2009 Château Ausone, St Emilion, Bordeaux

Incredible nose of currants and blueberries. Flowers too. Licorice. Such purity on the nose of Cabernet Franc. Full body, incredible structure, with fabulous tannins and a long, long finish. Built out of stone. The perfect Ausone.

Try after 2022

Tasted blind. 

Medium-concentration crimson. Sweet and almost coconut oaky nose. Thick, sweet and attention-grabbing but it does lack a bit of freshness. More to be marvelled at than to refresh. Lots of alcohol.

Drink 2017 - 2035

A 55/45 blend of Cabernet Franc and Merlot; cropped at 27 hectoliters per hectare; pH 3.56; 14.5% alcohol; 100% new oak.

Bright, saturated ruby-red. Very cabernet franc- and limestone-driven on the nose, offering enticing scents of red berries, cocoa, spicy minerals and violet. Impressively intense flavours of red and dark berries are complicated by bitter chocolate and minerals. This serious, weighty blockbuster is given great verve by strong, mouthwatering acidity. Substantial but even tannins saturate the palate, and a captivating note of cedar emerges with air. This wine is going to require a lot of time in the cellar but is starting its life with outstanding balance and class.

Bright ruby-red. Serious medicinal reserve to the aromas of iron, violet and coconutty oak. A real mineral bath on the palate, with outstanding concentration and energy to the flavours of dark berries and flowers. Hiding more than it's showing today and is destined for three or four decades of improvement in bottle. The remarkably palate-staining finish features an outstanding tannic spine and grip and a great lift for such a big wine. A knockout, and likely to be a Bordeaux monument.

The 2009 Ausone has a sumptuous bouquet with pure blackberry, raspberry, rose petal and orange blossom aromas. The wine is beautifully defined blossoms with aeration. It becomes very liquorice and menthol-like after 10 minutes’ aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin. It is not a powerful 2009 and it feels sleek and quite tensile. Pure red fruit linger in the mouth with a very deft, almost understated finish. So elegant, so Ausone.

Drink 2021 - 2050

A masterpiece in the making, proprietor Alain Vauthiers 2009 Ausone boasts a dense purple color along with notes of powdered chalk, crushed rocks and wild blue, red and black fruits. Extravagantly rich with great minerality, precision and freshness as well as a voluptuous texture unusual for a baby Ausone), this is an extraordinary wine. Sadly, there are fewer than 1,200 cases ... for the world.

Drink 2020 - 2060+