Chateau Ausone 2017

WINEADVOCATE: "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."

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

JAMES SUCKLING: "Love the perfume and pretty, transparent fruit. Purity. Raspberries. Full-bodied, extremely focused and bright with clarity and beauty. Juicy and savory. Chalk and light chocolate at the finish. Try after 2024, but gorgeous to taste already."

ANTONIO GALLONI: "The 2017 Ausone is incredibly precise and sculpted, but also tightly wound in the early going - not that that will be a problem for readers who own it and will cellar it. Wild flowers, mint, blood orange and crushed rocks are some of the nuances that open up in the glass, but the 2017 is not in any mood to show all of its cards. Vertical, rich and explosive with tons of inner energy, the 2017 is a truly regal wine, but it also needs a number of years to be at its very finest. Here, too, the Franc (55% of the blend) really shines. This is a stellar showing from the Vauthier family."

WEINWISSER: "55 % Cabernet Franc, 45 % Merlot, 35 hl/ha. Produktion 23.000 Flaschen. Dichtes Purpurgranat mit lila Rand. Schon im Duft delikat und fein, mit eher mittlerem Druck. Saftige Schattenmorellen, zart duftende Fliedernoten und aromatische Brombeeren steigen auf. Im zweiten Ansatz feine, tiefgründige Würze. Am Gaumen sehr elegant, superb balanciert, baut auf Finesse und Präzision auf und wirkt aktuell wie ein tänzerischer Gevrey-Chambertin. Im konzentrierten, langanhaltenden Finale mit dunkler Mineralität und blaubeerigen, intensiven Konturen. Ein beruhigender Ausone von grosser Eleganz."

DECANTER: "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."

DUNNUCK: "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."

WINE ENTHUSIAST: "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."

FALSTAFF: "Tiefdunkles Rubingranat, violette Reflexe, zarte Randaufhellung, rauchig-gewürzig unterlegte Nuancen von Brombeeren, dunklen Herzkirschen, zarte Edelholzwürze, ein Hauch von Orangenzesten. Mittlerer Körper, dunkle Beerenfruch auch am Gaumen, wirkt leichtfüssig, reife, feine Tannine, würziger Nachhall, mineralisch, straff, saliner Abgang, ein delikater Wein, der lange nachklingt."

ROBINSON: "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)"