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Tasting Notes
Exuberant and confident, with powerful damson and black cherry fruit flavours on the nose. Chocolate and liquorice run through the palate from beginning to end, and this is full of signature St-Emilion glamour. It has a round and supple texture through the mid palate, but the alcohol hides some of the limestone nuance at this point - it will no doubt emerge more clearly with 8 to 10 years in bottle. Harvest 11th September for the Merlot grapes and 23rd September for the Cabernet Franc.
Critic Scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
The 2020 Quintus is a blend of 62.5% Merlot and 37.5% Cabernet Franc, weighing in with an alcohol of 15.4%. Displaying a deep purple-black color, it leaps from the glass with bold notes of crushed blackberries, boysenberries and stewed plums, plus suggestions of chocolate mint, clove oil, lilacs and star anise. The full-bodied palate is densely laden with rich black fruits and floral accents, framed by well-balanced acidity and finely grained tannins, finishing with great length and impressive energy. Judging from this barrel sample, this is the finest, most complex and complete Quintus yet�bravo!
A big, velvety textured wine, especially in the vintage, the 2020 Château Quintus offers a gorgeous array of pure crème de cassis and black raspberry fruits as well as leafy herbs, graphite, and chocolate. These all carry to a full-bodied Saint-Emilion with a round, mouth-filling texture, ripe tannins, and a great finish. This estate has been firing on all cylinders of late, and this should be in the same realm as the 2016, 2018, and I suspect, the 2019.
The 2020 Quintus is very delineated and focused on the nose, offering ebullient black cherries and raspberry fruit, crushed stone and a subtle marine element that develops with aeration; great energy here. The palate is medium-bodied with lithe tannins, a perfect line of acidity and just a slight bitterness that imparts the necessary tension and sapidity on the finish. This is a very suave Saint-Émilion that will be difficult to resist in its youth.
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About the producer
Ch. Quintus is the flagship Saint-Emilion estate of Domaine Clarence Dillon (owners of Ch. Haut-Brion and Ch. la Mission Haut-Brion). Following the purchase of Ch. Tertre Daugay in 2011 and Ch. l’Arrosée in 2013, the two were merged to form Ch. Quintus. The first vintage of the wine was 2011.