2025 Ausone

Auslieferung bis zum Herbst 2028!
Delivery until Fall 2028!

(Saint-Émilion; 65% Cabernet Franc; 30% Merlot; 5% Cabernet Sauvignon; a final yield of 29 hl/ha; pH 3.50; 13.7% alcohol; tasted, of course, at Ausone with various members of the family). There's no Chapelle d'Ausone this year. This is utterly devine, though it takes a little moment to let you in - you need to come to it at first. Subtly floral, but not so much the demonstrative blooms of violet as the subtler notes of rose petal, rose water perhaps and fresh field spring flowers. In fact, as it builds and breathes, we do find more iris and violet but these are not the first floral shades to reveal themselves. Black cherry, but again subtly, wild blueberry and mulberry. A little touch of soft leather and graphite. This is staggeringly beautiful - hauntingly so - on the entry (attack would be too agreessive a word). It's incredibly soft, succulent, seductive in its way, but never opulent or ostentatious, just divinely beautiful, poised, harmonious and supremely elegant. Ausone is perhaps the most essentially harmonious wine of the vintage. It signs off with an incredible taper on the finish leaving just a gentle touch of limestone tannin and grapeskin.
98-100/100 Colin Hay

Even within the long and storied history of Château Ausone, the 2025 vintage stands as something almost celestial in stature. It brings together the ethereal lift and grace of 2016, the composure and quiet strength of 2022, and the warmth and approachability of 2019, forming a presence that borders on perfection. Throughout the tasting, power remains ever-present, yet never declares itself; instead, it reveals itself in fleeting moments, quietly embedded within the structure, like deep water flowing beneath a still surface, calm yet enduring. Pure, lingering notes of violet trace out a sense of space that is both precise and far-reaching, infusing elegance into the very core. As one sinks into it, distractions gently fade, leaving only a pure and persistent resonance. In an Eastern poetic sense, the term “clear radiance”(??) captures it best: never ostentatious, yet revealing all; never weighed down, yet open and transparent in every movement; wherever it flows, the world seems to take shape. I can only hope that anyone who tastes it may feel even a fragment of the emotion it stirs in me at this moment.
99-100/100 Alexandre Ma

Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2025 Ausone needs a lot of swirling and coaxing, slowly unfurling to reveal notes of ripe blackberries, red currant preserves, and blueberry compote, plus nuances of rose bud tea, lilacs, crushed rocks, and underbrush, with a waft of lavender. The medium-bodied palate is simply electric with intense, energetic red and blue fruit layers, framed by very firm, very fine-grained tannins and incredible tension from the crisp acidity versus the concentrated flavors, finishing with epic length and depth. Stunning. The blend is 30% Merlot, 65% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon.
97-99/100 Lisa Perrotti-Brown

Nuanced layers of rose petals and iris flowers, knitted down, textural and expansive, will take its sweet time to uncoil and uncurl, but you can see exactly how rewarding it will be to follow its journey. A stunning example of Ausone. Harvest September 2 to 23. No Chapelle. 30hl/h yield, 3.5ph, 100% new oak.
97/100 Jane Anson