Château Quintus 2023

Intense, smoky, dark-fruited, pine needles, resin, lots of depth here; dense palate, gripping, generous fruit, very fine tannin, immensely powerful yet balanced, with great tension, composed, and with a long finish. An excellent, finesse-driven Saint-Émilion that can age.

Really perfumed and expressive on the nose, lots of fragrance - dark purple flowers, blackcurrants, highly perfumed. Smells quite intense. Supple and agile, this has nice movement with plush tannins and chewy strawberry fruit with high acidity to balance the texture. Round and full in the mouth, fleshy but with a clean limestone, graphite undercurrent. Full bodied for the vintage, generous and super charming, the juicy and chunky Merlot giving width and depth to the body. Not streamlined as such as the texture and tannins are more present but there’s a nice vein of minerality that keeps the direction. Sweet, sour, tart and chalky. A bit firm, but there’s great structure. Generous and super charming. Easy to drink. 12 months ageing, 38% new. 25% grand vin production, this year with a little more Merlot where last year had more Cabernet Franc.

78.3% Merlot, 21.7% Cabernet Franc. 25% of the production. Cask sample. Purple-violet colour. Dense, if a little shy on the nose, but with more floral complexity. Succulent, even opulent, fruit with fine but plentiful tannins. Tension and freshness from start to finish. Mouth-wateringly saline finish. Serious pretensions. (JL)

The 2023 Quintus is dark, fleshy and inviting. Black cherry, menthol, licorice, dried herbs and a kiss of French oak build as the 2023 gains volume with a bit of time in the glass. As is often the case, the Grand Vin is quite racy and extroverted in feel, and yet all the elements are impeccably put together.

Deep dark ruby, opaque core, purple reflections, brightening on the rim. Delicately floral, Black Forest berries, ripe cherries, blackberries, candied orange zest, mineral touch. Juicy and complex, ripe cherries, round tannins, freshly structured, mineral and salty finish, shows good length, fine fruitiness on the aftertaste, certain ageing potential.

Brambled fruit, richly textured, with juice that runs through the palate bringing you into the heart of St Emilion. Push and pull in texture between grilled smoky oak and slate-scraping pumice stone tannins; this takes its time to open, well-judged and skilfully constructed. 43 hl/ha yield, 42 ha in production since the addition of Grand Pontet in 2021. Audrey Bernard joined the technical team in March 2021 direct from Opus One, plus new director Mariette Veyssiere.