At a dinner some years ago I was seated beside the actor Matt Dillon, who is fond of great wines. As he sipped the 1982 Ausone, he turned to me with a rapt expression and murmured, “Great Ausone, man!”
But Ausone has not always been great. The wine went through a bad patch in the 1980s and early 1990s. At another party, my host poured us the 1990 Ausone. It is not easy to tell a generous host that a treasured wine is mediocre, but it was apparent to all of us.
