Château Ausone 2008

One of the truly great wines of the year, exceptionally true to its style: intense, complex aromas, dense and fresh tannins, with ample breed. We called it majestic en primeur, and it truly is, with fire, spice, and character.

Possibly the “wine of the vintage,” the 2008 boasts an inky/blue/purple color as well as a glorious perfume of spring flowers, blueberry and blackberry liqueur, camphor, truffles, and crushed rocks. With great fruit on the attack and mid-palate, a medium- to full-bodied, multidimensional mouthfeel and a skyscraper-like finish, this prodigious effort over-delivers, even for this phenomenal terroir. Give it 5–8 years of cellaring and drink it over the following 40–50 years.

This makes you sit up and pay attention, with a stunning array of loam, Turkish coffee, roasted cedar and licorice root flavors coursing along the bottom half, while sleek plum, blackberry and anise notes drive over the top. The mouthwatering finish is loaded with dark fruit, all harnessed by iron-clad grip. Best from 2014 through 2024. 1,300 cases made.

Okay, I am closing my eyes, I am feeling the wonderful lift and floating fruit effect, and I have to say this is a lovely Ausone. It performs some kind of vertical levitation trick, with a kick of salinity that comes from the limestone. It's juicy on the finish, kicking off its tannins like a silk sheet, emphasising the plush fruits that expand through the mid-palate with unquestionable purity and focus. This wine delivers - a contender for wine of the vintage.

This wine has a superb finish with loads of raspberry and cherry and super-fine tannins. It’s really silky in texture. It’s full and balanced, with a long finish. Fresh, very clean and precise. Leave it for six to seven years. Fabulous for the vintage.

2008 Ausone smells like you just stepped into a rock quarry in full production. This intense sense of minerality is lifted by scents of fresh, ripe blackberry, coffee, oak, spice and violets. Full-bodied and intense, this opulent, concentrated, deep, suave, polished wine is long, fresh, intense and pure. It really fills your mouth and palate, ending with a finish that lasts close to sixty seconds! 98 pts

Ruby/violet-colored, with a deep, intense nose of ripe fruits, underbrush, flowers, tapenade, and white truffles, the 2008 Château Ausone hits the palate with a deep, concentrated yet reserved, incredibly elegant style. Young and still unevolved, it has building structure, beautiful acidity, and a great finish. It's a gorgeous, gorgeous wine.

The 2008 Ausone is made from 55% Cabernet Franc and 45% Merlot. Dark, dense color. With liqueur-like sweetness and a powerful dark-berry aroma, the 2008 Ausone leaps from the glass. Fresh and crisp on the nose, it is more forward but a touch less deep and complex than other vintages. On the palate, it opens with a dense, intense attack and ultra-fine tannins. Its powerful dark-berry profile is highly nuanced, silky, and clear. With a firm, concentrated core, it seems slightly less broad than the 2009. The racy acidity gives it length with a fine, mineral finish—uncompromisingly dry and driven by limestone terroir. One of the surprising Ausones of the tasting.

55% Cabernet Franc, 45% Merlot. Sweet, compact bouquet with plenty of amarena notes and wild berries, richly underpinned by fine spices, plus fresh hints of candied orange peel and lemon balm; noble oak and caramel nuances, already showing much of its potential aromatic power on the nose. Harmonious palate, building considerable drive, with extremely concentrated blue-to-black berry fruit; a true essence that remains on the tongue after spitting and echoes for minutes. Belongs to the truly great Ausone vintages and strongly recalls the brilliant 1998. An immortal classic, almost monumental. (19/20). 12: Incredibly dark, dense core, still showing some violet reflections. More floral than fruity for the moment, a touch of blackberry, black plums and blackcurrant; it feels fresh and present, perhaps a bit cool in style but certainly not underripe, as it shows a very appealing depth that, with maturity, may yield black summer truffles. On the palate still discreetly firm, with plenty of nerve and backbone; as already with the barrel sample, this Ausone is not unlike its own 1998. On a very, very good path toward its otherworldly 1998.

Sweet, velvety, full and complex bouquet with red and blue berries, vanilla, red currant, raspberries, strawberries. Fruity, elegant, dense and multi-layered palate with very good fruit, plenty of fine tannins, very good sweet, spicy aromatics, and a silky structure. Very long, dense, elegant finish with superb afterflavors. 19/20 2015 - 2035

A surprising and explosive blend of elegance, power and complexity; long and fresh, with ultra-fine tannins and a finish still reserved yet bouncing back beautifully. A formidable personality.

Logo on the cork: No logo I’ve just encountered my best bottle of Ausone 2008. Tasted without decanting and retasted the next day from a largely opened bottle, this wine kept the same score. Dark, beautiful, intense color with slight evolution. An intense, fresh, fruity, ripe, subtle nose that reveals complexity with aeration. Delicate on entry, melting at mid-palate, meticulously creamy, the wine unfolds as particularly flavorful, juicy, delicate, and deep. A fine glycerol texture carries the entire final third of the palate. It’s absolutely delicious and impossible to spit. A whole world of delicacy.

An impressively vibrant wine, with a mid-palate of immense aromatic complexity and a breathtaking structure. You have here a truly, truly great wine, with an exceptional breadth of flavors. It comes close to perfection—faultless, pure.

Wonderfully perfumed wine that exudes class. It has weight and extraction, its tannins lending themselves to the ripe texture. The wine is concentrated, dense in texture and for aging.