Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve: A very powerful, tight, taut and complex wine, but overproduction has dealt a blow to those textbook tannins seen in recent vintages. We’ll get a better idea of what the vintage really looks like in a few months once the oak is better integrated. 17

Michael Schuster: Ripe, rich, discreetly fruity nose, persistent and subtle. Rich middleweight with a fresh acidity and a firm, fine tannin; a close-grained, velvety wine within the firm frame – subtle, aromatic, ripely fruited yet in a very restrained style, and with a clear, finely chalky côte aromatic background and good length. Characteristic ‘filmy’ transparency of texture. A fine Ausone, but clearly less showy than last year. 18