Aromas of blackberry, black cherry, licorice, iodine and dried shitake mushroom. Opens and changes to violets and lavender. Full-bodied and tight with creamy and refined tannins that run the length of the wine and takes you down into the depth of the wine. Needs years to open yet it’s already so gorgeous to taste. Try after 2027.

The 2018 Ausone is mind-blowing. The aromatics alone are mesmerizing. I don't know what more to say. Cabernet Franc is so expressive, so vibrant so nuanced. Rose petal, cinnamon, star anise and sage meld into a core of red fleshed fruit. The 2018 doesn't impress with opulence or richness, rather it is a Saint-Émilion that is all about persistence and energy. I won't be at all surprised if it merits a higher score in the future. Readers who can find it should not hesitate. The 2018 is a viscerally thrilling wine of the highest level.

This is a broad, rich, intense style of Ausone with oodles of matter and richness. There is focus and power with bright mineral characters and a huge weight of ripe fruit at the core. It's a little angular at this stage of its development but all the pieces are in place for a dramatic outcome. - April 2019

The 2018 Ausone, aged for 20 months in new French oak, was tasted over a period of 24 hours. It has a very intense nose featuring layers of black cherries and blueberry fruit; the violet element is initially even more expressive than when I tasted this from barrel, then gradually ebbs by the second day. As usual, this Ausone is no wallflower, coming across opulent yet succinctly controlled. The palate is medium-bodied with saturated tannins that frame the sumptuous black fruit, accompanied by touches of shaved truffle and clove. There is unerring symmetry to this Ausone. Precise and very persistent on the finish, which fans out wonderfully. A supremely gifted Saint-Émilion that will require several years in bottle.

Ratcheting up the intensity, the 2018 Château Ausone has an essence of limestone-like character as well as thrilling notes of blackberries, black raspberries, white flowers, truffle, forest floor, and graphite. Possessing full-bodied richness, a deep, beautifully concentrated mid-palate, ample tannins, and a great finish, this is a powerful, layered Ausone that’s going to need 5-7 years of bottle age but should knock your socks off over the following 25+ years. The 2018 is a blend of 60% Cabernet Franc and 40% Merlot, brought up in a mix of new and used barrels.

Black core with narrow purple rim. Intense, aromatic if slightly charry cassis. Very fine fruit – intense but surprisingly juicy and fresh. Rounded yet powerful. Chewy and with a great undertow of terrific, perfectly ripe fruit and there's a much clearer influence of Cabernet Franc here, with that freshness it brings. Just fresh enough but would show a lot better if the sample were cooler. - Julia Harding, jancisrobinson.com, April 2019

The 2018 Ausone is a blend of 60% Cabernet Franc and 40% Merlot. Deep garnet-purple in color, rather predictably, the nose is almost completely shut-down on first sniff, taking considerable aeration to begin to reveal its jaw-dropping perfume of ripe black cherries, wild blueberries and plum preserves, leading to suggestions of candied violets, molten chocolate, licorice and crushed rocks with subtle cedar and pencil lead hints. The medium to full-bodied palate (14.5% alcohol) is so tightly wound and nuanced at this stage, it requires a lot of focus unravel all that is going on here. In short: a lot. The ripe, rich, black and blue fruit layers eventually give way to the beautifully cerebral earthy/minerally subtext, carried by fantastically well-knit tension, delivering an incredibly long, foundation-shaking finish. If the earth doesn't move when you drink this, you're probably not doing it right. LPB

This is deep and ripped, coming out you like a powerhouse, then it stops, tiptoes away, then rises up to slowly stretch out through the palate, displaying incredible tension and length. Graphite, flint, earth, crushed stone, blackberry, cassis and a juicy salinity from the scrape of limestone. Pretty clear this is going to power through the next 30-40 years effortlessly. And it just keeps going. Clearly survived the drought of the summer without so much as breaking a sweat. 3.6pH. Average age of the vines is 52 years old. A yield of 38hl/ha.
Tasted by Jane Anson (at Bordeaux, 10 Nov 2020)
Part of Bordeaux 2018 in bottle: full overview plus top scoring wines

With a depth of flavor that feels like they managed to pack a magnum into a single bottle, this wine is all about its intensity and incredible sense of minerality and purity. Rich, fabulously concentrated and deep, the seamless finish which surpasses 60 seconds is loaded velvet drenched black, blue and red fruit, spice, smoke, earth, licorice, crushed rocks, stones and oyster shells. The cashmere tannins, and vibrancy is awe inspiring. The wine blends 60% Cabernet Franc and 40% Merlot, 14.5% ABV. If you have the money, there are few wines at this level of quality produced from any vineyard in the world.