En Primeur Club: Two Lunches at Château Ausone

Château Ausone, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru, gives these two En Primeur Club lunches their centre of gravity: 24 April 2024 and 16 April 2025, each preserved on a photographed menu cover. The club albums make the visit tactile without overworking it: château exterior, limestone entrances, vineyard rows, cellar and barrels, dining room, printed menus and plated food.

Taken together, the two lunches show how much character can sit inside one estate tradition. The Saint-Émilion setting remains constant, while the cooking and the wines move. One lunch can become a polished memory. Two photographed menu covers, one spring apart, become a sharper collector’s document: the same Ausone frame, two culinary directions, and two sets of wines printed on the menus.

The photographed menus are the anchor here. The wine references below follow those menus, while the photographs carry the atmosphere. The comparison stays close to what the club recorded at each table.

A Saint-Émilion Table in Stone

Château Ausone appears on its official site as a Saint-Émilion Grand Cru estate. The estate’s own pages describe a seven-hectare hill, limestone and argilo-calcaire terraces, and a setting shaped by stone as much as by vines. That sense of terroir gives both lunches a steady backdrop, even as the menus and wine lists change.

The club’s notes identify Edouard Vauthier of the Vauthier family as the host connection for these lunches. That detail belongs to the club’s first-hand account, with the menus and photographs, rather than to the estate background pages.

The stone is part of the experience, not decoration. On the official page titled “Theatre of Stone”, Château Ausone describes Roc Blancan stone galleries and cellars. The club albums visually echo that language through limestone entrances, cellar spaces and barrels, bringing the estate’s physical character into the lunches: entrances, cellar spaces, barrels, then the table.

The estate also places itself within the Ausonius legacy. Its official “Poet’s Legacy” page frames that cultural memory, while “Heureuse Colline” describes the hill and terraces. The Vauthier family context appears in Vignobles Vauthier, which presents family continuity. That is the backdrop; the menus and photographs give these lunches their own story.

Against that backdrop, the photographs of the two lunches find a clear rhythm. The albums move from the château exterior to vineyard rows, stone entrances, cellar and barrel views, then the dining room, printed menus and plated dishes. They do not need embellishment. The comparison works because the setting is recognizably consistent while the printed menus are not.

24 April 2024: Asparagus, Canette and Ausone 1986

The 2024 photographed menu cover gives the date as 24 April 2024. Inside, the photographed menu lists three wines: Château Moulin Saint Georges 2005, Château Ausone 1998 and Château Ausone 1986. Those names and vintages are the wine record for this lunch. No tasting note is needed to make the menu valuable; the precision of the printed list does the work.

The food on the 2024 menu begins with “Asperges crues et cuites marinées, œuf mollet et parmesan,” raw and cooked marinated asparagus with soft-boiled egg and parmesan. The main dish is “Filet de canette rôti, variation autour de la carotte et sauce vierge,” roasted duckling fillet with a variation around carrot and sauce vierge. The cheese course is printed simply as “Brie et St Nectaire.” Dessert is “Tarte fine aux pommes, crème crue et amandes,” a thin apple tart with raw cream and almonds.

As a menu, the 2024 lunch has a clear spring register. Asparagus leads the table, followed by duckling and carrot, two named cheeses, then apple tart. The dishes do not tell us how the wines tasted, or how any glass was discussed. They tell us how the printed lunch was framed: seasonal vegetables, poultry, cheese and fruit pastry beside a wine list that includes two Château Ausone vintages and Château Moulin Saint Georges 2005.

For a collector, the Ausone span catches the eye. Château Ausone 1998 and Château Ausone 1986 appear together on the same photographed menu, with Château Moulin Saint Georges 2005 also listed. The menu gives the lunch a broader estate-family and Saint-Émilion context without asking you to assume order or commentary. It is enough that those three wines are printed on the 2024 menu.

The visual record around the menu supports the sense of place without adding new claims. Images of the château exterior, limestone entrances, vineyard rows, cellar and barrels, dining room, printed menu and plated food place the lunch inside Ausone’s physical setting. The menu supplies the wines and dishes; the album supplies the first-hand visual surroundings.

16 April 2025: Beef Cheek Terrine, Maigre and Ausone 2015

The 2025 photographed menu cover gives the date as 16 April 2025. The photographed menu lists Château Simard 2018, Château Ausone 1989 and Château Ausone 2015. As with the 2024 lunch, those references come from the menu, not from an inferred view of bottles, and they are the reliable wine record for this comparison.

The 2025 food list takes a different route. It begins with “3 Amuse-Papilles,” three small palate-opening bites. The next dish is “La Terrine de Joue de Boeuf, petits légumes croquants, pickles et sauce gribiche,” beef cheek terrine with crunchy small vegetables, pickles and sauce gribiche. The main dish is “Le Maigre de ligne rôti, risotto au vieux parmesan et champignons, petits légumes et sauce vierge,” line-caught maigre, roasted, with aged-parmesan risotto, mushrooms, small vegetables and sauce vierge. Dessert is “La Brioche perdue et Chocolat 70%,” brioche perdue with 70% chocolate.

On paper, this menu brings more texture and variation than the 2024 list. It moves from small bites to beef cheek terrine, then to line-caught fish with risotto, mushrooms and vegetables, and finally to chocolate. The return of sauce vierge is worth noting because it appears in both years, though in different culinary settings. In 2024 it is printed with roasted duckling and carrot; in 2025 it is printed with roasted maigre, risotto, mushrooms and vegetables.

The wine list changes enough to make the second lunch its own document. Château Simard 2018 appears where Château Moulin Saint Georges 2005 appeared on the previous year’s menu. The Ausone pair also changes: 1989 and 2015 in 2025 rather than 1998 and 1986 in 2024. That shift matters for members, even without tasting notes. The menu records which vintages were put on the page for that lunch.

The 2025 album keeps the same type of first-hand visual evidence: estate exterior, limestone entrances, vineyard rows, cellar and barrels, dining room, printed menus and plated food. The setting may feel familiar, but the printed menu has changed materially. For a club record, that is exactly why photographing the cover and interior matters.

What Changed Between the Two Lunches

The wine lists give the cleanest contrast. The 2024 photographed menu lists Château Moulin Saint Georges 2005, Château Ausone 1998 and Château Ausone 1986. The 2025 photographed menu lists Château Simard 2018, Château Ausone 1989 and Château Ausone 2015. Both menus are Ausone-centred in the simple sense that two Château Ausone vintages appear, but the surrounding reference and the Ausone years differ.

The food changed just as clearly. In 2024, the menu moves through asparagus with soft-boiled egg and parmesan, roasted duckling fillet with carrot and sauce vierge, Brie and St Nectaire, and thin apple tart with raw cream and almonds. In 2025, the printed list moves through three amuse-papilles, beef cheek terrine with crunchy vegetables, pickles and gribiche, roasted line-caught maigre with aged-parmesan risotto, mushrooms, vegetables and sauce vierge, and brioche perdue with 70% chocolate.

The comparison does not need a ranking. The 2024 menu reads as asparagus, poultry, cheese and apple. The 2025 menu reads as small bites, terrine, fish with risotto and mushrooms, and chocolate. Both are complete lunch documents, and they place different textures beside the listed wines.

What stayed constant is the estate frame. The same château setting in Saint-Émilion underpins both records, and the official estate background helps explain why that setting is so distinctive: hill, limestone, argilo-calcaire terraces, stone galleries and cellars, and the Ausonius and Vauthier family narratives presented by official sources. The menu evidence remains separate, but the physical setting gives the comparison continuity.

For collectors and wine travellers, the practical lesson is simple: a menu is not a souvenir afterthought. It is the factual anchor. Memory may merge two spring lunches into one general impression of Saint-Émilion hospitality, but the photographed menu covers prevent that. They keep 24 April 2024 attached to Moulin Saint Georges 2005, Ausone 1998, Ausone 1986, asparagus and canette. They keep 16 April 2025 attached to Simard 2018, Ausone 1989, Ausone 2015, beef cheek terrine, maigre and chocolate.

What En Primeur Club Members Should Take Away

These two lunches show why repeat access tells you more than a single visit. The first lunch establishes the setting and the table tradition; the second gives you variation. Same estate, same Saint-Émilion stone context, different photographed menu cover, different wines, different dishes. That is a stronger record than a broad memory of lunch at a celebrated château.

For 2024, the essential record is concise: the photographed cover gives 24 April 2024, and the menu lists Château Moulin Saint Georges 2005, Château Ausone 1998 and Château Ausone 1986, with asparagus, roasted duckling fillet, Brie and St Nectaire, and thin apple tart. For 2025, the photographed cover gives 16 April 2025, and the menu lists Château Simard 2018, Château Ausone 1989 and Château Ausone 2015, with three amuse-papilles, beef cheek terrine, roasted line-caught maigre and brioche perdue with 70% chocolate.

The estate background deepens the record, but it is not the same kind of evidence. Official Château Ausone pages support the Saint-Émilion Grand Cru identity, the seven-hectare hill, limestone and argilo-calcaire terraces, Roc Blancan stone galleries and cellars, and the Ausonius legacy. Official Vignobles Vauthier material supports the Vauthier family continuity. The lunch menus, meanwhile, support the dates, wines and dishes printed for the club records.

Members should also keep a discipline of attention. Photograph the cover. Photograph the printed wine list. Keep the dish names in the language of the menu, then translate carefully. Do not add tasting notes after the fact if they are not part of the record. Do not infer a serving sequence from a menu unless it is directly clear. A precise record will serve you better than an embellished one.

The difference between these two Château Ausone lunches is therefore culinary and archival. The 2024 and 2025 albums show how a private club experience can become a usable wine-travel document when the visual record is specific and the menu is preserved. For future Saint-Émilion planning, that kind of precision helps members compare, remember and choose well.

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