Château Ausone 2017

The deep garnet-purple colored 2017 Ausone is a blend of 55% Cabernet Franc and 45% Merlot. It sashays out of the glass with gregarious scents of baked red and black plums, wild blueberries and boysenberries plus touches of violets, espresso, licorice and melted chocolate with wafts of iron ore and tilled soil. Medium-bodied, the palate is an exercise in poise, featuring beautifully ripe, silken tannins and bold freshness to support the fragrant multi-layers, finishing very long and very minerally.

This is totally stunning, demonstrating depth, texture, salinity and flesh. It manages to be both austere and generous at the same time, pushing and pulling. It's a totally different conversation to many others wines this year. There was no frost effect here, although some of their other estates were fully wiped out. Harvested 23-29 September from 7.25ha planted at densities ranging between 6,500-12,600 vines per hectare. 100% new oak.

Rich and succulent, with a wide spectrum of black and blue berry aromas. Lovely balance of fine tannins, restrained richness, lively acidity and just a hint of oak. Long finish that has a delicate touch. Drink or hold. Château Quintus vertical tasting. SP.

55% Cabernet Franc, 45% Merlot, 20 months in new French oak. Vines all more than 50 years old, some much older. Darkest purple crimson. Smoky, lightly charry aroma from the oak and an inviting mineral/dusty quality, and fresh, pure cassis fruit shines out. Succulent, the oak swallowed by the fruit on the palate. Concentrated and so full of fine, pure dark fruit. The tannins are compact but also somehow sweet, giving a firm but very smooth framework for the fruit. Long and fresh. Very good, and impressive harmony already. (JH)

The 2017 Ausone is incredibly precise and sculpted, yet also tightly wound in its youth—hardly an issue for readers who own it and will cellar it. Wild flowers, mint, blood orange and crushed rock are among the nuances that unfurl in the glass, but the 2017 is in no mood to show all its cards yet. Vertical, rich and explosive, with tremendous inner energy, the 2017 is a truly regal wine, but it also needs several years to be at its very best. Here, too, the Franc (55% of the blend) really shines. This is a stellar showing from the Vauthier family.

Dark ruby with purple accents on the rim, the wine is luxuriant, full-bodied, lusciously textured, sensuous, and with all that going on, it is also quite refined. The mineral-driven, sweet dark red fruits offer an impressive sense of purity. There is persistence and vibrancy on the palate. Made from a blend of 55% Cabernet Franc and 45% Merlot, the wine reached 14% ABV with a pH of 3.5 and represents 80% of the crop. The harvest took place from September 23 to September 29.

From a vintage compared to 2011 and 2014 by the estate, the 2017 Chateau Ausone is a classic blend of 60% Cabernet Franc and 40% Merlot that’s from the pure limestone hillsides just outside the village of Saint-Emilion. This full-bodied, elegant, almost Burgundian beauty offers a terrific seamlessness as well as lots of ripe cassis and black cherry fruits, notes of truffle-laced earth, tobacco, and crushed stone, ultra-fine tannins, and a great finish. This is classic Ausone, with its complexity and elegance paired with plenty of richness and depth. It needs 5-7 years of bottle age and will evolve for 2-3 decades.

55% Cabernet Franc, 45% Merlot, 35 hl/ha. Production of 23,000 bottles. Dense purple-garnet with a violet rim. On the nose already delicate and refined, with rather moderate intensity. Juicy morello cherries, subtle lilac notes and aromatic blackberries rise up. A second layer reveals fine, deep spice. On the palate very elegant, superbly balanced, built on finesse and precision, currently reminiscent of a dancing Gevrey-Chambertin. Concentrated, long-lasting finish with dark minerality and intense blueberry contours. A calming Ausone of great elegance.

Kunz barrel sample 18: (55% Cabernet Franc, 45% Merlot, 35 hl/ha, production 23,000 bottles) Finely concentrated, complex, fresh bouquet: blueberries, strawberries, pralines, delicate licorice, subtle black tea, currants. Densely woven, multi-layered, elegant palate with powerful yet refined fruit, diverse, fresh aromatics, concentrated, subtly muscular structure, plenty of fine tannins, very long, fragrant, fresh finish with delicate lingering flavors.

(55% Cabernet Franc, 45% Merlot, 35 hl/ha, production 23,000 bottles) Finely concentrated, complex, fresh bouquet, blueberries, strawberries, pralines, delicate licorice, delicate black tea, currants. Densely interwoven, multi-layered, elegant palate with powerful, fine fruit, diverse, fresh aromatics, a concentrated, subtly muscular structure, plenty of fine tannins, very long, fragrant, fresh finish with fine afterflavors. 19/20 2025 - 2048

Smooth texture, turmeric and clove exoticism, fleshy cassis and raspberry fruit studded with white pepper. A lovely sense of lyricism, this has an ethereal, moreish quality that makes it stand out in the vintage. These are the kind of years where Ausone proves just how far it can stand out from its siblings in the appellation, but this is starting to close down - I have had more expressive bottles of this vintage, and I recommend leaving it for a good three or four years from now. 80% new oak, harvested 23-29 September.

A subtle delicacy lends this nascent vintage, upon opening, heady, racy, fruity aromas reminiscent of parchment. The palate shifts with subtle grace toward an elegantly drawn structure. Let us salute its quietly extracted core.

A suave, deep, taut wine with great length, mineral character, a hint of graphite, round and silky tannins — a great success.

Dense garnet red. Such finesse and complexity on the nose, where every element comes together harmoniously. Notes of licorice wood and violets. Lovely freshness of fruit thanks to red berries. On the palate, the wine combines breadth, pedigree, charm, and density. Remarkable precision and fine-grained tannins. Ausone is silky, charming, powerful, and built to age, but as I like to say, it will be enjoyed before then. That’s fine too! A great success.

Dark, intense color. Superb, highly aromatic and refined nose, with very ripe yet fresh fruit and a hint of vanilla. Precise from the very first sip, with a generous body; the wine becomes unctuous and rich mid-palate while preserving a strikingly vibrant fruit expression. The mouthfeel is regal. The wine unfolds with complexity and depth, featuring exceptionally fine-grained tannins. A lot of pedigree. Bravo! It joins Petrus at the top of the 2017s.

Deep dark ruby with purple reflections and a fine bright rim. The nose is of smoky-spicy nuances with blackberries, sweet black cherry and just a hint of orange zest. Black fruit on the medium-bodied palate, with gentle, fine ripe tannins and a mineral, taut, saline finish making for a delicious wine that lingers long in the mouth.

With its perfumed Cabernet Franc and supple Merlot, this wine is packed with fruit and tannins. It is rich although the fruitiness is most apparent, a juicy wine that hides its structure in the cushioning fruits. Drink from 2024.