Deep ruby-red. Penetrating aromas of cassis and minerals. The nose does not prepare one for this huge, improbably sweet, palate-saturating wine, whose pungent minerality and epic intensity makes it solid as a rock. The three-dimensional texture here is uncanny, and the wine's explosive finishing flavors of dark berries, bitter chocolate and minerals persist for minutes. This must be one of the three or four greatest young Bordeaux I've ever tasted. The numbers here: 14.28% alcohol, 3.55 pH and an IPT between 80 and 85. This will go on for several decades, and I would not be at all surprised if it shut down in bottle for a very long time.

Dark, youthful red; relatively closed, but with a lovely cassis fruit on the nose, and still a touch of youthful oak; full, concentrated, fresh, and very finely tannic, a splendid balance; crisp, pure, long and linear wine, sweet yet fresh in its cassis core, gently mouthcoating, subtly mineral, discreet yet intense, very long across the palate, and with great length of both fruit and aroma. A great, very long term Ausone, still youthfully marked by its new oak (tannins and aromas), but which will be a beauty given sufficient time. 2025-50+

The Château Ausone 2005 has a very backward bouquet at first, but it soon loses any inhibitions it might have had, offering blackberry, clove, a touch of balsamic, quite high-toned with just a hint of VA giving it lift. The palate is medium-bodied and sports a slightly lactic entry: hints of dark chocolate infusing the lavish red and black fruit with a long sweet finish. Alain Vauthier crafted a delicious, sensual Ausone although it’s just lost a little of the breeding I felt it had during its early years and perhaps that is highlighted by juxtaposing it against the Cheval Blanc.

– eRobertParker.com, Feb 2015

The 2005 Ausone is a perfect wine of the vintage. It displays crushed rock, spring flowers, blueberry and blackberry fruit, a full-bodied mouthfeel, stunning purity and richness, and perfect harmony among all of its component parts (acidity, tannin, wood, alcohol and extract). Still youthful, but oh, so promising, this wine should be set aside for another decade and drunk over the following 50-75 years.

Robert Parker (Wine Advocate #219, Jun 2015)

The 2005 Ausone is magnificent. A wine of soaring intensity and class, the 2005 dazzles from the very first taste. The aromatics alone are captivating, with notes of cinnamon, mint, crushed rocks, blood orange, mocha and incense. Graceful and stately in bearing, the 2005 boasts tremendous purity and breathtaking balance. Readers will find a stunning Saint-Émilion that is just at the beginning of what promises to be a very long drinking window that will be measured in decades. It is a towering achievement from the Vauthier family.