I love the tobacco, berry, cigar box, toasty oak, ripe fruit and fresh mushroom flavors in this full-bodied red, which has ultralayered tannins and vanilla, new oak and berry character. Powerful and superconcentrated, with great length. This is a muscular, full-throttle wine, racing very, very fast. Best after 2019. 1,330 cases made.

James Suckling - jamessuckling.com

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 Jr - The Wine Advocate, 28 June 2015

A tiny production of just over 1,300 cases will make the 2005 Ausone impossible to find, but proprietor Alain Vauthier continues to exhibit the Midas touch with his perfectionist efforts at this estate. This brilliant, blue/black-hued offering reveals an extraordinarily youthful, but promising nose of incense, blueberries, blackberries, currants, licorice, and crushed rocks. This intense 2005 boasts powerful, super-layered, multidimensional flavors with tremendous extraction, yet they come across as incredibly sublime, even delicate for such a stunningly concentrated, full-bodied effort. A masterpiece of concentration and balance, it will no doubt be drinking well a century from now. Anticipated maturity: 2030-2080+.

Robert Parker Jr - Wine Advocate #176 April 2008

Tasted at the Ausone vertical in London. A very deep, limpid garnet core with purple/ruby rim, extremely youthful in appearance for a 2005. The bouquet is extraordinarily pure, brilliant definition, with notes of black plum, damson, blueberry, vanilla pod and cedar and wrapped up in a lot of new oak. Coming back after a few minutes there is an intriguing aroma of baked bread. The palate is full-bodied, very good weight, harmonious with silky smooth tannins. Here, there is a bewitching crescendo of flavours although you feel that this wine is still wearing its corset. Black cherries, a touch of lime zest and cassis towards the finish. Primal, powerful and compelling...but it needs another ten years. Drink 2018-2035+ Tasted December 2009.

Neal Martin - Wine Journal Nov 2010