old chapel is completed.
Ausone announces it will no longer take part in the St-Emilion classification.
Jane Anson retastes the 2010 and scores it 99.
A U.S. merchant lists a single bottle of the 2010 at $2,300.00.
The world in 2010
The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest man-made structure to date, officially opens.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake devastates Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Apple's first iPad goes on sale.
Ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano begins grounding flights across Europe.
The Deepwater Horizon rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers.
Spain wins the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
Instagram becomes publicly available.
Daily price data
FLOAT reprices this wine every day from completed sales. Last updated November 12, 2026.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 3, 2026 | $2,300 | Asking price, not a saleOne 750ml bottle listed by a U.S. merchant. |
This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.
By reference price, Chateau Ausone 2010 is number 28 of 100 in the wine entries of the FLOAT 100. 12 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (92 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- The estate's namesake, Ausonius, tutored a Roman emperor and was made consul in 379.
- Mosaics from a Roman villa have been found on the lower part of the property.
- Some of Ausone's Cabernet Franc vines date from 1906.
- In 2010, June in Bordeaux had 102 hours of sunshine against 293 in 2009, yet the vintage still turned out great.
- Only about two-thirds of the 2010 crop was judged good enough to be bottled as Ausone.
- Ausone walked away from the St-Emilion classification in 2021, so the 2010 still carries a rank the estate no longer uses.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 3, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026