Dark, deep black in colour. Aromatically, this is unusually sweet and comely for Ausone, with light and graceful floral notes: Respighi's Ancient Airs and Dances. Such scented charm is disarming, given the property's pedigree. One sip, though, will soon correct any impression you might have that this is in any way a frivolous Ausone; in fact, the charm is a harbinger of an astonishing aromatic power which runs right through the wine. That sip reveals detonating intensity and no little drama, given that high levels of tannin and acidity and fruit are all seamlessly spliced together, yet still full of the energy and tension of earliest youth. The flavours evoke close-pressed dark fruits mingled with Christmas spice and a kind of balsamic flamboyance: carnival and circus and stormclouds, all in one sip. The wine is drenched in fine tannin, which floats down like an inky mist. The typical Ausone darkness lurks behind the entire palate trajectory, yet I never recall tasting such a complete, large-scale Ausone before. It's not hard to see this wine -- already a legend for the legendarily rich -- heading for a perfect score. But it also the perfect riposte to those who say that wines for which Michel Rolland consults all resemble each other. The transformation of Ausone since the shy and thoughtful Alain Vauthier began to run the estate on his own, and to work with Michel Rolland, is surely one of the most dramatic ever seen in the higher echelons of Bordeaux.