Ausone 2020

The 2020 Ausone, composed of 50% Merlot and 50% Cabernet Franc, is deep garnet-purple in color. After a shake or two, the nose erupts with the most gorgeous perfume of juicy blueberries, baked black plums, and black raspberries, followed by nuances of pencil shavings, iron ore, rose oil, and black truffles with a waft of cedar. The medium to full-bodied palate is taut with shimmery, energetic black and blue berry layers, framed by super-ripe, super fine-grained tannins and seamless freshness, finishing with epic length and a whole firework display of floral, mineral, and bright, pure fruit notes. This is incredible!

The flowers in the nose are spectacular with violets, lavender, and honeysuckle. Then there’s wet stone and freshly cut limestone. Plus there’s raspberries and blueberries. The palate is full-bodied yet very tight and reserved, with fine tannins that run the length of the wine as well as hints of cedar, sandalwood and vanilla bean. It’s long and very racy and complex. Needs eight to 10 years of bottle age to open and come together. Try after 2032.

A blend of equal parts Cabernet Franc and Merlot, the 2020 Ausone wafts from the glass with aromas of dark berries and cherries mingled with notions of incense, spices and raw cocoa framed by a creamy patina of new oak. Medium to full-bodied, layered and seamless, it's pure and concentrated, with a sweet core of fruit, generously extracted tannins and a vanillin-inflected finish. Less seamless and sensual than the lovely 2019, it will require some patience to come together, but there is no mistaking the quality of the terroir here. 2030 - 2070

The 2020 Ausone has a very crisp and precise bouquet, with a mixture of red and black fruit, crushed stone, black truffle and cedar that gains intensity in the glass. Medium in body, the palate is composed and refined with fine tannins. A taut yet brilliantly defined, pixelated finish goes on and on and on. This is one of the Vauthiers' finest wines in recent years. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. 2030 - 2070

This is powerful and blows away much of the competition with its depth and layers. This needs you to pull up a chair, take a beat, and let the flavours unroll. There is so much density to the blueberry, bilberry and smoked raspberry fruits that they start out knitted down, then as the oxygen opens them up the body of the wine widens and becomes fleshier and creamier, adding chocolate and mocha notes. The limestone scrape is there in spades through the finish, and this is a cleverly constructed wine. As ever Ausone is just a masterclass in how to take apart and then put back together a terroir. Great stuff. First year of official conversion to organic farming. 100% new oak, some in 30hl oak casks. Could go up after tasting in bottle, a potential 100 points.

Drinking Window 2028 - 2048

50% Cabernet Franc, 50% Merlot. Cask sample.
Deep and intense with mineral, dark fruit and chocolate notes. Initially broad across the palate then firm, long, fresh and structured. Plentiful tannins but very fine and enrobed in generous fruit. Powerful but elegant with loads packed into the wine. Striking potential.
Drink 2030 – 2050

(50% M, 50% CF; 66% harvest; 26hl/ha; 14.5% ABV; 100% new)
Dense and with a beautifully defined pure, floral, and subtly black-cherry-sweet nose; rich, full, fresh, and very finely tannic within its restrained profile; there is nothing pronounced here, just a beautiful core of mineral-infused, black-cherry fruit, very limestone-marked, long, delicate, graceful, and transparent, always mouthcoatingly fragrant, and with great persistence. Absolutely benchmark, top-notch, limestone-plateau St-Emilion, with its characteristic combination of delicacy and power, more reminiscent of the best red Burgundies. A wine of exceptional subtlety and scope allied to a beautiful fruit presence. Probably accessible relatively early but, of course, with years of perfumed pleasure down the decades. 2035–60+.