Château Ausone 2016

La Revue du Vin de France

Falstaff

Deep dark ruby core with purple reflections and bright narrow rim. Small dark berry fruits, a touch of nougat and tangerine, subtle hints of noble wood – a multi-faceted bouquet. Juicy, very elegant, ripe cherry fruit with fine, supporting tannins. Great freshness, silky, light-footed style, salty-lemon nuances on the finish and very long. Excellent ageing potential.

Andreas Larsson - Tasted

Intense nose, pure, mineral with lovely ripe dark berries, violet and wet stone. Grainy tannin, dense but fresh with lovely proportions, savoury dark fruit, with sage and aniseed, freh blackberry and cassis notes keep lingering with some stony/chalky notes on the finish, tremendously long, vibrant and impressive.

Wine Enthusiast

Beautifully structured, this wine has elegance despite its heft and richness. It has the enticing acidity of the year as well as concentration and generous, spicy, perfumed Cabernet Franc. This is a wine to age and it will not be ready before 2025.

Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider

Deep, dark garnet in color, you are instantly hit with a unique note of flowers and crushed rocks as you first nose the wine. On the palate, it tastes and feels liquefied essences of rocks and perfectly ripe, dark pit fruit and blackberries. The wine has symmetry. Everything is in balance between the fruit, tannins and acidity. The seamless finish, with its non-stop waves of fruit coats your palate in all the right ways. The wine remains with you for over 60 seconds! From a blend of 50% Cabernet Franc and 50% Merlot, this is one of the wines of the vintage. If you have cash, and the time to wait for maturity, this is a future legend in the making! 100 Points

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2016 Ausone is a blend of 50% Cabernet Franc and 50% Merlot. Deep garnet-purple colored, it's quite closed at first glance, slowly unfurling to reveal the most incredible perfume of violets, chocolate-covered cherries, warm black plums, Black Forest cake and roasted nuts with suggestions of charcuterie, wood smoke and cedar chest. The medium to full-bodied palate offers a quiet intensity of flavors that grow in the mouth to unveil layer after layer of black and red berries intertwined with beautiful savory notions framed by firm yet velvety tannins, finishing with epic length and amazing energy. It practically tingles on the palate!

Jeb Dunnuck

The 2016 Château Ausone is up with the crème de la crème of the vintage and isn’t far off the thrilling 2015, although it shows a more seamless, elegant character. Loads of spice, crushed violets, floral notes and subtle oak give way to a full-bodied beauty that has thrilling cassis and black raspberry fruits, polished tannin, perfect balance, and a great, great finish. This thrilling Ausone needs 4-6 years of bottle age but will keep for 30 years or more.

Decanter Magazine

The incredible succulent power in Ausone puts a different perspective on other wines, as it so often does. The epitome of perfumed finesse. The yield is up at 40hl/ha, high for these poor limestone soils, and the remarkable clarity of expression that runs right through the delicate but fleshy raspberry and smoke-tinged palate is helped by a pH of 3.5 (compared to 3.6 last year). In my book this counts as one of the truly exciting signatures of the vintage and that is only boosted by the limestone terroir. Stunning, with enormous persistency and a finish that just doesn't want to quit. From a blend of 50% Merlot and 50% Cabernet Franc, aged in 80% new oak barrels. 98-100 points.

James Suckling

Great nose of red fruit with just a hint of pomegranate. So poised and precise for a wine with this much concentration and structure. The richness is welded to a stack of fine tannins that gives this a stunning balance of ripeness and vitality. Very long, focused finish that has a lot of drive, without being a jot domineering. Drink or hold. Château Quintus vertical tasting.