1988 Château Ausone
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Tasting notes
The 1988 Ausone shows extremely well after 31 years. It remains lucid in colour with little ageing on the rim. The bouquet is clean, with so much fruit that it comes across more like a 1989 than a 1988. It sports none of the leanness or greenness one sometimes finds with Right Bank 1988s, just lovely black plum and mulberry fruit, hints of allspice and iodine. The palate is medium-bodied, well balanced and underpinned by slightly brawny tannins. However this is compensated by endearing plummy fruit, truffle and a subtle marine influence towards the finish. Consumed over the course of a 2-3 hour lunch it improves with aeration and it never loses an ounce of joie de vivre. No, the 1988 is not the most complex Ausone, however, it is certainly the most pleasurable from the decade. Drink this now as it will not improve further, but well-stored bottles will give another decade of drinking pleasure.
Critic scores
Wine Spectator
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
Dark ruby with some pink at the edge, the 1988 Ausone exhibits notes of licorice, fennel seed, cinnamon, mineral, and red and black currants. In the mouth, the wine is light to medium-bodied and relatively disappointing. Again, a narrowness and hardness make for a wine that just simply doesn't deliver. The emperor's new clothes ... again and again. Anticipated maturity: Now-2020. Last tasted, 11/02.
Made when the château supposedly produced exciting wines, this is rather simple, with berry and tobacco character, full body and velvety tannins. Austere and slightly dry on the finish.--1988 Bordeaux horizontal. Drink now. James Suckling, Wine Spectator 1998
The 1988 may need 20 years to reach its peak, as it is probably the most tannic, young Ausone I have ever tasted. The tannins are extremely hard, even astringent, but unlike a number of 1988s where the balance between tannins and fruit favors the tannin (always a troubling sign), here is a case where there is plenty of juicy red and black fruit extract in a medium-bodied, superbly concentrated, very intense and powerful wine. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2040. Last tasted, 4/93. Aug 1993, www.robertparker.com