The 1992 Ausone is an off-vintage that I had never tasted before. It was actually better than expected. The nose is agreeable with only a slight greenness underneath those tobacco tinged black fruit, a touch of bacon fat emerging with time. The palate is medium-bodied with coarse tannin, rather ferrous and smudged, earthy with a short finish. It has its shortcomings although it does improve in the glass, gaining more cohesion and vigour, so don’t write it off. Tasted at the Ausone vertical in London.

Ausone's firmly-structured, tannic 1992 reluctantly reveals a nose of dusty, flowery red fruits, wood, and minerals. Light-bodied and shallow, with cherry fruit flavors intermingled with the taste of herbs, this wine appears to lack a finish, depth, and intensity. Too tannic and sinewy to enjoy over the near-term, Ausone's 1992 is a likely candidate to dry out before its tannins ever melt away.