Vinous - Score: 75 (2018 March)

The 1985 Ausone is, to borrow the verbiage of Mr. Parker, a major disappointment. I cannot think of a vintage where potential and actual quality are so at odds. It has an odd and malodorous peppermint, boiled sweet, cabbage-scented nose. The palate is medium-bodied with brown sugar and something cloying sweet that jars against what must have been under-ripe fruit. It is like a substandard Pinotage but a lot more expensive. It is vintages like this that tarnished the reputation of this historic château in the 1980s and thank goodness they are consigned to history. Avoid. Tasted at the Ausone vertical in London.