...The "wine of the vintage" this inky/purple-colored 2001 boasts a provocative floral perfume of crushed stones raspberries blackberries creme de cassis licorice and smoke. What makes it so sensational are the layers of flavor and nuances that unfold as the wine sits in the glass as well as on the palate. This is an extraordinarily intense effort but remarkably elegant and well-balanced. It ideally needs another decade of cellaring; it should last for 4-5 decades!...

The display of minerality notes, with all its crushed rock, salt, and oceanic nuances is all over the place here. Still young, but slowly coming into its own, the wine is full-bodied, concentrated and fresh, with notes of flowers, cherries, leaf, and a myriad of dark red berries come through on the nose. The palate is rich, focused, complex and energetic with great tension, and did I mention the pallet of crushed rocks and limestone that come along all that fruit. As a guess, another 5 years will add more delicacy and comeplxity bringing this to right place for consumption. Read more at:https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/wine-tasting-note/?vintage=2001&wine=Chateau%20Ausone

(93+ points) Medium ruby. Tarry black fruits and minerals on the nose. Began extremely tight and austere, with penetrating black fruit and mineral flavors. With aeration, this showed more flesh and complexity, hinting at blackberry, graphite, espresso and sexy oak. For such a vibrant, juicy, minerally wine, the tannins are extremely fine. This may well merit an even higher score 12 to 15 years down the road. - By Stephen Tanzer on May 2004